Fairfax watch #1

October 21, 2007, 12:47pm,  242 views

I’ve written before about perceived Labor bias in the Fairfax press. I checked in at the Liberal Party web site this morning and saw Peter Costello claiming dodgy figures in Labor’s tax policy release.

Fairly big story, I thought, even if the numbers are in dispute. Arguably Australia’s best news web site in terms of detail and timeliness (perceived bias aside), nothing has shown up yet on The Age front page. Instead there is a big splash on Kevin Rudd’s childcare policy.

Credit to that other nest of left-leaning journalists, the ABC, for giving prominence to both items.

For those web sites which are frequently updated it’s hard to know if a story might have been and gone between visits, but in an election environment all media have an ethical obligation to maintain balanced coverage.