Businessman Kerry Stokes’ private company is Australian Capital Equity, which owns 61 per cent of Seven Group Holdings. Seven Group Holdings owns 41 per cent of Seven West Media – publisher of The West Australian – and 57.14 per cent (almost $2 billion) of oil and gas company Beach Energy. Beach Energy has a 50 per cent share of the massive Waitsia gas project east of Dongara in the Mid West – one of the largest onshore gas discoveries in Australian history. It also has interests in other identified onshore tight gas fields around Dongara, according to its March submission to the WA scientific inquiry into fracking. But its submission also said Waitsia and Beach’s other operation south of Dongara “fortunately” contained enough conventional gas that it would develop these “prior to addressing the tight gas potential in and around these fields”.

The long-term nature of the resources industry, and common practices of acquisitions and joint ventures would suggest, however, that while Beach Energy has enough conventional gas available in WA to satisfy it for now, it still has significant interests in fracking and the regulatory environment. It told the inquiry allowing fracking in the Mid West would open up a “valuable resource” for WA and opportunities for other licence holders. Analysis of The West Australian’s stories published online over the past 12 months showed that most stories covering the business dealings of Seven Group and its other businesses, WesTrac, Coates Hire and Seven West Media, disclosed that the newspaper belonged to the same group. Seven Group is majority owned by Australian Capital Equity, the private holding company of Kerry Stokes, pictured. Credit:Photo: Kate Geraghty But the numerous stories The West Australian has published online over the past year covering fracking, Beach Energy and its WA operations were different.

It published extensive coverage of the takeover by Japanese company Mitsui of AWE, Beach Energy’s partner in both its Perth Basin operations; the moves of one Perth Basin licence holder neighbouring the Beach Energy operations as expanding its interests in the Dongara area; coverage of how the various big mining players in WA, including Beach Energy, would be affected by the complex boundaries the government had set on fracking; how companies would be affected by likely long delays in setting up approval processes; and commentaries on the government’s November decision. The paper twice wrote that Beach Energy was unaffected by the fracking debate and took the editorial position that the government had little choice but to say yes to fracking given the current state of WA’s resource-based economy. With the exception of one story in January that referred to Beach Energy as “Kerry Stokes-backed”, the paper repeatedly omitted to disclose its owner’s interest in the industry and regulatory environment. Beach Energy only acquired its interests in the Perth Basin in January; editorial policy might not have caught up since. But Dr Joseph Fernandez, an Associate Professor at Curtin University’s School of Journalism and Communication, who specialises in media regulation, said pieces warranted a disclosure when the author was employed by a media organisation which itself had a substantial financial interest in the matter written about.

This applied to commentary, news and business coverage alike. He said the journalism ethics code of the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance stated: “Disclose conflicts of interest that affect, or could be seen to affect, the accuracy, fairness or independence of your journalism.” Seven West Media’s Group Editorial Policy states that The West Australian personnel must accord with codes of practice, and specifies that its newspapers abide by this ethics code. The Australian Press Council Statements of Principles included one to “ensure that conflicts of interests are avoided or adequately disclosed, and that they do not influence published material”. “Readers are entitled to expect that where the publisher of the article has a significant interest in the matter discussed, such an interest would be disclosed. It is good professional practice," the principles state.