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Ben Fordham, the host of Nine's top-rated breakfast show, has been heavily criticised by the media watchdog for failing to properly disclose an on-air commercial deal with car-hailing giant Uber.
Fordham, the public face of 2GB, breached the Australian Communications and Media Authority's (ACMA) broadcasting rules after making positive comments about Uber on August 3 last year, but failing to disclose a personal business deal.
During a segment with financial commentator Peter Switzer, Fordham said he took on a side job, taking on his first client as an Uber driver.
2GB's Ben Fordham has breached broadcasting rules by failing to disclose a commercial agreement with Uber.
“I said I was going to be an Uber driver… Guess what I did this week?” Fordham said while discussing statistics on Australians taking on second jobs.
2GB’s sister station 3AW in Melbourne also breached the rules after its afternoon presenter, Jackie Felgate, made positive comments about German carmaker BMW, without disclosing a commercial agreement she had with Peric BMW. Felgate was not personally named by the authority, but her identity was established through public disclosures, and confirmed by Nine.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority has ordered the two stations to take corrective action, including formal training on disclosing commercial relationships for their presenters, producers and sales staff.
The Sydney network must also commission an external audit of its compliance processes, after previously breaching the rules in 2021.
A Nine spokesperson said the company accepted the findings of the Australian Communications Commission, but criticised Broadcast code For its failure to film sports and entertainment programs, in addition to programs on ABC.
“Nine Radio fully supports this standard and continually strives to comply fully with it.”
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