Editing Cash for comment affair (section)

{{Short description|1999 Australian media scandal}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2020}}
The '''cash for comment affair''' was an Australian scandal that broke in 1999 concerning [[advertorial|paid advertising]] in radio that was [[Native advertising|presented to the audience in such a way as to sound like editorial commentary]]. [[John Laws]], a [[shock jock]] radio presenter for [[Sydney]] [[talk radio|talk back]], was accused of misusing his authority as an announcer.<ref name="mtmb"/> While the initial publicity had died down by the end of the year, it sparked major changes in the way the [[radio industry]] is conducted in Australia. This resulted in a second scandal in 2004, leading to the resignation of [[Australian Broadcasting Authority]] head [[David Flint]], after he had been found to have been less than impartial in his role in original "cash for comment" investigations.

Some have pointed to the [[Broadcasting Services Act 1992]], which has treated the media more as a business than a cultural institution, for a decline in the relevance of [[ethical standards]] in the Australian media industry.<ref name="eet">{{cite book |title=Remote Control: New Media, New Ethics |editor=Catharine Lumby and Elspeth Probyn |chapter=Ethics, Entertainment and the Tabloid: The Case of Talkback Radio in Australia |last=Turner |first=Graeme |year=2003 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge, United Kingdom |isbn=0-521-53427-5 |page=88 }}<!--|accessdate=18 July 2011--></ref>