Newspaper writes about Liberal MP 100 times — but doesn’t disclose he helped set it up

A Liberal politician dubbed the “Ron DeSantis of South Australia” said he is proud to have helped set up a local newspaper that has extensively covered him and his party without disclosing his assistance.

Ben Hood is a South Australian Liberal MLC who replaced Stephen Wade when he retired earlier this year. Hood is a member of the party’s right faction and is backed by federal Senator Alex Antic, who celebrated Hood’s appointment by comparing him with conservative Florida governor and expected Republican presidential primary candidate DeSantis.

His candidacy was promoted in The SE Voice, a recently established independent news outlet covering the south-east of South Australia.

“Mount Gambier City Council deputy mayor Ben Hood has been touted as a frontrunner to fill a Liberal Party vacancy in State Parliament,” began a January 19 article. 

The paper has also covered his previous failed election tilts (“Talk is cheap — time for action“), his work on the council (“Lack of radiation treatment flagged“) and other political work (“Petition to close mental health gap“). All up, The SE Voice has published more than 100 articles mentioning Hood.

But nowhere, as far as Crikey can see, has The SE Voice disclosed Hood’s role in setting up the publication.

Public website records show Hood as the registrant contact and his web design company Hello Friday Pty Ltd as the registrant. The same details were used to register a domain for the “Believe in Blue” Liberal recruitment campaign that InDaily reported was run in various Pentecostal communities by the party’s right faction in 2021. Hood told InDaily at the time that he had registered the domain for a client but wouldn’t say who.

Hood gave more details about his involvement in September 2020 when the paper first launched. 

“I’m really proud to have played a small part in designing the layout concept and masthead for our new community newspaper,” he wrote on his personal Facebook account.

Hood said that Hello Friday helped set up The SE Voice when the area’s other local newspaper, The Border Watch, closed during the pandemic.

“Knowing how vital local newspapers are to a region, Hello Friday assisted The SE Voice, pro bono, in designing their masthead and page templates,” he said.

“Cross-border communities like Mount Gambier were greatly affected during the pandemic, and due to these communities crossing state boundaries, it was vital that they received timely up-to-date information from local news sources.”

The SE Voice’s editor Lechelle Earl confirmed that Hood helped set up the publication: “Hello Friday is the domain registrant for The SE Voice, for which the business is paid — and that’s where the relationship ends,” she told Crikey. She did not answer questions about whether the paper should have disclosed this relationship.

The paper has previously boasted of a circulation of 6000 and counts more than 12,000 followers across Facebook and Instagram. In addition to editing the paper, Earl also works as the chief executive for Onions Australia (which was pivotal in the infamous Tony Abbott onion incident). The SE Voice has written about the peak onion body at least once, although Earl did disclose her additional role on the publication’s “About” page.

The SE Voice has also written hundreds of articles mentioning the Liberal Party (as well as Labor). Last year, ABC’s Media Watch pinged The SE Voice for running the then-Coalition federal government’s press releases as stories with a few words changed. Earl responded at the time by saying the releases were of genuine interest to readers but admitted that “perhaps” she erred by adding her byline.

In the United States, hyperpartisan news outlets (nicknamed “pink slime journalism”) have popped up in news deserts. These outlets sometimes offer customers “pay for play” to have their press releases printed as articles. 

Hood said that he was happy to help out the newspaper during a tough time for news outlets.

“I am proud to have assisted The SE Voice in setting up their publication, ensuring the Limestone Coast continues to have access to critical local news stories,” he said.