CommBank uses ad to attack ‘false’ story as News Ltd apologises to CEO Ralph Norris
Commonwealth Bank has taken the unusual step of taking out full page advertisements accusing News Ltd papers of falsely creating the impression that CEO Ralph Norris did not care about the pressures faced by mortgage holders.
It followed a front page story in The Daily Telegraph in Sydney last Tuesday featuring a photograph of Norris with the headline “You can bank on losing homes”.
In the article, the paper said Norris had conceded that the bank’s now infamous 0.45% interest rate on Melbourne Cup day “will cost some of his customers their homes”. The article also appeared in other News Ltd papers across the country and online.
It contributed to an already hostile public atmosphere towards the bank which saw at least one Syndey branch vandalised with grafitti and another having its ATM set on fire in the two days that followed the story.
The ads – attributed to Norris – ran in Fairfax newspapers on Saturday. There is also a version on the Commonwealth Bank website saying:
“I would like to correct the misconception created by The Daily Telegraph, Melbourne Herald Sun, Brisbane Courier Mail, The Adelaide Advertiser and The Hobart Mercury on Tuesday 9th November that I believe “it is better to see a few foreclosures than have an economy hamstrung by a low profit banking system”.
“This is completely untrue. I did not say this.
“The Daily Telegraph, Melbourne Herald Sun, Brisbane Courier Mail, The Adelaide Advertiser and The Hobart Mercury have falsely created the impression that I am indifferent to the current difficulties faced by some Australian families. This could not be further from the truth.
“The fact is that over the last 2 years we have assisted thousands of Australian families to remain in their homes.
“The Commonwealth Bank has a history of supporting Australian families for nearly 100 years and an excellent assistance programme available to our customers who may be experiencing financial difficulty.”
Yesterday, News Ltd published an apology accepting that two unrelated comments by Norris had been linked in the article. It said: “One statement linked two themes that arose during the interview – the health of the banking system and the possibility of foreclosures. The Daily Telegraph accepts that Sir Ralph Norris did not join these two themes in one attributable statement.”
Meanwhile, a second organisation has also taken out an ad in response to a News Ltd story. Today’s Sunday Telegraph features a half page ad from Sydney Water headlined “the facts”, which was a response to a story last week about the water desalination process. The paper also returned to the topic with a further double page spread devoted to the issue today.
News Ltd apologies to Ralph.
I am still waiting for Ralph to apologise to me.
I wish I could take out full page ads attacking Ralph for ripping me of.
User ID not verified.
Great revenue strategy for News Ltd. Perhaps they could offer a “facts package” ?? giving folks an opportunity to buy space to correct the BS and spin. Would be weird if the only factual material was ads. Hang on….
User ID not verified.
you reap what you sow!
User ID not verified.
Whilst I understand the pressures of owning a home and wincing when the rates go up people seem to forget that banks are actually businesses… they are not owned by the government so are not the ‘people’s’ bank. They are in business to make money (which obviously they are doing)… The Greens have gone on a rant saying they want to pass a legislation that stops the banks from putting rates up… can they also do that then for petrol costs, rental costs, electricity costs etc etc…
I know this really has nothing to do with the ad that was taken out, but just had to say my bit..
User ID not verified.
Even if he didn’t say it . . .
User ID not verified.
Gee Ralph, how are you going to find the money to pay for those full page ads across all News Ltd papers, times being so tough in the banking game ‘n’ all?
User ID not verified.
The only 2 people who cared about this was the rep at Fairfax who got the extra money and the one at News ltd who didnt. Not one consumer would give a shit about the editorial misrepresentation (which was negligible) in the face of how much more a month they are going to be paying on their mortgage.
Its like being bashed in the face with a baseball bat and the guy doing it getting upset because someone said he was a bad guy. You dont give a sh1t
User ID not verified.
Three uses of the first person pronoun….. It’s not about you, Ralph.
User ID not verified.
uhhh Claire, apart from the misuse of market power issue, the banks are more heavily subsidised by the taxpayer than nearly any business you’d care to mention. Apart from being propped up by the govt guarantee on deposits and term funding, they regularly access a liquidity window with the RBA – an incredible and highly valuable privilege that no other financial institution enjoys. Because they are an essential service granted a unique relationship with the central bank, our banks are far more the property of ‘the people’ that those people themselves probably realise…
User ID not verified.
@ stephen dolan, great point! This could be the saviour for print media!
User ID not verified.
@ Sven – yep that is fair enough then…
User ID not verified.
@riarn News ltd got the revenue too
User ID not verified.
@ Lamb Chops, sorry i only saw this “The ads – attributed to Norris – ran in Fairfax newspapers on Saturday. There is also a version on the Commonwealth Bank website saying:”
User ID not verified.
In this article The Daily Paragraph is incorrectly referred to as a news paper. It is actually a sports paper. lol.
User ID not verified.
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
Concerned about the banks obviously.
Also concerned about the state of the press and the loose way they report and connect stories.
Credibility is at stake here. It only confuses the matter at hand regarding the banks.
Press – get your act together and stop creating stories – it doesn’t help with the issues, it just helps sell papers.
Maybe it is the newspapers that don’t care!?
User ID not verified.
Spot on Claire. It sucks that it can happen, but they’re just a (big) business trying to make a (big) buck(s).
User ID not verified.
@Claire’s mate, now – thanks, lets just hope you agree with further posts of mine, would hate for you to have to change your author name to No Longer Claire’s Mate, now… 🙂
User ID not verified.
@ Claire’s mate, now – Thanks.. Just hope you agree with other posts of mine, would hate you to have to change your authors name to No longer Claire’s mate …lol
User ID not verified.
In early 1987 Murdoch purchased Queensland Press, publishers of the ‘Courier-Mail’. Murdoch’s family company (Cruden Investments) borrowed A$600 million from the Commonwealth Bank to buy Queensland Press. When the Commonwealth Bank demanded repayment, Queensland Press borrowed money to secretly buy a parcel of Cruden’s Newscorp shares at a 40% premium. As Bruce Page, and other writers such as Neil Chenoweth have previously stated: Murdoch had taken over Queensland Press by using Queensland Press’s own resources.
You’d think he would be more grateful to CommBank!
User ID not verified.
@claire & @claire’s mate now – do you both work for banks?
User ID not verified.
@ Anonymous – no mate, I actually work in publishing and no not for a newspaper. As for my new friend I can’t say..
User ID not verified.
Anyone else think CBA threatened to ad spend (after their full page ‘facts’ ad) unless News Ltd revise their story?
User ID not verified.
Wouldn’t be at all surprised – many large advertisers do this sort of thing.
User ID not verified.
oh, this is just an @claire love-in! BAH!
User ID not verified.