Bundaberg Regional Council stands by its ‘good news’ website as media rivals cry foul

A Queensland regional council is standing by the operation of its ‘news’ website despite admitting it only runs positive press for the local government.

Bundaberg Regional Council CEO Steve Johnston stands by the operation of the council’s ‘news’ website, Bundaberg Now.

The mayor of a Queensland regional council says a ratepayer-funded “news” website that only runs positive stories about the local government doesn’t breach any industry code of ethics because it “does not purport” to be a legitimate media outlet.

The Bundaberg Regional Council has faced fierce criticism in recent months over the Bundaberg Now website, which uses an online news template and “stories” written, produced and moderated by council staff.

Last week, Communications Minister Paul Fletcher publicly expressed “serious concerns” about the website and the misleading impression it might convey to some of the tens of thousands of ratepayers in the region that it was a proper source of news.

Mr Fletcher told the Queensland Country Press Association in September of the “vital importance of independent, sustainable media outlets”, and their need to “hold government to account”.

In a letter to QCPA, Mr Fletcher said it was “troubling” the website was “presented to give the impression of being an independent news organisation, when in fact it is fully funded by the Bundaberg Regional Council, and its coverage of the mayor and the council verges on hagiographic”.

But Bundaberg Mayor Jack Dempsey dismissed Mr Fletcher’s concerns, arguing Bundaberg Now was in fact an antidote to “fake news”.

In a letter seen by The Australian, Mr Dempsey wrote to Mr Fletcher: “The platform doesn’t purport to be anything except a free community website delivering good news online – an initiative of Bundaberg Regional Council.”

Mr Dempsey said other media outlets in the region did not have the “resources, the capacity or desire to publish all the information which appears on Bundaberg Now”.

“As the Minister for Communications, I expect you are also aware that innovation is key to meeting the challenge of communicating in the digital age, where traditional media is in decline, fake news abounds and there’s significant noise in the online environment,” Mr Dempsey said.

The peak industry body representing regional news media publishers, Country Press Australia, said the site had significant audience reach – more than 70,000 people read Bundaberg Now online every month, and the site also had 30,000 followers on Facebook.

CPA president Andrew Manuel said staff writing for the website were employed by the council and had no independence when reporting on matters relating to the council and the region.

The website looks like a standard online news platform, and its “stories” fail to hold the council or mayor to account, he said.

“The council are making it look like a news service when indeed it’s just a council run and funded news service,” Mr Manuel said.

“Our concern is that councils across Australia are gradually moving towards this; if they want to do this they need to come clean with the ratepayers.”

The newly established Bundaberg Regional Ratepayers Association’s chairman, Tim Sayre, said the Bundaberg Now website was “incredibly one-sided”.

“It’s run by the council and it’s a fine line between what’s propaganda, and what’s news in the community,” he said.

Damian Morgan, director of Today News Group, which publishes online news site Bundaberg Today (which also has a weekly print edition) has called on the council to “stop publishing ‘news’ under its misleading name”.

“The council’s argument they established Bundaberg Now to ‘fill the gap’ left by the demise of local news media is plain wrong,” he said.

The council’s chief executive Steve Johnston told The Australian: “It’s transparently disclosed that Bundaberg Now publishes positive news. Other media do a good job of reporting negative stories.”

Mr Johnston said the website only cost $5000 annually to operate.

Mr Dempsey did not return calls from The Australian.

Originally published as Bundaberg Regional Council stands by its ‘good news’ website as media rivals cry foul