News Corp accused of publishing lotto promos as news
The Guardian has accused News Corp Australia of disguising lottery promotions, featuring lucky winners, as news stories but the media giant has denied any wrongdoing.
The Guardian, a left-wing news outlet in Australia, says News Corp Australia did not label the lottery promotions as advertorial, even though they earned revenue from publishing the articles and received a share of the ticket sales through the links.
News Corp websites, including the Daily Telegraph, news.com.au, the Gold Coast Bulletin, the Courier Mail, and the Herald Sun, published an article about a man who won a $2.5m Queensland island home package after buying a $2 ticket in the Mater Prize Home lottery.
Another article by a staff reporter titled “How a $2 investment could earn you $1500 each week with Mater Prize Home’s latest draw” was also published across the network.
The Guardian was informed by a News Corp Australia representative that their editorial teams make decisions regarding the content that gets published, and that these decisions are independent of any commercial or partnership influence.
“The story of a man whose entire life changed because of a lucky lottery ticket bought to support a charity is clearly newsworthy,” they said.
“Our commercial partnership with Mater is referred to at the end of the story but we are reviewing our production processes to ensure this relationship is clear to our readers.”
However, after being contacted by Guardian Australia for comment, News Corp added a paragraph to the beginning of their articles to clarify the commercial arrangement.
The Guardian is often a critic of the Murdoch family-owned News Corp, with their editorial team leading a Kevin Rudd and Malcolm Turnbull-backed push for a Royal Commission into the company. But it has gained little traction in the mainstream with just under half a million people signing a petition backing it.
News Corp in Australia have a strong presence in horse racing, having made high-priced purchases of Punters.com.au and Racenet.com.au, several years ago.
