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\u2019s Queensland newspaper editors on Tuesday?<\/p>\n
The Gold Coast Bulletin editor, Tyla Harrington, published a front-page headline \u201cAussie, Aussie, Aussie\u201d with a picture of the five members of the Iranian women\u2019s football team with Burke, who had just granted them humanitarian visas.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cIranians in Daring Gold Coast Defection\u201d 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.<\/p>\n Weekly Beast has confirmed none of the official pictures supplied to the media by Burke\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n 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\u2019t disclose the use of editing software to their readers and why they attributed a doctored photograph to the department. We received no response.<\/p>\n More cuts at Nine<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n The Nine building in North Sydney. Review, a standalone section in the Australian Financial Review, has been canned. Photograph: Edwina Pickles\/Nine<\/p>\n 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\u2019s edition noted the change and promised that the \u201cbest of long form\u201d would appear elsewhere in print and online. There was nothing of the kind in that edition of the Fin, anyway.<\/p>\n Subscribers pay about $800 a year, so it\u2019s not unreasonable to expect some good long reads for that.<\/p>\n ABC broadcaster Geraldine Doogue was bereft, posting on social media that she would miss this \u201cgem of a collection weekly\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cI suppose wretched budgetary issues are the problem?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n The AFR did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n Crocodile tears<\/p>\n Australia\u2019s unique wildlife \u2013 notably kangaroos, wombats, koalas, freshwater crocodiles and platypuses \u2013 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<\/a>: \u201c\u2018There are crocs absolutely everywhere\u2019: NT residents warned to stay out of flood waters as hundreds evacuated\u201d, the foreign press could not resist following up on the croc angle on the floods.<\/p>\n \u201cFlood-affected residents in the Northern Territory<\/a> 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,\u201d the Guardian reported. Here\u2019s how international publications followed up:<\/p>\n CBS<\/a>: \u201cPolice warn of crocodiles \u2018absolutely everywhere\u2019 after Australia floods\u201d<\/p>\n People:<\/a> \u201cCrocodiles \u2018Absolutely Everywhere\u2019 in Australia\u201d<\/p>\n Outdoors with Bear Grylls<\/a>: \u201cAfter learning that crocodiles are everywhere, you may be wondering just how many of these reptiles reside in this territory.\u201d<\/p>\n UK Telegraph<\/a>: \u201cNorthern Territory residents told to stay out of the rising water with deadly animal presenting greater threat than usual.\u201d<\/p>\n The Independent<\/a>: \u201cThere are crocs absolutely everywhere. Please don\u2019t go in the water. The message is quite clear,\u201d police commander Shaun Gill said. \u201cDon\u2019t swim in the water for two reasons. It is a fast-flowing river, and also, this is where crocs are most active.\u201d<\/p>\n Daily Star<\/a>: \u201cCrocodiles \u2018absolutely everywhere\u2019 and seen crossing road in urgent warning\u201d<\/p>\n No wonder tourists see the entire country as a dangerous place to visit.<\/p>\n Rupert\u2019s birthday bash<\/p>\n Rupert Murdoch<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n Murdoch reportedly talked about his pride in being American before going on to praise his son Lachlan: \u201cI\u2019m proud of you, the son you are and leader you have become.\u201d<\/p>\n 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<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u2018I\u2019m proud of you, the son you are and leader you have become\u2019: Rupert Murdoch, pictured with Lachlan in 2018. Photograph: Bloomberg\/Getty Images<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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<\/a> and his wife, Sarah, and Rupert\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n Rupert\u2019s three other oldest children, James, Elisabeth and Prudence, were nowhere to be seen, presumably estranged after the bitter legal battle<\/a> with Lachlan for control of the family business.<\/p>\n You can learn more about that epic struggle in a new docuseries, Dynasty: The Murdochs<\/a>, based on thousands of pages of documents, emails and text messages, which makes its debut on Netflix on Friday.<\/p>\n ABC backflip<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n The ABC has traditionally reverted to a national bulletin on Good Friday but this appeared to be an extension to the whole weekend.<\/p>\n double quotation markThe rationale for dropping state bulletins was the \u201crelentless news agenda since early December\u201d<\/p>\n The rationale for dropping state bulletins was the \u201crelentless news agenda since early December\u201d, which included the Bondi massacre, the weather and a war, according to an internal note sent to staff on Tuesday.<\/p>\n \u201cAs a sustainability measure the Easter schedule has been revisited,\u201d the note said.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n AFR retracts opinion piece<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n The alarming headline was \u201cWe could run out of fuel \u2013 and our reserves are overseas\u201d.<\/p>\n A few hours later, the opinion piece was retracted.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Australian Financial Review has retracted this article because the author\u2019s claim that a \u2018significant portion of Australia\u2019s strategic fuel reserve is held offshore, largely in the United States, was factually incorrect\u201d, the retraction said.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n What Kyle wore<\/p>\n The Daily Mail<\/a> sticks to its signature writing style no matter who they are writing about \u2013 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\u2019s clothing as if he were a Married at First Sight contestant and not a middle-aged man in shorts and a T-shirt.<\/p>\n \u201cDressing down for his outing, Sandilands was wearing a black plain T-shirt and matching shorts,\u201d the reporter noted.<\/p>\n \u201cThe 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.<\/p>\n \u201cSandilands 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.\u201d<\/p>\n On Tuesday, Sandilands will surely be \u201call business\u201d as he has to respond to the 14-day deadline<\/a> set by the Australian Radio Network, which accused him of \u201cserious misconduct\u201d. He needs to show how he will \u201cremedy\u201d the alleged breach of its \u201cservices agreement\u201d. Sandilands has said he does not believe<\/a> he was in breach of his $100m contract.<\/p>\n