The media flogs Williams’ bloody corpse

Drug trafficker and hitman Carl Williams met his bloody demise in prison yesterday, done in by a fellow inmate wielding a part ripped from an exercise bike, following a big Herald Sun scoop that morning alleging Williams was in cahoots with dodgy cops splashing across the front page:

The Underbelly screenwriters couldn’t have scripted it better themselves.

Naturally, the media is going to have a field day on this one: murder, celebrity crims, betrayal, police corruption…

And the public interest is there: this is the same country that has made national icons out of Ned Kelly and Chopper Reed, after all.

But just how far will the nation’s news outlets go in flogging this one?

Just about every paper in the country ran huge with the story this morning — burying today’s Newspoll results, last night’s Four Corners revelations about Chinese cyber attacks on Rio Tinto, and even the MasterChef Australia season premiere.

In The Oz:

James Madden has the story of a good-suburban-boy-turned-bad, while Cameron Stewert has a fairly even-handed wrap-up of the fallout, containing some stunning revelations about Williams’ private life:

Shortly before his arrest, he drank heavily and popped pills in the safety of his high-rise apartment, watching Jennifer Lopez DVDs or listening to Kenny Rogers and Neil Diamond.

In the story’s home city of Melbourne:

The Herald Sun lays claim to the “final interview” with Williams. In the op-eds, Keith Moor says Williams’ death is “no great loss to society“, while Paul Williams has penned an extensive obit of the “kingpin” he says was driven by “vengeance, paranoia, avarice and fear”, and underworld figure and former Williams ally Bert Wrout has sent him off with a snarl:

He was a very despised person.

But I’m not surprised at all about Carl’s death.

He’ll be consigned to the rubbish tip of history.

In The Age, Paul Austin calls for Victorian Premier John Brumby to face scrutiny over prison security, John Silvester reckons the attack was “orchestrated, co-ordinated and perhaps months in the planning”, and that Williams “had it coming”.

In Sydney:

The Sydney Morning Herald‘s coverage is positively subdued, with only a few syndicated pieces from The Age, but the Daily Tele is running big and sensational, with Adam Shand describing Williams as a “lonely” and “broken” man, while Paul Kent somehow spins the whole thing into a Melbourne vs. Sydney story:

“Today only proves that the Sydney criminals are up a notch,” former detective Roger Rogerson said.

Rogerson confirmed the long-held belief that Melbourne’s criminals are a cowboy bunch without the nous to survive as top-flight crims.

“Down in Melbourne they’re all amateurs,” he said.

Maybe it’s because of something as simple as Melbourne not having a harbour where the bodies could disappear.

In Queensland:

The Courier Mail is running with the “police corruption” angle, while the Gold Coast Bulletin has the tenuously-connected story of Williams’ 2004 family holiday to Surfers.

The Advertiser is going with the same AAP story about corruption:

And in the Top End, the story has taken a back seat to UFOs and teen sex (no crocs today?):

But this story isn’t just confined to Aussie headlines. Here’s how the rest of the world sees it:

The Independent: Australia’s Tony Soprano meets brutal end in maximum security jail

Guardian: Australia’s baby-faced killer Carl Williams dies in jail

NZ Herald: Underworld killer beaten to death

The Toronto Star: Inside the murderous reign of the Aussie Godfather

Scottish Daily Record: Killer who inspired crime drama Underbelly dies in prison fight

No doubt the media will continue to beat this story for days (or possibly weeks), until its battered corpse looks much like one of Williams’ many victims.

Have you seen any particularly egregious pieces of coverage? Let us know in the comments below.