THE Fairfax board should have the right to change the editorial direction of the company's newspapers if it would increase profit, one of Gina Rinehart's closest advisers has said.

Jack Cowin, founder of Hungry Jacks and a board member of Channel Ten, told ABC radio yesterday that he believed Mrs Rinehart, the world's richest woman and the largest shareholder in Fairfax, would eventually win a board seat and improve the company's fortunes.

Jack Cowin is one of Gina Rinehart's closest advisers. Credit:Andrew Quilty

He said newspapers were businesses, not a public service, whose purpose was to ''portray the facts in a manner … to attract readership''.

Commenting on whether Mrs Rinehart would interfere with editorial policy at The Age or The Sydney Morning Herald, Mr Cowin cited a recent article that had said stopping her from doing so ''would be like Qantas not allowing its directors to talk about aeroplanes.''