Kiama Councillor Mark Croxford has accused The Bugle of taking ‘cash for comments’ from property developers.

Clr Croxford said under qualified privilege there were parallels between the ‘cash for comments’ scandal on radio 2UE in 1999 and the commercial operation of The Bugle.

At the July 16 Council meeting, speaking on his motion to refer The Bugle to the Australian Property Council for an investigation into its ownership and reporting practices, Clr Croxford said:

“A few people under the age of 40 would be aware or remember the 1999 cash for comments scandal involving prominent radio commentators John Laws and Alan Jones,” Clr Croxford said.

“Both were found to have significant financial deals with the Australian Finance and Banking Association and other companies, which influenced them to provide favourable commentary on their radio shows without disclosing these arrangements to their audiences,” Clr Croxford said.

“The controversy led to an investigation by the Australian Broadcasting Authority raising serious ethical concerns about the transparency and commercial influences in the media,” he said.

“Drawing parallels with the current situation with The Bugle, it is imperative to ensure that similar unethical practices are not influencing local reporting,” Clr Croxford said.

“Just as cash for comments scandals highlighted these issues, the unresolved concerns about The Bugle’s ownership and reporting practices require a thorough investigation to maintain journalistic integrity … just as it was during the cash for comments scandal,” he said.

The chair, Mayor Neil Reilly allowed Clr Croxford’s comments and were they published and transmitted by the council’s streaming service.

Clr Croxford has also posted numerous inflammatory social media posts accusing The Bugle of reporting bias when the CEO was overseas.

Clr Karen Renkema-Lang said Clr Croxford’s motion appeared to be driven by personal grievances rather than a genuine concern about journalistic standards.

“It is unclear to me what the concerns are. They need to be articulated clearly with examples and councillors provided with this information. Perhaps correspondence between council and The Bugle would assist with this,” Clr Renkema-Lang said.

“I think it would be a very sad day if we lost the ability to publish dissenting voices in the local press… Without knowing the detail, one could be forgiven for thinking this motion is an attempt to silence dissenting voices and stifle freedom of the press,” she said.

Clr Renkema-Lang said Council should create a more harmonious relationship with The Bugle.

The Kiama Council voted to refer The Bugle to the Australian Press Council to investigate its reporting practices and to try circumvent the Privacy Act.

“We’ve got a council that are not supporting the local paper, supposedly due to a conflict with developers they are in court with, which they believe, erroneously, own the paper,” said The Bugle General Manager, Belinda Woodfield.

The Bugle has held a mirror up to the council over the last 12 months and the council has not liked what it saw. The reporting has been tough because the community wanted answers and the council could not always provide them.