4 days ago
Half disclosure
And now we turn to the pages of the financial press where, in a bid to fatten our wallets, Australia's business barons have been doling out market intelligence:
There are clear reasons for a more bullish sentiment to take hold in private capital investment in 2025.
- The Australian Financial Review, 20 March 2025
Rightio then …
… prudent investors recognise that today's investments form the bedrock for tomorrow's portfolio health.
- The Australian Financial Review, 20 March 2025
And in a stroke of great fortune, the AFR's correspondent happens to be one such prudent professional investor who's just a click away via this helpful link.
In fact, The Australian Financial Review's 'Industry Insight' column is a veritable well of wisdom drawing as it does right from the source.
Last month it warned not to be left behind by the AI revolution:
… for those prepared to adapt, complexity is not a threat; it's a chance to thrive.
… this is the moment to shift gears.
- The Australian Financial Review, 25 June 2025
And as luck would have it, our scribe just so happened to work for an IT consultancy—no doubt happy to muck in and help.
Two weeks earlier, the AFR sounded the alarm on underinsurance:
In a worst-case scenario, investors may have to sell their property …
- The Australian Financial Review, 12 June 2025
And a handy thing it was, that the author happened to work for a company that flogs insurance.
And on it goes.
The booming Asia Pacific market, by fundies who specialise in the Asia Pacific market.
Electric vehicle subsidies by the CEO of an electric vehicle manufacturer.
And the very many advantages of real-time banking rendered into poetry by a real-time banker.
So why on earth is Australia's premier financial rag printing columns which read like advertising dross?
I'll give you one guess.
Because that's what they are.
'Industry Insight' might have done little to help readers make coin, but they have certainly been a nice little earner for the AFR.
And how do we know?
Because open 'Industry Insight' on the AFR's website and the sponsorship is plain as day.
A mere oversight, I hear you say?
The Fin's poor harried subs too busy to scratch themselves let alone lay-out a proper disclosure in print.
Just one problem with that theory, because for all of 2021 and 2022 The Australian Financial Review clearly marked its 'Industry Insight' feature as sponsored content, allowing readers to choose whether to read the balderdash or turn the page and find some real news instead.
But from about August 2023, the disclosure mostly disappeared.
Now, could it be that ads disguised as genuine articles might be better read?
'Not at all', we were assured by Nine.
A spokesperson for the paper said it was a mere:
… unintentional discrepancy in content published in some print editions of the AFR. We have reviewed our operational processes with the commercial team to help ensure it doesn't happen again.
- Email, Nine Spokesperson, 25 July 2025
Just some print editions? Try almost two years' worth.
But with its half-pregnant disclosures, perhaps we shouldn't be too harsh.
After all, the AFR is all about squeezing the lemon consciously or otherwise and what better than passive income!
