Editing Cash for comment affair (section)

==Reporting==
In 1999, reporters [[Richard Ackland]], [[Deborah Richards]] and Anne Connolly from [[Australian Broadcasting Corporation|ABC]]'s ''[[Media Watch (TV program)|Media Watch]]'' programme revealed that [[2UE]] [[talk radio|talk back]] hosts [[John Laws]] and [[Alan Jones (talkback host)|Alan Jones]] had been paid to give [[Advertorial|favourable comment]] to companies including [[Qantas]], [[Optus]], [[Foxtel]], [[Mirvac]] and major Australian banks, without disclosing this arrangement to listeners. Prior to giving favourable commentary to a group of banks, Laws had repeatedly criticised them for imposing unjustified fees on customers while cutting back on services.<ref name="mmm">{{cite book |title=Media, Markets and Morals |chapter=A Conflict of Media Roles: Advertising, Public Relations and Journalism |last=Spence |first=Edward H. |author2=Andrew Alexandra|author3=Aaron Quinn|author4=Anne Dunn |year=2011 |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |location=West Sussex, United Kingdom |isbn=978-1-4051-7547-0 |page=101 }}<!--|accessdate=18 July 2011--></ref>

Though they both initially vehemently denied any wrongdoing, Laws and Jones defended the practice by claiming that they were not employed as journalists but as "entertainers", and thus had no duty of disclosure or of journalistic integrity.