Need directions Down Under? Just don't ask the national newspaper or Tourism Australia

Tourism Australia and the Weekend Australian Magazine (not on-line) have been running a competition over the past four weeks asking readers to send in photographs capturing Australia "in all its technicolour glory".

Yesterday, the results were published in the magazine, which appears in the Weekend Australian newspaper.  One winning pic was taken at Port Neill in South Australia.

The accompanying map (below) must rate as one of the most embarrassing mistakes I've ever seen in a newspaper or magazine (click on thumbnail to enlarge).

The section is not marked advertorial and uses the same font as elsewhere in the magazine, though it carries Tourism Australia's logo. Perhaps it was produced externally. That could explain the mistake.

I worked for the paper for 10 years. One criticism, especially in wildly parochial cities like Melbourne and Adelaide, is that The Australian is Sydney-centric.

This used to manifest itself in dreadful errors in the paper's coverage of the Australian Football League (AFL), the dominant footy code in Melbourne, Hobart, Adelaide, Perth and Darwin.

But I never thought Sydney-centricity could lead to the paper placing Adelaide on the eastern shore of Port Phillip Bay, south-east of Melbourne!!

Here's a correct map. Adelaide is a third of the way across from the left, about half-way down.

Comments

[Trevor Cook]

Unbelievable - bit like those maps of Australia which left out Tasmania

[Ben Haslem]

Tasmania?

[Lee]

But isn't everywhere just an outer suburb of Sydney? I have recently 'enjoyed' a lot of dealings with Sydney communicators and am stunned at the "we are Sydney, we are right; you are not Sydney, you are wrong" mentality. Humility is not, it would seem, a Sydney strong point. Which is one reason why I rave about your blog so much -- you DO have a wider appreciation of life than just what the Rabbitos are up to. Even the ABC News here is managed from Sydney and it shows -- we have no interest in rugby, but you would be amazed how many rugby stories lead the 'sports' reports...

Anyway, isn't Tasmania part of outer Melbourne? [grin]

[Ben Haslem]

Hey Lee, could be worse. You could be an AFL fan living in Sydney who doesn't follow the Swans. Even with Fox Footy on Foxtel, I often can't watch Sunday afternoon Collingwood games until six hours after they start (thanks to Nine refusing to release the broadcast rights to Fox Footy any earlier!) For the record, Melbourne is my favourite Australian city. I like Sydney but will never love it; unlike Melbourne. Family and career has me here.
BTW, the Rabbitohs play Rugby LEAGUE. Not Rugby, which is actually Rugby Union. Yes, there's a difference.