The Australian Greens plan to call News Corp executives to answer questions from a Senate committee investigation into greenwashing, after a gas-industry sponsored series of stories was presented as news on the front pages of its newspapers.
News Corp tabloids the Daily Telegraph, Herald Sun, Courier-Mail and Adelaide Advertiser on Monday began an identical week-long series promoting the fossil fuel, with page-one headlines warning Australia risked descending into the “dark ages” and that it must “step on the gas” as the “only way to avoid higher bills, blackouts”. In some cases the stories were marked as “exclusive” and a “special report”.
Inside the papers ran a double spread that said the series was an advertorial “proudly sponsored” by the gas infrastructure business APA Group and the gas companies Tamboran, Santos and Jemena. The main news piece quoted four gas industry leaders calling for increased gas extraction, and included no alternative views nor assessment of whether the claims were accurate. The online version was not marked as sponsored content.
The tabloids ran further pro-fossil fuel stories and page-one blurbs not marked as sponsored content on Tuesday and Wednesday, pointing to advertorial spreads inside the papers.
The Greens’ Sarah Hanson-Young, who chairs the greenwashing inquiry, accused the papers of attempting “to disguise paid propaganda as actual news” at a time when “truth and facts are under threat”.
“We know that the social licence for coal and gas is rapidly melting as climate change gets worse and the public learn more about who is responsible,” she said.
“We will look to call Murdoch media executives before our Greenwashing inquiry in the new year to explain their disregard for basic journalistic ethics and their longstanding campaign against climate science.”
News Corp was asked for its response.
The greenwashing inquiry began in March last year to examine environmental and sustainability claims made by companies and their impact on consumers. It was due to report by December 2023, but has been granted repeated time extensions. It is now due to report in February 2025.
