Font Public Relations shares ownership with a polling company and a network of local newspapers. Some call it the saviour of independent news – but others claim it’s damaging transparency

Tasmania’s Derwent Valley Gazette is not the kind of publication that generally springs to mind as part of a powerful media empire. For 72 years, it has quietly served the local news needs of the region west of Hobart.

But some in the island state are concerned that ownership of a string of local publications and a polling company has passed to owners that also operate a powerful lobby firm, present political commentary on their own podcast and who have worked on campaigns for the incumbent Liberal government.