Guardian Australia voice to parliament podcast funded by yes donor

The online news outlet is receiving funding for editorial content about the Indigenous voice to parliament referendum from wealthy philanthropy groups advocating for a yes vote.

Guardian Australia editor Lenore Taylor.

A new Guardian Australia podcast discussing the upcoming voice to parliament has been funded by a philanthropic group that has financially supported the yes campaign, a fact the online website has failed to disclose.

The series, titled The voice AMA, launched a fortnight ago, isfunded by the Barlow Impact Group which is publicly advocating for a yes vote and urged Australians on social media to, “BE BRAVE, MAKE CHANGE. SAY YES TO THE VOICE”. On Twitter, the organisation declares it has funded the Guardian podcast series, “a place to find the facts. It is all our responsibility to learn the facts before we vote on the referendum”.

On the Guardian’s website, led by editor Lenore Taylor, the left-hand side of its podcast web pages says the series is “supported by” the Barlow Impact Group but does not mention the group is a vocal yes supporter and donor to the campaign.

The Barlow Impact Group is part of a wealthy group of philanthropists who have pledged $17m to help fund the yes campaign.

The five Guardian podcast episodes also feature former ABC 7.30 host Kerry O’Brien, an advocate for the yes vote and co-author of The Voice to Parliament Handbook. In one episode O’Brien hits out at the mainstream media for giving the no campaign so much coverage.

He is asked by Guardian journalist Laura Murphy-Oates why the yes campaign is so much less visible than the no campaign in the media and on social media.

“Kerry, do you agree with this, that the yes campaign kind of has a smaller profile than the no campaign?,” she asks.

O’Brien responds by stating: “It hasn’t had the kind of profile that I’d like to see it have.”

“I think that’s a question you could direct to the mainstream media as to why the no campaign is getting so much coverage, a lot of it positive without, I believe, enough journalistic attempts to strip away the mistruths and the deliberate attempts to confuse with material that is not actually relevant.”

In a story published about the podcast on the Guardian’s website it states: “The Voice AMA is funded by the Barlow Foundation. All philanthropically-funded journalism at the Guardian is created with complete editorial independence”.

A Guardian spokeswoman defended the financial support for Indigenous content on its website by groups who are supportive of a yes vote.

“There is no conflict of interest because all of the reporting is delivered with complete editorial independence, regardless of the funder’s position on the referendum, which is never taken into account,” she said.

Under the Guardian’s arrangement of “supported by” content, its website states: “A client whose branding appears on editorial content may have a role in suggesting what kind of topics are covered, but the commissioning editor is not obliged to accept ideas from the funder”.