Thomas Sinclair, Editor: Told by the ASA that The Pembrokeshire Herald must be clearer about sources of readership data

THE PEMBROKESHIRE HERALD must be clearer about its sources of data in advertisements comparing readership levels with other newspapers, the Advertising Standards Authority has said.

In a ruling released today (Feb 1), following a complaint by the Western Telegraph’s management, the ASA said that the public could have been mislead by The Pembrokeshire Herald’s claim in July last year that the paper had more combined readers in print and online than its nearest rival.

Whilst the claim was true, the ASA were unhappy that the paper’s Google Analytics data was not subject to external audit, unlike the data for the Western Telegraph, which is.

The ASA ruling reads: “We noted that the Pembrokeshire Herald had supplied information from a variety of different, third-party sources to compare respectively the figures for print readers and website visitors for their own publication and the Western Telegraph. However, while the figures provided for print readers of the Western Telegraph had been audited by the Audit Bureau of Circulation, and the figures for visitors to the Western Telegraph website had been prepared to the industry agreed standards defined by the Joint Industry Committee for Web Standards in the UK (JICWEBS), the data relating to their own publication and website had not been similarly audited or verified.”

The Pembrokeshire Herald is now running similar adverts, with an amendment making it clear to readers that their data is sourced by Google Analytics.

Editor of The Pembrokeshire Herald, Thomas Sinclair, said: “We are proud that we are the number one source for news in Pembrokeshire. We can understand why the Western Telegraph have been attempting to block us advertising this. In my view, this whole farrago has been an attempt by a large multinational to bully a small publisher. Everyone trusts Google Analytics as the standard benchmark for web visits worldwide.

“It is my view, regretfully, that the ASA has assisted Newsquest in its attempt to bully The Pembrokeshire Herald. ABC and JICWEBS, in my view, operate as a cartel.

“I have noted that many local news publishers across Wales do not subscribe to ABC for audit (source IWA Report on Media in Wales, 2015). I note that Tindle Group do not subscribe to its services in Wales according to the same IWA report. ABC is clearly not accepted as an ‘accepted industry standard’ in Wales, or rather it is only accepted as such by a small number of non-local media publishers, prepared to pay its fees. In essence ABC acts as a de facto cartel and the ASA is endorsing a cartel position.

“ASA previously accepted our readership figures for The Pembrokeshire Herald were accurate based on the same data we relied upon to provide the figures underlying this advert. Either the ASA is behaving inconsistently or the ASA is effectively acting as an agent to compel publications to subscribe to ABC – either subscribe to ABC or do not produce circulation or readership figures seems to be the essence of the ruling.

“Ignoring empirical evidence from Google Analytics places self-audited, tick box figures above factual accuracy. The effect of that is that publishers who subscribe to JICWEBS are able to make frankly nonsensical and inconsistent claims about their online reach. We have demonstrated this to the ASA previously and I cannot conceive of another field in which self-certification is preferred over real time data which cannot be altered to suit an agenda.

“The reliance on JICWEBS is, with respect, flawed and anti-competitive. It favours those prepared to pay for a service that can be sourced elsewhere, especially if it is used as a club by the ASA to beat publishers with which to beat non-subscribing publishers over the head.

“Relying on a limited set of metrics for data is plainly both anti-competitive and encouraging a cartel position to continue.”