Qantas removes The Australian Financial Review from lounges, in-flight wi-fi amid coverage clash
Qantas has stopped distributing Nine’s business publication The Australian Financial Review (AFR) in its lounges and through in-flight wi-fi, after signing a digital content deal with the masthead in July last year.
According to a report from the AFR’s sister masthead, The Sydney Morning Herald, its disappearance from the airline came after prolonged coverage from Rear Window columnist, Joe Aston, who has been critical of Qantas’s outgoing CEO Alan Joyce’s tenure.
Joyce
The AFR said Qantas executives had expressed concerns about Aston’s coverage to Nine’s management. Qantas declined to comment.
This was not the first run-in between Qantas and Nine’s mastheads. In 2015, the airline was told that its advertising dollars would not be welcome at the AFR (then owned by Fairfax) after the publisher’s deal with Virgin Australia to become its “preferred airline”.
At the time, Qantas had already refused to direct its ad dollars to The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age for some time, due to what the airline considered as overly negative reporting.
It is quite an honour to join @adele_ferguson in the Alan Joyce tantrum hall of fame https://t.co/mxnxalTUh6 via @zoesam93 @ameliamcguiree
— Joe Aston (@mrjoeaston) May 7, 2023
Nine’s managing director of publishing, James Chessell, said: “It’s disappointing Qantas management has decided to deprive its customers of the country’s best business and finance journalism because it can’t countenance robust criticism.”
“We’ve been here before with Qantas and as always our editorial independence won’t be affected by commercial pressure. The vast majority of people I speak to think Joe’s Qantas coverage is tough but fair.”
Other publications that came to a deal with Qantas alongside Nine last year include ABC News and News Corp. ABC News agreed to produce two Qantas-specific bulletins each day for 30 minutes each, while News Corp’s masthead The Australian was made available for Qantas customers in a digital content deal.
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Darcy Song was a reporter at Mumbrella, covering media owners, adtech and social platforms. She left in October 2023.
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