The Bulletin’s John Lyons first began digging dirt for this
week’s hatchet job on Paul Keating as long ago as last November, which
was when the former PM first began getting calls from friends and
former colleagues informing him that Lyons was asking pointed questions
about Keating’s life.

But the origins of the idea for the cover
story – titled “The Incredible Shrinking ex PM” – actually go back a
lot further. To 26 February, 2001 to be precise, which was the date of Time magazine’s cover story on former US president Bill Clinton – titled “The Incredible Shrinking ex-President.”

CRIKEY: Sure, it happens all the time in the Australian media – nicking
someone else’s idea. But rarely is the theft as brazen or carefully
calibrated as this one, especially as it was stolen from a direct
competitor.

If the wrapping was this shonky, what does it say about the contents of the package?