Is the Murdoch media’s national broadshit The Australian cutting its travel budget by cutting deals with airlines to ferry its reporters free of charge around the globe?
Our Media Glass House researchers think that an outlet that regularly trumpets News Crap Australia’s “Your Right to Know” campaign might disclose such an arrangement if one indeed exists.
Their interest was piqued by the ongoing stream of reviews of overseas flights appearing in The Oz’s travel section. Some from the online version of the broadshit are featured above and below.
Almost without exception the reviews are of business class or premium economy flights and each carries a line at the end telling readers that the journo who wrote it was “a guest of” the particular airline.
In the dozen or so reviews perused by our MGH teams that have appeared in recent months one aspect in particular stands out. In almost all cases the actual cost of the plane ticket was omitted.
So while it’s all very well for someone on a freebie to wax lyrical about the seat they were allocated, the top-notch food and booze they consumed, and the outstanding service from the cabin crew, a review of anything – be it a stage show, a car, or a kitchen dishwasher – should let readers know how much they are up for if they choose to buy the goods or services being assessed on their behalf.
On that point our MGH teams suggest that maybe The Oz journos aren’t actually providing such a service since not many of us can afford to fly business class or even premium economy which seems to have acquired its name not so much for any higher level of comfort or service but more for the huge premium applied to an economy air fare.
Our researchers did not find a single recent review critical of airline cabin service.
That’s hardly a surprise since all airline in-flight personnel would, we suggest, be well aware that the passenger in seat X was a reporter travelling for free and likely to review their flight so extra attentiveness and courtesy towards them shouldn’t be a surprise.
That’s not to say that all reviews are 100% complementary.
Indeed one reporter from The Oz took one airline to task for not offering alcohol-free cocktails.
How they survived their flight without them is a miracle.
But is this style of reporting finding an audience among readers of The Australian?
It is, but not in a good way if the comments section following each such review is any guide.
There you will find a long list of readers/subscribers asking why ticket prices are not mentioned, and why nobody ever reviews actual economy flights rather than the higher-priced alternatives that most passengers never choose because they can’t afford them.
Readers are also awake to the slanted nature of reviews, given each reviewer’s “guest of” status.
Our MGH teams think the only reason The Oz persists with such a shoddy review system is that it must be benefiting somehow from it.
Is this just blatant advertorial? Is there a “wink-wink” involved between airlines and The Oz – give us some freebie tickets to help us cut costs and we’ll give you a top-notch review and nobody will be any the wiser?
Oh, except of course everyone who reads the resultant reviews.
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