Michael Pascoe writes:

When a member of your employer’s board is
done over in the courts and then makes a total ass of himself by going into
denial, you’d think a newspaper would be careful to ensure they record it,
however blandly.

Not the Sydney Morning Herald. The year is
only one month old, but totally missing/avoiding/overlooking the Federal Court
dumping on Roger Corbett’s Woolworths has to be a favourite for the “Miss of
2006” title.

The basic AAP copy was on the SMH website yesterday and remains there, but there’s
not a single sentence about it in today’s paper. In contrast, The Age carried a small item on page three and this longer piece online.

For a number of reasons, it’s an important
story. Just the $8.9 million fine isn’t bad and it’s anyone’s guess how many
millions more Corbett has blown on legal fees in the decade-long fight that went
all the way to the High Court. But Corbett’s reaction to the loss moves it onto
another plane as news again.

The miss can’t be a Fairfax conspiracy of
silence to avoid embarrassing one of their controversial board members as the
AFR runs it on page three and Chanticleer gives Corbett an appropriate
touch-up. It is nonetheless a very, very strange omission.