The ABC has cleared The Age – Fairfax Media Limited (VIC), The Sydney Morning Herald – Fairfax Media Limited (NSW), and The Herald-Sun – The Herald & Weekly Times Pty Limited (VIC) of any breaches of its Rules and Guidelines following an extensive investigation into the allegations made by Crikey and Mumbrella regarding the reporting of their Education Sales.

The circulation practices of the three publications were called into question by the two websites in October 2010. The allegations centred on the sale of newspaper subscriptions to students and universities, and the fulfilment of subscriptions through university campuses.

The ABC launched an immediate investigation into potential breaches of the ABC Rules & Guidelines, focusing on circulation in learning institutions. As a result, the circulation data and record-keeping for each of the three publications dating back to 1 July 2006 (when the current ABC Rules were introduced) was thoroughly inspected.

The ABC cleared the publishers of The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Herald Sun of misreporting their Education Sales, and the investigation also highlighted a lack of understanding of the ABC Rules and transparency surrounding subscriptions as a key reason why unfounded allegations were made in the first place.

Currently, Education Sales are counted as part of Average Net Paid Sales (ANPS), however they are also expressed as a % of ANPS in a separate category. Publishers also target students and teachers with subscription offers, and the ones that meet the definition of an ‘Individual Subscription Sale’ are included in ANPS, but are not reported separately. The ABC Rules and Guidelines require individual subscription sales to be verified by a third party auditor.

A typical ABC audit will verify the number of individual subscription sales claimed, clarify whether subscription offers comply with the Rules and Guidelines, and confirm the delivery of subscription copies. What a typical audit in this context cannot verify of course, is readership information e.g. whether a subscriber actually opened, unfolded, picked up, or read their subscription copy.

Chairman of ABC, Dr Stephen Hollings, admitted there had been confusion between the definitions of Education Sales and Individual Subscriptions and the differences between the supply of newspapers and what was actually eligible to be counted in final net-paid-sales figures.

However, he noted outcome of the investigation was a positive for the industry, stating in a recent media release that “advertisers and media buyers can remain assured of the integrity of ABC audited data and the accountability of ABC’s publisher members.”

Tracie Michael, ABC Deputy Chair and CEO of media agency ‘Initiative’ (part of the Interpublic network), said in mid November that “the investigation reaffirms the trust associated with the ABC brand and the important relationship media buyers have with audited print media. One of the strengths of the ABC’s Rules is that they have never remained static and continually evolve to meet the needs of the industry. The investigation has highlighted the potential for greater transparency in the reporting of subscriptions and in particular those delivered to third party addresses.”

Industry observers all agree that advertisers and media buyers will look forward to the introduction of more transparent reporting of audited data from the ABC.

Source: Audit Bureau of Circulations, Dr Stephen Hollings; Tracie Michael, Initiative.
By: Philip Jenkinson