Manchester and the media: What the attack coverage tells us about ourselves

The way in which journalists cover terror attacks will remain under scrutiny

The Manchester bomb attack, in which 22 people died, took place last Tuesday Australian time, and was a major front-page story for The Age, The Australian and the Herald Sun on the Wednesday and Thursday mornings.

The Herald Sun devoted its first 11 pages to the bombing on Wednesday and another seven to it on Thursday. By Friday, Manchester had disappeared entirely from the front page of The Age, was reduced to a side column on the front page of The Australian and a small box at the bottom of the Herald Sun’s page one.

For as long as I can remember,