Cash for Comment
Several years ago a furore erupted in Australian radio. Talkback announcers were being paid to promote companies without disclosing those sponsorships.The two biggest names in Australian talkback radio suddenly changes their views on certain companies, once those companies had signed up to become sponsors. We are not talking about normal advertising here. These were editorial and talkback comments.
After constantly denigrating a particular telephone company and encouraging callers to share their complaints on air, the company started to be reported in a favourable light, with negative callers being cut-off and discouraged.
This sudden change of attitude was found to be the result of sponsorship contracts worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. No details of these contracts or even acknowledgement that the announcers had sponsorships were made.
The rules have changed requiring these contracts to be disclosed to listeners whenever the sponsor is mentioned. One announcer has formed his own radio station. The sponsorship still exists, but is between the station and sponsor, so there is no need to disclose this to listeners.
The announcer and the sponsors are the same as before the rule change. The contracts, which were revealed by a journalist, show that the sponsorship is dependent on the talkback announcer staying with the station.
Despite the obvious sophistry to circumvent the intention of the law, the authorities have failed to act against this announcer. A small time announcer in another state was hit with 15 violations, but the big guys appear to be getting away with it.
posted by Kevin Paine @ 10:50 pm
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