A political lobbying firm, CT Group, is facing demands to reveal full details of payments made to journalists for favourable articles, after the practice was condemned as an attack on democracy. The firm, co-founded by campaign strategist Lynton Crosby, was exposed by a four-month Guardian investigation in which lobbyists told an undercover reporter they had paid journalists to place apparently independent stories in newspapers.
MPs, senior lobbyists and transparency campaigners have called for an overhaul of lobbying rules. Alastair McCapra, chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations, said: 'Lobbyists paying journalists to produce apparently independent articles is an attack on the ethics of journalism, public relations and, indeed, on democracy.' Jemimah Steinfeld of Index on Censorship described the practice as 'shortsighted and frankly dangerous'.
Liberal Democrat MP Luke Taylor demanded 'full transparency on when money has changed hands when it comes to reporting', while Labour MP Sam Carling suggested the government should consider giving the Office of the Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists regulatory powers. Rupa Huq, a Labour MP on the media select committee, said lobbying regulation felt like 'the wild west' and hoped the new government would address the issue.
CT Group, which has a £40m-a-year turnover and clients including Philip Morris and Manchester City's owner, said in a statement: 'We do not comment publicly on work we do for clients and we therefore cannot respond to the specific allegations.' It claimed the events had been 'deliberately mischaracterised' and that the undercover journalist had 'chased us relentlessly'. The investigation also raised concerns about the vulnerability of freelance journalists, who often face irregular and low-paid work.
