Correction of the day. It was concerning to read the details in The Age yesterday about Tamil asylum seeker Lee Seemanpillai, who committed suicide by setting himself on fire. It’s a distressing story all-round, and according to The Age‘s story:

“Mr Mylvaganam said that Mr Seemanpillai had previously expressed his wish to be an organ donor, and his liver, an eye, both kidneys and a lung were removed prior to his death.”

But today’s correction sets the record straight …

organ donation

That is the sort of detail a sub should perhaps check … if Fairfax had any left, we’re sure they would have.

Called to account. And speaking of Fairfax, is the ailing media behemoth experimenting with novel ways of cutting costs? Not content with sacking photographers and subeditors, has Fairfax stopped paying for the content it publishes? A tweet from commentator Mike Carlton indicates dissension in the ranks …

Mike Carlton tweet

Bolt’s real predilections. A highly paid migrant with a taste for opera and expensive whisky — sound like the latte-sipping Left? Oh wait, we’ve just described that champion of the workingman, Andrew Bolt. His more rarefied tastes seldom make it into his column or blog, where the constant theme is the Left trying to steal your tax dollars and bludgers who are living a life of luxury on the dole. But lest we forget, The Australian‘s Strewth column has reminded us of the true measure of the man. Column author (and Crikey favourite) James Jeffrey asked Bolt to put his Turnbull spat into an artistic context:

“We asked Bolt which opera would capture the flavour for him. He replied, ‘I have Verdi’s Otello blasting in the background. Iago reminds me curiously of someone I saw on the telly today.’ Hopefully not the PM! Continued Bolt, ‘I’d pour myself a drop of Sullivan’s Cove, but that would only encourage a comparison with Cassio.’ Ah, yes, the gentleman soldier.”

Gentleman soldier indeed.

Kyle and Jackie No. The bloom may be off the Kyle and Jackie O rose, with the controversial duo falling in the breakfast radio ratings war. While The Kyle and Jackie O show was a clear ratings winner when the pair left 2Day FM for rival KIIS, their share of the lucrative Sydney breakfast radio slot has dropped from 10.1% to 8.8%. They are now in second place for commercial FM radio, behind oldies station WSFM’s Jonesy and Amanda. WSFM’s breakfast show is up from 7.5% market share last ratings period to 9.5% this time around. We’re tipping We Are the Champions found its way on air this morning at the ’70s and ’80s station. Both WSFM and KIIS are owned by Australian Radio Network  — so Kyle an Jackie O aren’t even the most popular show on the network. Ouch.

The rat of Long Island. Media Watch brought up the subject of glamourising criminals last night, focusing on accused former cop Roger Rogerson and convicted fraudster Jordan Belfort case. Host Paul Barry pointed to a number of puff pieces and softball interviews with Belfort, asking: “The guy is a crook, so why do serious journalists like the Australian’s Cameron Stewart also appear to be dazzled by his ill-gotten gains?”

Why indeed? Real estate terrier Neil Jenman suggested a reason on the Media Watch website this morning:

“Perhaps ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ (who should be known as ‘The Rat of Long Island’) got such a good run in The Weekend Oz Mag because ‘the Wolf’ (Jordan Belfort) was speaking at Australia’s largest real estate conference, sponsored by News Corp where Befort [sic] agreed to tell 3400 agents they should spend more money advertising real estate in the newspapers!”

Jenman has more on Belfort on his own website.

Of course, News Corp owns around 62% of REAGroup, Australia’s largest  online real estate company. Corporate “synergy”, or a free plug? — Glenn Dyer

Video of the day. Sad news out of Egypt today, with satirist Bassem Youssef, called “Egypt’s Jon Stewart”, pulled off air — again. According to Reuters, his latest show had poked fun of Egypt’s low turnout for its most recent elections, suggesting not  universal support for new Egyptian President and former military strongman Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. Youssef had also come under fire from former president Mohammed Morsi. Here are America’s and Egypt’s “Stewart” in an interview last year …