The Media Council has upheld part of a complaint about an opinion piece in The Press written by an employee of The New Zealand Initiative, a right-leaning think tank supported by the Atlas Network and funded by the tobacco industry (BAT and Imperial Brands).
The Media Council says an article published in The Press should have declared that the writer of an opinion piece opposing tobacco control worked for an organisation that has tobacco companies among its supporters.
Stuff, the Press’s parent company, initially denied the need to declare the conflict of interest, but reconsidered its position two months later and added a rider declaring the conflict of interest and said it would do so as a matter of policy in the future