Chaos in America: How Australia’s newspapers are covering Trump vs the people
In America yesterday, teargas was used to clear peaceful protestors around Washington DC, so President Donald Trump could get a stoic and symbolic photo in front of St John’s Church.
Most of Australia’s capital city newspapers, however, avoided using the photo on their front page.
The West Australian, a Seven West Media publication, used the photo most prominently, underscored by the headline ‘God help America’.
(Click to enlarge)
Nine’s The Australian Financial Review also gave the image front-page treatment.
Australian Community Media’s (ACM) The Canberra Times gave some attention to the photo, however prioritised an image of heavily armed police using teargas outside the White House.
News Corp’s The Daily Telegraph (Sydney), Herald Sun (Melbourne) and The Advertiser (Adelaide) all used Richard Grant’s image of a policeman pointing a gun at a man and a young child.
Nine’s The Sydney Morning Herald featured an image of a protestor being arrested, surrounded by a raft of local stories.
Its stablemate in Melbourne, The Age, went with an image of Terrence Floyd, mourning the loss of his brother George Floyd, which sparked the initial protests and unrest.
News Corp’s The Courier Mail in Brisbane gave priority to the easing of COVID-19 restrictions and the death of a local toddler, however ‘Acts of domestic terror’ ran as a banner above the fold with the same image chosen by News Corp’s papers in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney.
News Corp’s national offering The Australian, prioritised the court case between former SAS soldier Ben Roberts-Smith and rival Nine, over claims made in The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. The bottom of the front page featured an image of Trump returning to the White House.
The NT News – forever marching to the beat of its own drum – focused instead on the state premiers it contends are “holding Australians hostage” with the COVID-19 travel bans.
And The Mercury in Hobart also steered clear of the international meltdown, instead focusing on the pubs reopening.
Trump is using Australia as a pawn, and it’s disgusting.
The media need to pick their sides; there is no room in our values for the hot mess Trump is stirring up right now.
It wasn’t month than a month and bit ago when Trump said, “Mutiny every now and then is an exciting and invigorating thing to watch”?
The man is a tyrannical leader and Australia should avoid being coaxed into the honey trap at any cost. It’s a slap in the face to our American friends and allies to accept the G-X invitation on these grounds… Don’t lose your backbone Scomo.
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Two things – the policeman ‘pointing his gun at Man and child’ is clearly pointing the gun past those two people – so ridiculous, sensationalist editing. Secondly, I found it wrong on all levels The Project last evening trying to stir up Australian Indigenous action to the whole US experience. It has to be addressed but right now was not the time – dangerous and unecessary incitement.
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The channel 7 journos in the US are so brave and their reports so on the spot, but when complaining about the police shoving them around, where are the “Press” ID singlets? How would anyone know where they come from?
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Hi Mongoose,
I’m not sure if you’re criticising my editing at Mumbrella, or that of the front pages of the papers who have framed the images – but it’s worth noting that the photographer Richard Grant said: “This man stood with his child most of the time until the police started using concussive grenades. They never fired on him but occasionally pointed their rubber-bullet guns towards him.”
I didn’t watch The Project last night, so can’t comment on that.
Thanks,
Vivienne – Mumbrella
Trump’s behaviour is not the story, won’t be the story,
Rupert assured him on the phone last night.
Holding people in power to account, as ever, Michael Miller.
Never letting a commercial agenda trump the balance of evidence.
Let’s keep fighting for expert fact-based journalists’ livelihoods to be protected from the wild west of facebook, right?
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“If you’re not careful the newspapers will have you hating the oppressed and loving the people doing the oppressing.” – Malcolm X
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The Australian just ignoring the biggest news story (bigger than Covid!) In place for a court case and something else is clear evidence of an out of touch paper. (Or just plain racist)
No matter how much they try to be objective, they are clearly trying to make the story go away because the story is about black people.
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You think this story is somehow bigger than COVID-19? Almost 400,000 thousand dead worldwide (and the best expert’s say it will get into the millions before a vaccine – if it’s ever found – before this is all over.) A world wide great depression coming, if not already here, unlike something we have ever seen in human history?
Vs
A death in the United States and a few days of rioting and looting?
I think some anti Murdoch silliness has completely clouded your judgement.
I jumped over to The Australian website just now. The situation in the US, brought on by the tragic death/murder of George Floyd, is one of the top stories on their home page, on of the top stories on world news and one of their top stories in their opinion pages. Editor Kelly and regular commentator Richardson don’t seem to be complementary at all of Trump today. (Neither is Sheridan when he’s writing for that matter.)
So not sure where you are looking there silent media watch?
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It’s not because of just one death in the US though, is it? The anger has boiled over due to ongoing, systemic racism and the disproportionate number of black people in America to continually die at the hands of police.
Both this and COVID are equally unprecedented news stories. It would seem there just aren’t enough newspaper front pages to cover the various horrors that 2020 has brought.
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That’s a ridiculously large leap of logic there SMW.
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