The New Daily is an online Australian newspaper founded in 2013, and owned by Industry Super Holdings, which represents industry superannuation funds.
History
The New Daily was started by AustralianSuper, Cbus and Industry Super Holdings in 2013.[1][2] The venture was deemed controversial due to its ownership by non-profit superannuation funds (which are legally obliged to spend money in their members' best interests) regarding both the publication's commercial nature and its editorial independence.[3]
In 2016, it became wholly owned by Industry Super Holdings.[1][3][6] The initial funding and investment of the entity was paid for using funds from those organisations, with justifications made by super-fund management that investing in the news site would be a worthwhile activity for super-fund members for a number of reasons.[7]
When the publication was launched, its owner AustralianSuper planned to force subscriptions from its members unless those members opted-out of the subscription within a one-month period.[8] The move was controversial, and criticised by the AFR.[8] Following criticisms from regulators such as APRA, the plans were scrapped.[7]
Description
The publication says it has an independence charter which lays out a formal separation between news content and ownership.[9] It aims to promote financial literacy amongst members of superannuation funds.[3]