The world stops

Road to Surfdom discusses the superficiality of the Australian media:

“Apparently a woman from Tasmania who lives in Denmark had a baby. The Latham diaries are so last week. Or was it the week before?”

Tim Dunlop has a point. The Sydney Morning Herald features the couple on its front page, its London-based correspondent, James Button, has been sent to Copenhagen, and vacuousness is turned into “news”:

“The new prince of Denmark will sleep ‘within an arm’s length’ of his parents, Crown Prince Frederik has told reporters at Copenhagen’s central hospital, where his wife, Crown Princess Mary, is recovering after the birth of the couple’s first child on Saturday morning.

“As speculation turned to when the baby would be first shown in public – possibly not until Wednesday or Thursday – Prince Frederik’s delight dominated Danish media coverage.

“Prince Frederik, who cut the umbilical cord, said he shed a tear at the birth. ‘You don’t stand there and act like Superman,’ he told the newspaper BT.”

An Australian woman has a child. She lives in Denmark and has married into royalty. The birth has no impact on Australia whatsoever.

Celebrity culture is not news. But then, the Sydney Morning Herald is increasingly not serious about real news. Its website leads with “Who makes Sydney’s A-List?”

Text and images ©2024 Antony Loewenstein. All rights reserved.

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