The AFR and other Fairfax papers have repeatedly reported that Gina Rinehart wants the right to "hire and fire editors". This always struck me as an exceedingly odd and unlikely demand for a 20% shareholder. You only get that right if you own the company in its entirety. My intuition was that this was spin being applied to make Rinehart look crazy in the battle for board seats. An AFR journo, Ben Holgate, has gone some way to correcting this misconception in two excellent articles on Rinehart's advisor, Jack Cowin. Today:
“Gina’s point of view on that is she doesn’t want to be muzzled from being able to express her point of view.” Asked if Rinehart wants the right to hire and fire editors, he says: “I don’t think so. I think that has become sensationalised.” Nor should directors instruct journalists what to write, he says.
