The Fin labours the point… The Australian Financial Review reports today on page 17:

“European companies are preparing the most initial public offerings in two years after IPOs weathered the region’s debt crisis and outperformed US deals.”

And just to emphasise the point, on page 26 it tells us that:

“European companies are preparing the most initial public offerings in two years, shrugging off the region’s debt crisis and outperforming US deals.”

And on it went. The copy, fed to the paper by Bloomberg, was almost exactly the same — yet, mysteriously, featured different bylines. Was the story so good it needed to be run twice? — Jason Whittaker

…and misnames a photographer? On the cover of yesterday’s AFR, the photo of Bob Hawke embracing Julia Gillard was attributed to Peter Braig. Ben Rushton got the credit on the cover of the Sydney Morning Herald for exactly the same shot. Who’s paying the photographers at Fairfax? And the proofreaders? — Crikey reader

Christmas comes early at The Age. I have heard of the department stores putting Christmas decorations up early, but this is ridiculous. It’s still five and a bit months away! — Crikey reader Richard Edwards

christmastoys

Why the paywall will screw us all

“So tonight, for the first time, I went behind Fairfax Media’s paywall. Based on that experience, if the future of journalism is paid content then every one of us working hacks is utterly screwed.” — Mumbrella

US TV indecent, but constitutional

“A United States appeals court tossed out the indecency policy of the Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday, calling it a violation of the First Amendment.” — New York Times

Time takes on aviation — and loses

“In a case of the pot calling the kettle black, journalism has taken on aviation in a remarkably ill-thought out article called 20 Reasons to Hate the Airlines.” — Huffington Post

Gays bigger blog fans

“A total of 54 per cent of gay and lesbian respondents to a recent national survey by Harris Interactive said they read blogs, compared with 40 per cent of heteros-xuals, and the research firm reported that the gay and lesbian figure was only 32 per cent in November 2006.” — WebNewser

eBay against the wall for patent breach

“XPRT, based in Greenwich, Connecticut, accuses eBay of violating six patents that let shoppers make purchases online using alternative forms of payment instead of their credit cards, among other processes.” — Herald Sun