Murdoch's paper the Australian on Thursday put the fires on page 4 giving puff pieces like an 'exclusive' interview with Peter Ridd of the Barrier Reef fame.

Such media manipulation by the Murdoch press is not new but this effort to downplay the calamitous fires threatening so much of the country, either to take heat away from the global warming aspect or from a PM who is very much in Murdoch's pocket, is really concerning for our democracy.

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2020/jan/04/the-australian-murdoch-owned-newspaper-accused-of-downplaying-bushfires-in-favour-of-picnic-races

A left looney, rubbishing the Murdoch press, with references from the looney left Guardian.

No matter how tragic situations are, people not directly affected - the majority - become fatigued, and the press knows this: life goes on, there are other things happening, and it is totally unrealistic for any one subject to be on the front page for longer than a week or so. It's the news cycle.

I'm currently watching the 7 news, and have just been regaled with images of a fire truck driver, unprovoked, leaning out of his vehicle asking the TV crew to tell the Prime Minister to get f...... People are out of control.

There is ample coverage on TV. And you know the toughest, bravest, most stoic people at the moment - the actual victims. Don't insult them with your petty virtue-signaling banality.

The interesting thing about this post, now I've checked it, is that it is completely false. On Thursday The Australian had "Police push for remote booze bans" as the most prominent article in the top left-hand corner, and beside it, with a large picture in the top right-hand column is an article entitled "Death toll rises as troops prepare for emergency evacuations by sea".

The other headlines on the front page were "Taxman takes aim at SMSF auditors", "N Korea ends nuclear pact", "ABC faces apology demand", with a subsidiary heading on the main bushfire story of "Devastation after the flames retreat".

I'm used to a certain level of dishonesty from Steele, but this one takes the cake. There was a climate change story on page 1 on Tuesday, but it wasn't about Peter Ridd.

In any case, making a news decision about what people want to read is not "manipulation", it is a core business of journalists. If Steele thinks he could do better then he should start his own newspaper. Alleging a conspiracy because of a difference of opinion is all too-common on the left, but I guess to be expected when everything is seen through the prism of class, or group interest - the only people attracted to those sorts of explanations are slightly paranoid to start with. (BTW you can check Oz front pages at https://theaustralian.digitaleditions.com.au/index.php?silentlogin=1

Depends on which edition that Steele got.

The PM is getting unfair flak, the armed forces are now involved and should have been in there sooner but the States didn't ask for assistance because none of them want to admit that they need assistance, so it takes a few deaths before pride takes second place.

Some good news from Kangaroo Island. The pure Ligurian bee hives were evacuated. Alas, one third of the island has been burnt out, including a luxury holiday resort facing the Southern Ocean. As KI relies entirely on primary production and tourism for its income, the road to recovery will be long and painful.