Country Press Australia has supported the federal Coalition's call for an Australian Electoral Commission review of a number of online publications, including a Gippsland masthead, allegedly funded by Climate 200 supporters.

While waiting the AEC's findings, Country Press Australia (CPA) president Andrew Schreyer said it served as a timely warning about the increased risk of politically funded propaganda being passed off as independent news in the upcoming election campaign.
It was reported last week, Senator Jane Hume had written to the AEC seeking a probe into online publication "Gazette News," claiming it was funded by top Teal donors paying to boost positive stories about independents in seats being contested by Liberal and independent candidates.
The Sydney based Gazette News was launched four months ago and is parent company of the recently launched online news platform The Gippsland Monitor. It is in no way connected to the Warragul and Drouin Gazette or Pakenham and Berwick Gazette mastheads.
The Nationals leader David Littleproud said the Gazette News' three major funders had donated more than $1.7 million to Climate 200 and associated candidates.
A LinkedIn post last year by Gazette News founder Anna Saulwick indicated the "start-up publishing company" was funded by "the generous backing of a few visionary philanthropists who care about public interest journalism" including Matthew Doran, James Taylor, and Mark Rawson.
On 6PR radio on Friday morning, Mr Littleproud said the Gazette News was a tool to propagate and promote the Teal movement.
"Why not just call it for what it is? This is their own newspaper. It's great. In fact, over $19,000 has been pumped into this for advertising, for Teal campaigns, since it started," Mr Littleproud said.
Independent candidate for Monash Deb Leonard said she had no connection to The Gippsland Monitor or its parent company.
Mr Schreyer said claims by Gazette News to be committed to providing high-quality local journalism to communities where local news had declined or disappeared were both misleading and wrong, given there were dozens of independently owned mastheads that had existed in many cases for more than 150 years in some of the same areas where Gazette News now operates.
"Independently owned place based public interest journalism providers such as our member newspapers work hard to earn the respect and trust of the communities they serve. The revelation that Gazette News online publications are funded by top Teal donors damages the reputation of independent regional, rural and local mastheads.
"Consumers of content produced by Gazette News publications need to be made aware of their funding sources and view their content through that lens.
"Balanced, independent and professionally produced public interest journalism such as that produced by our members is the democratic infrastructure that holds communities together," Mr Schreyer said.
As members of the Australian Press Council, Mr Schreyer said CPA publications were required to abide by a code of ethics that stressed the importance of fairness and balance in their reporting, and for journalists to not be influenced by outside influences or organisations.
Mr Schreyer welcomed Nationals leader David Littleproud's intervention and thanked him for his strong representation of local, rural and regional newspapers.
"We also welcome calls by shadow finance minister Jane Hume for an investigation by the AEC into the origins and foundations of these digital publications and hope for a speedy resolution to this matter given the upcoming federal election."
Andrew Schreyer also is general manager of the Warragul and Drouin Gazette.