Billionaires, trucks and newspapers: Behind the Twiggy, Stokes stoush

And for much of 2020, The West flattered McGowan and his government, even depicting him as a superhero dubbed ‘Captain Westralia’ after the budget that year.

For his part, Seven Group chief executive Ryan Stokes, who is Kerry Stokes’ son, said there was no editorial interference in Seven West Media, including The West. He also denies that the feud has anything to do with Forrest’s decision to buy alternative trucks (others inside Seven say there is no feud at all).

De Ceglie told ABC program Media Watch two weeks ago: “Everyone is focusing on the individual billionaires versus billionaire aspect … but in reality we have a massive $69 billion mining company upset because it doesn’t like the reporting of facts or news. Fortescue Metals Group is behaving in the manner that should be a concern to anyone who … believes in journalism without fear or favour.”

Forrest’s core argument is one of bias. Proving that is difficult and subjective. The answer isn’t as simple as what stories ran or how many appeared over a certain period (those numbers aren’t anything unusual). It is more likely to lie in what stories never appeared, which ones were buried in the back pages of the print edition, and the behind-the-scenes relationship between journalists and Forrest’s communication advisers.

But none of this can be analysed without important context: De Ceglie is known for going hard on issues that matter to him (his journalists won a Walkley for a previous investigation into sexual harassment and assault in WA mines). The articles needed to also consider the financial performance of FMG, and the events or exits that have taken place over the period.

So, did Forrest have a fair point?

The West published 49 articles predominantly focused on Forrest between June 2022 (when he signed the deal with Liebherr) and mid-February, when the video was released. Between December 2022 and mid-February (when Forrest claimed the dispute ramped up), The West published 20 articles. That’s an average of about 5 stories per month between June and December, and an average of about eight in the period between December and mid-February.

The Australian Financial Review and The Australian published 16 articles in that same period, while The Sydney Morning Herald published eight about Forrest and his businesses. Obviously, a West Australian-focused publication would devote more attention to Forrest than the others whose audiences are concentrated on the east coast (his company employs about 20,000 in the state).

While the numbers aren’t particularly unusual, the content is different.

Analysis of the articles that appeared in The West between December and February shows most of them cast Forrest or his businesses in a negative light. A number of stories – specifically those with a focus on overseas projects – were not covered by other publications including The Australian Financial Review, The Australian, or this masthead.

There was merit to a number of these stories – specifically the abrupt exit of FMG’s chief financial officer, Ian Wells, the collapse of an agreement between Mike Cannon-Brookes and Forrest over Sun Cable, and a financial results story, most of which were covered by newspaper rivals. A major sexual harassment case where FMG was charged with failing to supply documents related to 34 cases and mass redundancies at Fortescue was also newsworthy, particularly given The West’s broader coverage of sexual assault allegations at West Australian mine sites over the past few years.

A story about Forrest’s investment in the troubled cosmetics business BWX was brought into the news pages of The West. Forrest’s investment in BWX is 1 per cent of his total investment portfolio. The interest in the failure of BWX is a story worth reporting, but is it more important than the largest green energy transaction in Australian history? Apparently so. A piece about Forrest’s $4 billion acquisition of CWP Renewables ran on page 47 of The West Australian, but ran on page one of The Australian Financial Review and The Sydney Morning Herald and led The Australian’s business section.

The West Australian isn’t a business publication. Yet it ran a story about a memorandum of understanding on page one. A story which The West was told had been reported previously about FFI abandoning green energy plans in Afghanistan, which alleged hypocrisy in Forrest’s work on reducing slavery, was on page two on Christmas Eve. Forrest’s “people problem” also ran on page one and the sexual harassment case also did – but used the words “sex assault charges” (which FMG says was factually inaccurate). The West’s results coverage ran on page one and pages eight and nine, but BHP and Rio’s results coverage ran on pages 37 and 23 respectively.

And what wasn’t covered? An article that ran in The Australian about Forrest’s philanthropic arm calling for a plastic tax, or Forrest’s investment in an AI tech firm, which ran in the Australian Financial Review.

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Forrest’s team claimed there were other issues too: tight deadlines, a refusal to change the facts, and a decision not to run a letter to the editor, which Fortescue sent in response to an editorial defending news coverage (The West said it did not make the print deadline).

The West declined to comment beyond the statement provided to the ABC. But privately, it won’t deny it has been critical of Forrest. It argues the stories are based on merit and are in the public interest because one of Australia’s richest people deserves scrutiny. It’s worth pointing out that Forrest also took no issue with Stokes’ other media asset, Seven Network, and its coverage.

News reporting is not simple. On any given day, an editor will have a different view on what is important or takes priority over another story. They will also commission stories from reporters based on ideas. Placement of these stories is usually decided by a group of editors that meet in newsrooms to discuss the day’s topics.

A refusal to work with Fortescue or correct errors (which Forrest claims and De Ceglie denies) would be a more worrying sign there is merit to Fortescue’s argument. The tricky part is that The West Australian is its own adjudicator on complaints – it is not a member of the Press Council – so only it decides whether a complaint is valid.

Irrespective of his thesis, the concentration of media ownership in Western Australia – and whether it ultimately determines coverage – is of interest. But will Forrest’s complaints change media ownership or future coverage? That’s very unlikely.

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