Row over editorial integrity at Osborne’s Evening Standard
FORMER was claims promised yesterday that Chancellor London’s ‘money-can’t-buy’ embroiled George Evening in a row Osborne Standard coverage over The to newspaper big businesses faced accusations for £3million. it had effectively sold positive news coverage to brands including Google and the controversial taxi app Uber, in return for sponsorship of a planned campaign. The two were among six firms to each pay £500,000 to be part of the paper’s ‘London 2020’ project which will highlight issues including air pollution and housing.
The Evening Standard said it had agreed partnerships to support its campaign but denied the deals threatened its editorial integrity and independence. It said any commercial content would be ‘clearly identifiable’.
Mr Osborne became the newspaper’s editor last year and was said to have directed the London 2020 project, pitched to potential commercial sponsors as offering ‘money-can’t-buy’ coverage.
A sales presentation to businesses said: ‘ We expect every campaign to generate numerous news stories, comment pieces and high-profile backers.’ Details of the deal were revealed on the news website openDemocracy, which claimed the Standard offered ‘favourable’ editorial comment and news coverage as part of its sales presentation. Coffee chain Starbucks rejected the offer and an unnamed senior executive told the website: ‘Buying positive news coverage is PR death... something you might do in Saudi Arabia, but not here.’ Newspapers sell adverts to companies but can also offer ‘advertorials’ – paid-for or sponsored articles which are clearly marked as such.
Blurring the line between journalism and advertising, or allowing commercial pressures to influence editorial content is generally seen as a breach of Britain’s robust tradition of Press freedom and independence.
Mr Osborne’s appointment as editor attracted criticism after it emerged that he had a £650,000a-year part-time advisory job with City firm BlackRock, which holds a £500million stake in Uber.
The Cameron- Osborne government also came under fire for its close links to Uber. Black cab drivers brought Westminster to a standstill in a protest over claims that former prime minister David Cameron and Mr Osborne told aides to lobby against a planned crackdown on the online firm in 2015.
Rachel Whetstone – a friend of Mr Cameron who is married to his former strategist Steve Hilton – quit her job as Uber’s policy chief as it emerged the information watchdog had begun an investigation into the affair. Critics had raised concerns about the extent of her influence over the Cameron government, both in her role at Uber and in her previous job at Google.
Uber has agreed to support the Evening Standard’s clean air campaign as part of the London 2020 project. Google’s involvement is understood to be linked to technology in schools. OpenDemocracy claimed the campaign would include ‘unbranded news stories’ which had been paid for by the newspaper’s commercial partners.
The Evening Standard explicitly denied the allegations. Group commercial director Jon O’Donnell said it was ‘grossly inaccurate and a wildly misunderstood interpretation of the London 2020 project’.
He said the paper had agreed a series of partnerships with ‘key clients’ but that all commercial content would be clearly labelled.
He added: ‘Under no circumstances have these clients been guaranteed news coverage for their own ends, nor would they ever be.
‘Properly signposted commercial content … is an accepted part of the news industry.’
The newspaper said in a statement: ‘The Evening Standard’s editorial integrity and independence is at the heart of everything we do and is beyond question, the London 2020 editorial campaign is no exception.
‘It is absolutely not the case that any commercial agreement would lead to “favourable” news coverage. All commercial content is clearly labelled as such.’
The Evening Standard was owned by the Daily Mail’s parent company but was sold to Russian-born businessman Alexander Lebedev and his son Evgeny in 2009.