While readers on the Gold Coast apparently find Labor MP Tony Burke an acceptable face, just an hour north, in Brisbane, the home affairs minister is a turn-off. How else to explain the different choices made by two of News Corp Australia’s Queensland newspaper editors on Tuesday?
The Gold Coast Bulletin editor, Tyla Harrington, published a front-page headline “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie” with a picture of the five members of the Iranian women’s football team with Burke, who had just granted them humanitarian visas.
“Iranians in Daring Gold Coast Defection” was chosen by the Courier Mail editor, Chris Jones, for his front page, with the same picture of the five young women. Except that Burke was removed from the Courier version using photo editing software. No explanation was given and the doctored photograph was erroneously attributed to the Department of Home Affairs.
Weekly Beast has confirmed none of the official pictures supplied to the media by Burke’s office featured the players without the minister. It was a good news story for the government after all, and they wanted a smiling minister in the pics.
The digital disappearing trick was apparently the work of the Courier Mail. The readers were not alerted to the fact that the official photograph was digitally altered, as is the usual practice. We asked the Courier Mail why they removed Burke, why they didn’t disclose the use of editing software to their readers and why they attributed a doctored photograph to the department. We received no response.
More cuts at Nine
Last month, Nine Entertainment announced the Australian Financial Review, along with the Age, will no longer be printed and distributed in Tasmania. It followed a decision in 2024 to stop printing in Western Australia. Printing newspapers is an expensive exercise, especially when you only sell a few print copies.
On Friday came the news that Nine has made more cuts. It has canned Review, a standalone section in the AFR which was promoted as a guide to the world of issues, ideas and opinion. A small note in Friday’s edition noted the change and promised that the “best of long form” would appear elsewhere in print and online. There was nothing of the kind in that edition of the Fin, anyway.
Subscribers pay about $800 a year, so it’s not unreasonable to expect some good long reads for that.
ABC broadcaster Geraldine Doogue was bereft, posting on social media that she would miss this “gem of a collection weekly”.
“I suppose wretched budgetary issues are the problem?” she asked.
The AFR did not respond to a request for comment.
Crocodile tears
Australia’s unique wildlife – notably kangaroos, wombats, koalas, freshwater crocodiles and platypuses – are endlessly fascinating to an international audience. A story with one of those critters in the headline is sure to attract attention. On the weekend, when Guardian Australia published the eye-catching headline: “‘There are crocs absolutely everywhere’: NT residents warned to stay out of flood waters as hundreds evacuated”, the foreign press could not resist following up on the croc angle on the floods.
“Flood-affected residents in the Northern Territory have been warned not to swim in crocodile-filled waters, as tropical lows continue to bring major flood warnings and heavy rains to the Top End and Queensland,” the Guardian reported. Here’s how international publications followed up:
CBS: “Police warn of crocodiles ‘absolutely everywhere’ after Australia floods”
People: “Crocodiles ‘Absolutely Everywhere’ in Australia”
Outdoors with Bear Grylls: “After learning that crocodiles are everywhere, you may be wondering just how many of these reptiles reside in this territory.”
UK Telegraph: “Northern Territory residents told to stay out of the rising water with deadly animal presenting greater threat than usual.”
The Independent: “There are crocs absolutely everywhere. Please don’t go in the water. The message is quite clear,” police commander Shaun Gill said. “Don’t swim in the water for two reasons. It is a fast-flowing river, and also, this is where crocs are most active.”
Daily Star: “Crocodiles ‘absolutely everywhere’ and seen crossing road in urgent warning”
No wonder tourists see the entire country as a dangerous place to visit.
Rupert’s birthday bash
Rupert Murdoch was serenaded by none other than song and dance man and actor Hugh Jackman at his 95th birthday bash at The Grill in New York on Saturday. Jackman reportedly sang I Still Call Australia Home to the media mogul, who incidentally renounced his Australian citizenship in 1985.
Murdoch reportedly talked about his pride in being American before going on to praise his son Lachlan: “I’m proud of you, the son you are and leader you have become.”
We know about this most elite of gatherings of the Murdoch clan thanks to a world exclusive from New York-based news site Breaker, founded by Australian journalist Lachlan Cartwright.
Cartwright was not invited but he followed up a tip about the party and hung outside the venue with a photographer for an admirable eight hours.
Guests included the News Corp chief executive, Robert Thomson, the News UK CEO, Rebekah Brooks, and husband Charlie, former News International CEO Les Hinton, Lachlan Murdoch and his wife, Sarah, and Rupert’s fifth wife, Elena Zhukova. Also in attendance were Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, former UK prime minister Tony Blair and English composer Andrew Lloyd Webber. Donald Trump sent a video message.
Rupert’s three other oldest children, James, Elisabeth and Prudence, were nowhere to be seen, presumably estranged after the bitter legal battle with Lachlan for control of the family business.
You can learn more about that epic struggle in a new docuseries, Dynasty: The Murdochs, based on thousands of pages of documents, emails and text messages, which makes its debut on Netflix on Friday.
ABC backflip
The ABC appears to have backflipped on a plan to scale back and run national news bulletins across TV and radio over the four-day Easter weekend in all markets except Perth.
The ABC has traditionally reverted to a national bulletin on Good Friday but this appeared to be an extension to the whole weekend.
The rationale for dropping state bulletins was the “relentless news agenda since early December”, which included the Bondi massacre, the weather and a war, according to an internal note sent to staff on Tuesday.
“As a sustainability measure the Easter schedule has been revisited,” the note said.
However, the ABC told Weekly Beast later in the week that planning is still under way and it expects to do only two national bulletins over Easter. Local newsrooms remain fully operational, a spokesperson said.
AFR retracts opinion piece
The Australian Financial Review published an opinion piece on 10 March by the Victorian Transport Association CEO, Peter Anderson. His topic was a looming fuel crisis that he argued would be exacerbated by fuel reserves being held in the US.
The alarming headline was “We could run out of fuel – and our reserves are overseas”.
A few hours later, the opinion piece was retracted.
“The Australian Financial Review has retracted this article because the author’s claim that a ‘significant portion of Australia’s strategic fuel reserve is held offshore, largely in the United States, was factually incorrect”, the retraction said.
Under the previous Coalition government, Australia was paying the US to store fuel but that is no longer the case, a spokesperson for the energy minister, Chris Bowen, confirmed.
What Kyle wore
The Daily Mail sticks to its signature writing style no matter who they are writing about – and we are all for it. Reporting on the latest drama surrounding the Kyle and Jackie O Show this week, the Mail described the shock jock’s clothing as if he were a Married at First Sight contestant and not a middle-aged man in shorts and a T-shirt.
“Dressing down for his outing, Sandilands was wearing a black plain T-shirt and matching shorts,” the reporter noted.
“The radio star finished his look with a black LA Dodgers baseball cap and a pair of luxe $2,400 Dita Eyewear sunglasses. His love of luxe accessories was also on display with a $1,700 black Versace nylon backpack.
“Sandilands looked all business as he made his way into the $14 million mansion he shares with his wife, Tegan Kynaston, 40, and their son Otto, three.”
On Tuesday, Sandilands will surely be “all business” as he has to respond to the 14-day deadline set by the Australian Radio Network, which accused him of “serious misconduct”. He needs to show how he will “remedy” the alleged breach of its “services agreement”. Sandilands has said he does not believe he was in breach of his $100m contract.
Another deadline looming is the announcement about an additional licence condition on Kiis from the Australian Communications and Media Authority, expected as early as next week.
