Image:Image: Shutterstock; Dave Hewison Photography

In 2020, Kevin Rudd called for a royal commission into the influence of Murdoch owned media sources’ on the Australian political landscape, arguing that they push politically manipulated and deliberately polarising information, favouring the coalitions political agenda.

As NSW enters their fourth week of lockdown, and cases show no sign of decreasing, news media sources have started to criticise NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian’s reluctancy to enforce a snap-lockdown with harsher restrictions. Comparatively, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has been criticised by the media for subjecting Melbourne to strict lockdown restrictions over the course of the pandemic, despite maintaining a 62% approval rating throughout their 112-day lockdown.

With NSW and Victoria now being compared for their vastly different responses to the recent delta-strain outbreak, is NSW held to the same level of political scrutiny that Victoria has been for previous outbreaks?

Produced By: Bronte Piper

Featured In Story: Dr Tai Neilson, lecturer in Media at Macquarie University

First aired on The Wire, Monday 19 July 2021