Australian Online Media Outlets Fail The Test Again

7.30pm AEST

With honourable exceptions, the Australian media's habit of shutting down on weekends has been highlighed by its coverage of today's fires in the ACT.

Whilst television stations are scrambling to cover the mounting disaster, reports are sketchy. Only Sky News is giving the crisis blanket coverage.

But it is in the one area where news can be transmitted quickly - the Internet - that the negligence of the major media outlets is most obvious.

There are updated reports on the fires from the News Corporation website, including this report. However, as of 7.30pm Saturday, apart from the News Corp site and the ABC website, the online editions of The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald contained no mention of the fires.

By contrast, the BBC website had a relatively up-to-date report, as did CNN.

The Canberra Times website was hard to reach and only contained an outdated report from the morning's edition.

Shortly after 7.30pm, the SMH website posted this story, an Australian Associated Press report identical to the one on News Corp.

Television stations are locking onto the story. SBS News crossed live to Dennis Grant in the station's Parliament House office. Grant reported live whilst the fires could be seen through the window behind him.

The ABC's Virginia Haussegger also reported reported live on the 7pm ABC television news. The constantly improving Sky News on Foxtel and Optus cable television has been providing detailed reports for some hours now.

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