There’s been a whole lotta hubbub about the Daily Telegraph’s abandoned baby headline yesterday: “How Could She”. Beyond Blue spokesperson Jeff Kennett slammed the tabloid for such sensationalist and uninformed stupidity while The Man Of Steel got in on the action pretty quick to give it his big ol’ Rodent tick of approval, saying: “In defence of the Tele, that’s what most people say. I feel for the mother, I feel for the baby, I feel for the woman’s family, but fair go to the Tele — after all, that is the natural reaction. How could you abandon a little baby?”

I took a look at the Daily Telegraph’s sister newspaper, the Herald Sun, at work this morning and it is curious to note how keen the Hun is to distance itself from its stablemate’s stance. In its front page story the paper doesn’t mention the Tele’s headline at all, simply noting that Kennett and Howard “locked horns” over “criticism of the mother.” Even Howard’s tick-of-approval comment was twice doctored to remove any mention of the Tele:

Above headline
“But, fair go… How could you abandon a little baby?”

In story
“I feel for the mother, I feel for the baby, I feel for the woman’s family, but, fair go . . . that is the natural reaction,” [Howard] said. “How could you abandon a little baby?”

The Herald Sun, fearless as always: won’t agree with the Tele’s views but won’t criticise them either.