Editing Media Watch (TV program) (section)

==="Cash for comment"===
{{Main|Cash for comment affair}}
In 1999, ''Media Watch'' revealed a regime of corrupt secret payments within the [[talk radio|talkback radio]] industry which included influential hosts [[Alan Jones (talkback host)|Alan Jones]] and [[John Laws]]. They had been paid to provide favourable on-air comment about companies such as [[Qantas]], [[Optus]], [[Foxtel]] and [[Mirvac]] without disclosing these arrangements to listeners. ''Media Watch'' also persistently criticised the [[Australian Broadcasting Authority]] (ABA) as impotent or unwilling to regulate broadcast media, and to properly scrutinise figures such as Jones and Laws. The revelations won ''Media Watch'' staffers [[Richard Ackland]], [[Deborah Richards]] and Anne Connolly two [[Walkley Awards]]: the [[Gold Walkley]], and the Walkley for TV Current Affairs Reporting (Less Than 10 Minutes).

In 2004, ''Media Watch'' played a major part in forcing the resignation of ABA head [[David Flint]] after it was discovered that Flint had sent Jones admiring and effusive letters at a time when the ABA was investigating Jones concerning further cash for comment allegations. The reports won ''Media Watch'' another Walkley, TV Current Affairs Reporting (Less Than 20 Minutes) to staffers David Marr, [[Peter McEvoy (journalist)|Peter McEvoy]] and Sally Virgoe.