Weekly media index: 27 June - 3 July 2009

Michael Jackson: Since the public announcement of the death from cardiac arrest of pop superstar Michael Jackson last Friday morning Australian time, the story has received three times the coverage of any other issue on television, with continuing speculation over the circumstances of his death, the state of his health in the lead up to his death, the custody of his children and the size of his estate.

Wimbledon: While Samantha Stosur could not replicate her French Open run, Lleyton Hewitt made it through to the quarter finals at Wimbeldon and in the process lifted his world ranking considerably, but otherwise the tournament has looked very similar to most recent years, with Roger Federer and the Williams sisters prominent.

Swine flu: With at least nine deaths now linked to the influenza strain widely known as swine flu, coverage of the issue has continued, with authorities still warning of possibly more dangerous mutations of the virus appearing and the Health Minister reassuring parents that most cases remain mild following the death in Victoria of a three year old with the virus.

Utegate: With the start of the winter recess for Federal Parliament, the Utegate furore died down considerably, although pressure remained almost entirely on the Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull in the wake of opinion polls showing a crash in his approval ratings after they had been trending upwards for several months, while speculation about a shadow frontbench reshuffle continued.

Lote Tuqiri: The media was still none the wiser at the end of the week following the announcement on Monday night that one of the highest paid football players in Australia, rugby star Lote Tuqiri, had been sacked by the ARU for unspecified contract breaches. There has been little further information on the basis for the sacking, but Tuqiri’s representatives have confirmed he will be taking legal action.

Quote of the week:

“He asked me to come and look at his ute” Sacha Baron Cohen (as character Bruno) suggests a bond developed between him and PM Kevin Rudd after a TV appearance together

About the index
This list reports Australia's weekly top news stories by volume across thousands of newspaper, magazine, television, radio and Internet news sources monitored by Media Monitors, including international and domestic, business, sport and entertainment news.

Data and analysis provided to Slice Media by Media Monitors Australia

Media monitoring

Weekly media index: 13 - 19 June 2009

Massive differences in the leading issues covered by each medium this week, with Des Moran’s shooting the number one issue on television, while Moran did not make the top five in press coverage, which was dominated by swine flu and emissions trading. Radio covered all the top five issues strongly.

Swine influenza: Swine flu was still getting a large amount of coverage across all forms of media this week as cases continued to rise, both in Victoria which now has one of the highest rates of infection in the world and across all other states in Australia. At the same time the threat level of the epidemic was lowered, with officials conceding that the severity of the strain is similar to that of other influenza strains, but warning there was still a danger of a significant number of deaths amongst those highly susceptible to infection or suffering from other ailments.

Des Moran: The shooting of Melbourne underworld figure Des Moran, the fourth member of his family to be killed was the number one news story on television last week, also being strongly covered on radio, with his sister-in-law Judy Moran charged in relation to the shooting, along with her daughter in law Suzanne Kane and Geoffrey Armour, who has been charged with murder.

Iran: Easily the largest international story of the week has been the continuing protests across Iran against the announced re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, with some claims of bloodshed but also many large demonstrations occurring without police intervention. The Government has attempted to shut down most media forms and has revoked journalist visas but use of social media websites has kept a strong flow of information in and out of the country

Emissions trading: Confusion reigns in Canberra on the main topic of debate, the emissions trading legislation, with claim and counterclaim of tactical games being played, while the Liberal Party, Nick Xenophon and Steve Fielding all called for either further delays or further inquiries, with the Greens wanting fundamental changes and the Nationals against any legislation.

Peter Costello: Australia’s longest serving Treasurer Peter Costello finally signalled he was bowing out of Federal Politics permanently, after keeping his options open on renominating for his seat of Higgins for 18 months. His announcement brought words of praise from the current Prime Minister and Opposition Leader, with Malcolm Turnbull being seen by most commentators as the main beneficiary of the move.

“As I’m lying there at my funeral I would hope to hear somebody say, “Look, he’s still moving!” – Peter Costello quotes Woody Allen

About the index
This list reports Australia's weekly top news stories by volume across thousands of newspaper, magazine, television, radio and Internet news sources monitored by Media Monitors, including international and domestic, business, sport and entertainment news.

Data and analysis provided to Slice Media by Media Monitors Australia

Media monitoring

Weekly media index: 6 - 12 June 2009

Swine influenza: As swine flu started to affect sporting fixtures across the country, with a swimming meet cancelled and several football matches in doubt, media coverage focused on these sporting disruptions and continued to debate the severity of this form of influenza, as health authorities watched for any signs of the virus mutating into a more dangerous strain.

Twenty20 World Cup: Despite Australia falling at the first hurdle in the Twenty20, it still received plenty of coverage across all forms of the electronic media, with discussion of whether the team were properly prepared and whether Andrew Symonds sacking from the squad at the last minute affected their performance.

Ministry reshuffle: Following the resignation of Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon last week, Kevin Rudd announced a wider reshuffle of his ministry, with John Faulkner moving to the Defence portfolio, Joe Ludwig taking his Special Minister of State position, promotion for Chris Bowen and the promotion of NSW right wing powerbroker Mark Arbib and left wing powerbroker Greg Combet into the ministry.

Indian student attacks: Several attacks on Indian students in Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide over the past two weeks has led to street protests by Indian students calling for greater protection and continued coverage of the issue in Indian and other Asian media. State and Federal government leaders have deplored the attacks and attempted to reassure students that Australia is a safe option for education.

Socceroos qualify: In a much less dramatic fashion than last time, the Socceroos have sailed into the 2010 World Cup with a draw in Qatar on the weekend, reasserting their dominance with an unexciting but easy two-nil win over Bahrain in Sydney during the week. The Socceroos were the second team to officially qualify for the tournament, just hours behind Japan.

“fair shake of the sauce bottle” – Kevin Rudd tries (incorrectly) to channel Dad Rudd

About the index
This list reports Australia's weekly top news stories by volume across thousands of newspaper, magazine, television, radio and Internet news sources monitored by Media Monitors, including international and domestic, business, sport and entertainment news.

Data and analysis provided to Slice Media by Media Monitors Australia

Media monitoring

Weekly media index: 21 - 27 March 2009

Afghanistan: Afghanistan continued to be a focus of media coverage last week, as the bodies of Sergeant Brett Till and Corporal Matthew Hopkins were brought home, while three more soldiers were injured by a roadside bomb. The expected request for more soldiers by the U.S. administration did not occur, although media speculation remains high that there could be an increase in troop numbers soon.

Queensland Election: Although most pundits were expecting a cliff-hanger in the Queensland Election, it ended up a relatively comfortable victory for Anna Bligh, the first State Election victory for a female leader and the fifth in a row for the ALP in Queensland. The LNP picked up around half of the massive 8% swing required but only picked up half a dozen seats with the third time not being the charm for Lawrence Springborg, who immediately announced he was stepping down as some called for a metropolitan leader.

Rudd in US: Kevin Rudd arrived in the U.S. for his first meeting with President Obama with that country’s focus entirely on the $1trillion package aimed at stabilising the banking sector just announced by Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner. The PM received wraps from Geithner, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and President Obama, who all praised his response to the financial crisis.

Sydney airport violence: The AFP has received strong criticism this week, along with Federal and State Government authorities over the violent bikie gang brawl in Sydney Airport’s domestic terminal that led to the one man being bashed to death in front of hundreds of airline commuters. Commentators called for a complete review of security arrangements and staffing levels.

Fitzgibbon spy claim: The simmering tension between Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon and his department following the SAS pay dispute boiled over into the media again last week, with claims that Defence intelligence personnel had accessed the Minister’s records and were investigating his links to a businesswoman of Chinese heritage.

About the index
This list reports Australia's weekly top news stories by volume across thousands of newspaper, magazine, televion, radio and Internet news sources monitored by Media Monitors, including international and domestic, business, sport and enterainment news.

Data and analysis provided to Slice Media by Media Monitors Australia

Media monitoring

Weekly media index: 16 - 20 February 2009

DOMESTIC
Victorian Bushfires: Grief has turned to anger as much of the focus of bushfire coverage this week was on the accused arsonist Brendan Sokaluk, who is accused of lighting the Churchill fire in which 11 people died. Thousands of people posted messages of hate and threats on the internet towards Sokaluk. While the suppression order on Sokaluk's name was lifted on Monday, his image and address remained suppressed. However, images of the accused were readily available on the internet, apparently taken from his Facebook account.

Qld/NSW Floods: Areas of the NSW mid-north coast have joined northern Queensland in being declared natural disaster, with about 370 millimetres of rain falling since last Friday. The council areas of Bellingen, Coffs Harbour, Nambucca, Kempsey, Bourke and Port Macquarie-Hastings have been the hardest hit. While further showers in the affected regions are predicted, the heaviest storms have now abated.

Economic Stimulus Package: Friday the 13th became lucky for the Federal government with Nick Xenophon finally giving the nod to its $42 billion economic stimulus package. The independent Senator gained concessions of more than $900 million for the Murray-Darling, with the agreement bringing forward $500 million over four years from 2008-09 for water buy-backs from farmers. As a result of the concessions, the $950 tax bonuses will now be reduced by $50.

Julie Bishop Treasury Position: Deputy Opposition leader Julie Bishop's decision to step down as Treasury spokesman, a decision she claims was hers alone, has incited further leadership speculation for the party. This followed revelations that Malcolm Turnbull asked Peter Costello to take on the role, only to be knocked back, with the former Treasurer reportedly only interested “in one job”. New Treasury spokesman Joe Hockey has since been tarnished as the ‘second best’ option.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Japanese Economy: A major slump in the Japanese economy will hit Australian export earnings next year, Trade Minister Simon Crean has warned. Japan, the biggest customer for Australian exports, is facing its worst economic performance since 1974. The government’s troubles continued after its finance minister resigned after appearing drunk at a recent G7 summit.

Afghanistan Troop Deployment: US decision to send 17,000 troops to Afghanistan will significantly increase pressure on its allies, including Australia, to step up their commitment to the war. While Australia has not committed to additional troops, Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon says Australian troops are likely to remain in Afghanistan for years.

US Stimulus package: US President Barack Obama signed a $787 billion economic stimulus bill into law on Tuesday as global markets plunged on fears that the recession would deepen despite government action in many countries. Obama has staked his political reputation on the package, a mixture of tax cuts and spending projects, saying its success will determine his success as president

BUSINESS NEWS
Virgin Blue Staffing: News of up to 400 possible job cuts Virgin Blue is a big loss for the nation, Treasurer Wayne Swan says. Australia's second largest airline has said it will remove eight per cent of capacity, or as many as five aircraft, from its domestic fleet from May in response to a forecast fall in domestic demand

SPORT
A-League Soccer: Melbourne Victory coach Ernie Merrick says he has no preference who his high-flying side meet in the A-League grand final as Adelaide United and Queensland Roar prepare for the match which will decide the remaining spot. Merrick's side destroyed Adelaide United 6-0 on aggregate in the major semi-final.

Cricket: Australia coach Tim Nielsen says his team are under pressure to hold onto their top ranking in Test cricket and it will be "hard work" to beat South Africa on their home turf. Having been upset 2-1 at home by Graeme Smith's Proteas in December and January, Ricky Ponting's 14-man Test squad arrived in South Africa on Monday.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK
"He has declined and said that he has no interest in a role on the frontbench or indeed a leadership role. That's the position he's taken and I respect that," Mr Turnbull said of Peter Costello’s political future.

Media monitoring

Yearly Media Index: Top 10 stories of 2008

(click image for larger view)

Thanks to Patrick Baume of Media Monitors for putting together this list of Australia's top news stories for 2008.

1) Global financial crisis: Despite a low level of coverage surrounding the subprime mortgage loan initiated credit crunch in the U.S. for most of the year, the wall to wall coverage across all forms of media once the crisis spread to the major financial institutions of Wall Street and across the global financial system in early October was enough to make this the largest story in volume terms across the entire year.

2) Climate change: Media discussion of the climate change issue was also relatively quiet early in the year, but it became the dominant domestic political issue in the middle of the year as Professor Ross Garnaut delivered his initial report on the economic steps needing to be taken to combat climate change in June, followed by the Government’s Green Paper on possible structures for an emissions trading scheme, while Professor Garnaut’s second more detailed report on an ETS was somewhat swamped by the global financial crisis.

3) Beijing Olympics: Another solid performance at an Olympics from the Australian team, although this time the expected swathe of gold medals from the pool came almost exclusively from the women’s team, Stephanie Rice, Libby Trickett and Liesel Jones among the multi medal winners, while the second week sprang up the usual amount of surprise winners including pole vaulter Steve Hooker and diver Matthew Mitcham. The Olympics was surprisingly the only sporting event this year to make the Top Ten.

4) Petrol prices: The issue of petrol prices continued to dog the new Federal Government throughout most of the year, as the international oil price spiked to over US$150 a barrel in the middle of the year, leading to prices at the pump as high as $1.80 and a commitment from the Government to introduce an online FuelWatch scheme, which they later abandoned after failing to gain the support of the Senate.

5) U.S Presidential race: In the most globally watched and seemingly longest presidential race in history, Senator Barack Obama from Illinois made history in November, becoming the first African American to be elected President of the USA, easily defeating Republican Senator John McCain after narrowly beating the early favourite Hillary Clinton in her attempt to become the Democrat nominee and first female President.

6) Afghanistan: Several Australian servicemen lost their lives to Taliban attacks in Afghanistan during the year, and general media coverage of the conflict grew in Australia in 2008, as it became the prime overseas theatre of operations for our troops, with Prime Minister Kevin Rudd calling on European countries to increase their troop presence with little result.

7) Iraq: After dominating the list of major stories for the previous four years, coverage of the Iraq War slipped to seventh this year, following the election of the Rudd Labor Government and its commitment to withdraw troops by the middle of 2008. There was an increase in level of coverage around the time of the official withdrawal, but overall coverage dropped significantly from previous years.

8) Murray Darling Crisis: The unprecedented drought across inland areas of Eastern Australia and its devastating effect on the Murray Darling Basin and the availability of water for both irrigation and human use, plus the rapid deterioration of the state of the wetlands at the lower end of the system received coverage throughout the year, although coverage was far stronger on regional radio than any other medium, with the issue not even making the top 25 in terms of television coverage.

9) Zimbabwe: After losing both a parliamentary and presidential election, Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe managed to cling on to power with the support of the army, despite condemnation from around the globe, with Opposition Leader Morgan Tsvangirai pulling out of a “run-off” election for the presidency. A power sharing deal brokered by the South African President is still being negotiated as the country’s economy slides further into disaster.

10) Housing Affordability: While it may seem long ago now, rising interest rates were one of the huge issues of the first half of the year, as home repossessions increased in the outer suburbs of Sydney and Melbourne and rents skyrocketed as more and more people competed for fewer vacant properties.

QUOTE OF THE YEAR

“For the pain, suffering and hurt of these Stolen Generations, their descendants and for their families left behind, we say sorry"
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd (the indigenous apology was 11th biggest issue for the year)

About this index:
This index is based on Australia's top press, television and radio news stories from January - November 2008.

Click here to see Top 10 of 2007.

Tracking the media, monitoring the message

Weekly media index: 22 - 26 September 2008

DOMESTIC
Pensions – The Opposition kept the pressure up on pensions this week, introducing a bill to immediately increase the sole pension which was passed in the Senate with the help of the minor parties, which the Speaker of the House of Reps duly declared unconstitutional, while the Government tried to focus on claims the new Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull was being economically irresponsible.

Medicare levy – The Government is starting to realize the difficulties it faces in getting legislation through the Senate after Family First Senator Steve Fielding joined with the Opposition to block the increase in the Medicare levy exemption from $50,000 to $75,000, claiming it would make private insurance unaffordable for most people.

Shadow ministry – Julie Bishop became the first woman to take the main financial portfolio for a major party in Australian Federal politics, while Andrew Robb was given a “super portfolio” involving infrastructure and carbon trading and Christopher Pyne moved into shadow cabinet. Several press gallery commentators questioned Bishop’s economic credentials and parliamentary presence.

Luxury Car Tax– The Government did get a small victory among a week of losses in the Senate, Senator Fielding agreeing to pass the Luxury Car Tax following concessions to tourist operators and farm businesses.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Rudd in US – The PM was attacked by the Opposition for taking another overseas trip early in his premiership, while the trip itself quickly morphed from a diplomatic effort to try and win support for a seat on the UN Security Council to an urgent briefing on the Wall Street meltdown.

Pakistan bombing – Some international media was reporting fears of imminent civil war in Pakistan as the Islamabad Marriott was hit by a massive roadside bomb while the new President Asif Ali Zardar condemned US raids against the Taliban on Pakistan soil, with reports Pakistan military had fired on US planes in their airspace.

US Presidential race – Republican candidate John McCain took the unprecedented step of suspending his campaign late this week to rush to Washington and focus on a solution to the financial crisis, putting in doubt the first presidential campaign debate, as the polls started to turn south for McCain in the wake of the turmoil.

BUSINESS NEWS
Wall Street Crisis – The gigantic collapses continue with bankruptcy now hitting one of America’s largest regulated banks Washington Mutual, rendering its stock worthless, while Congressional Republicans and Democrats tried to hammer out a deal on the President’s US$700bn rescue package, which has been met with criticism from both sides.

In other business news: ASIC was criticised for instituting a ban on short selling at the beginning of the week, although some commentators believe the ban reduced the volatility of the ASX during the week; and Qantas has started regular flights using the new A380 superjumbo.

TALKBACK
Pensions remain the main topic of the day, with very little support for the Government’s blocking of any immediate increase; while the rest of talkback was dominated by sport this week, the AFL Grand Final, the Brownlow medal and the NRL finals all receiving plenty of comment.

SPORT
The AFL Grand Final is between two Victorian teams for the first time in eight years, and many are tipping a cracker, with Hawthorn still underdogs to the reigning premiers despite some great late season form; the NRL Finals have thrown up a few more unexpected results, with Melbourne sneaking through to play Cronulla, although losing their skipper in the process, and the Warriors dream run continuing; ands the upsets continued with the Brownlow Medal going to the Kangaroos Adam Cooney, short priced favourite Gary Ablett Jr missing out again.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"Major sectors of America’s financial system are at risk of shutting down…the value of your home could plummet…and millions of Americans could lose their jobs"
President George W Bush does his best to talk up the US economy.

Tracking the media, monitoring the message