news

These are Australia's front pages today. Including the one that glaringly sticks out.

Like any national, breaking news, it is always fascinating to see how the major newspapers across the country choose to cover it.

Prior to federal elections, we analyse their front pages to see who they are backing for a win. An athlete winning an Olympic Gold Medal will have papers scrambling for the perfect photo, along with a cliched tagline like, “PURE GOLD”.

Following the outstanding win from the same-sex marriage postal survey for the ‘Yes’ campaign, yesterday, we expected a kaleidoscope of colour and celebration of love to brand our national headlines.

They did, mostly.

ADVERTISEMENT

But, if you look closely, there is one outlier.

The Daily Telegraph.

Rather than joining the festivities, popping their party hats on and throwing a bit of confetti around, they decided this was the best way to summarise yesterday:

The closest we got to a celebration of winning was in their sport's section:

ADVERTISEMENT

Claiming to be the number one newspaper in New South Wales, DT fell out of line with how their state voted in the postal survey, 58 per cent in favour, and the national tone.

Despite states like Queensland, Tasmania and the Northern Territory criticised as 'backward' or homeland of the conservative, it was their major newspapers that lived up to the hype.

ADVERTISEMENT

According to their website, the DT is the "Voice of Sydney" and "has built a proud reputation as a news breaking brand that sets the agenda that the rest of the state talk about".

So, the question is, why is their agenda following such a historic day is Australia's history just so wrong?

Firstly, let's remember this was no mistake of the DT to choose this tone. They haven't just read the room wrong. This was a considered reaction, and it was because of a couple of contributing factors.

It has become more apparent than ever, in the past five years, that this newspaper is unrelentingly conservative. Owned by the Murdoch empire, it pushes stories and opinions that aren't even representative of many Liberal/National supporters. It publishes the far right.

ADVERTISEMENT

Listen: Australia voted yes for marriage equality! What happens next? (Post continues after audio.)

Along with The Australian, the DT has been a machine for circulating propaganda about the possible consequences of legalising same-sex marriage. They have been responsible for fear-mongering the Safe Schools program, and become home to now-columnist, Mark Latham.

In response to criticism of the front page, Latham said that it was representative of how much of Western Sydney electorates voted, up to 73.9 per cent against in the seat of Blaxland.

ADVERTISEMENT

The focus on Western Sydney's no response has come under heated debate, with many claiming it was migrants and non-English speaking persons mostly responsible.

Latham wrote in his column for DT today, "The most valid explanation of the Western Sydney result is ethnicity. The more multicultural the electorate, the more likely it is to vote No."

Which, as you can predict, hasn't gone down well. To say the least.

ADVERTISEMENT

 

 

Without bogging us down in the politics of Western Sydney, it's important to remember the complexity of their electorates. As Professor Andrew Jakubowicz points out in an article for The Conversation, the impact of the Safe Schools rhetoric seems to have impacted the tight-knit religious community, not only Muslim ones, more than non-religious. Further to that, there was also a correlation between no responses and high rates of unemployment. 

ADVERTISEMENT

Now, to the greatest irony of the DT's front page and their unsubstantiated claims that multiculturalism caused a 'No' vote, they still decided to put the epitome of a stereotypical white man on the cover of their front page.

Because this guy really resonates with Western Sydney and NSW:

Al Bloody Bundy (from TV show, Married... with Children). 

I can also bet that half of the people who saw this paper had to either, a) Recalibrate themselves that some sitcom star from the 80s was on a 2017 newspaper, or b) Work out who the hell he was.

ADVERTISEMENT

Perhaps during all this confusion, it is best to remember that Al grew up on TV, talk his hand out of his pants, and ended up walking his gay son down the aisle.

Tags: