Rinehart aide urges editorial influence

THE Fairfax board should have the right to change the editorial direction of the company’s newspapers if it would increase profit, one of Gina Rinehart’s closest advisers has said.

Jack Cowin, founder of Hungry Jacks and a board member of Channel Ten, told ABC radio yesterday that he believed Mrs Rinehart, the world’s richest woman and the largest shareholder in Fairfax, would eventually win a board seat and improve the company’s fortunes.

He said newspapers were businesses, not a public service, whose purpose was to ”portray the facts in a manner … to attract readership”.
Advertisement: Story continues below

Commenting on whether Mrs Rinehart would interfere with editorial policy at The Age or The Sydney Morning Herald, Mr Cowin cited a recent article that had said stopping her from doing so ”would be like Qantas not allowing its directors to talk about aeroplanes.”

Asked by 774’s Rafael Epstein whether Fairfax would employ people like right-wing News Ltd columnist Andrew Bolt if Mrs Rinehart were on the board, he said: ”I would think there may be an argument that would balance the message that’s being communicated to the community if there were more Andrew Bolt.”

Asked which way Mrs Rinehart would take editorial policy, Mr Cowin said: ”Gina Rinehart would have a stronger right-wing view than probably the average liberal journalist.”

He said the purpose of a company ”is to try to make a profit, and if the editorial policy … is not optimising the opportunity, then it’s the role of the directors to try to change the direction”.

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/national/rinehart-aide-urges-editorial-influence-20120605-1zudb.html#ixzz1xEg43w6w