Bushfires in Australia, ongoing since September, have killed at least 28 people to date and burned an estimated 15.6 million acres of bush, forest, and parks across the country. Experts say the fires are likely to continue for months, and it is estimated that as many as 1 billion animals may perish through the season. The link between climate change and the historic severity of the crisis is “scientifically undisputable.” Among other factors, the country’s warmer climate causes droughts that produce natural fuel for fires, making bushfires “larger and more frequent.”

Rupert Murdoch’s homeland media empire has been subjected to increasing criticism (including from his own son) for pushing climate denialism, downplaying the severity of the crisis, and hyping exaggerated stories about the role of arson in the fires.

A Media Matters conducted a noncomprehensive review of digital front page of News Corp.’s flagship national paper, The Australian, using the Internet Archive Wayback Machine. Not every date was archived, but snapshots of those that were available reveal the tone of the coverage overall. While the paper’s website, which has a monthly reach of 2 million readers, did sometimes provide live updates on the fires, it has also undercut that important coverage with multiple op-eds denying science that demonstrates the bushfires have been accelerated by climate change.

The Australian ran several different climate-denying opinion pieces on the cover. One castigated “climate alarmists” and concluded that “bushfires have been around forever so it is ridiculous to claim they are a consequence of global warming.” Another op-ed declared that “fires aren’t the end of the world,” defended the Murdoch media, and described those concerned about climate change as suffering from “apocalyptic thinking without a real apocalypse.” The Australian also ran two separate op-eds from climate deniers Chris Kenny and Peter Ridd. Amidst their climate denialist opinion pieces, the newspaper has also been attacking the publicly funded Australian Broadcast Corporate, which has been working overtime to provide life-saving coverage of the crisis.