SARAH HARRIS: Now we’ve all heard how passengers arriving in Australia are forced to go into mandatory quarantine to help stop that virus spreading. But not everyone has to, with billionaire mining and media mogul Kerry Stokes and his wife spared from 14-day lockdown on medical grounds after arriving in Perth from Colorado two weeks ago. - Studio 10, Channel Ten, 24 April, 2020

Hello, I’m Paul Barry, welcome to Media Watch.

And the story of the Perth billionaire skipping a hotel lock-up for the comforts of home was always going to be an easy target for rival media.

Starting in WA Today, which broke the story of Kerry’s home run.

And also popping up on News.com.au, The Guardian, the Daily Mail, and Studio Ten, where Kerri-Anne Kennerley was not impressed:

KERRI-ANNE KENNERLEY: Look, it was a medical exemption. I do think, it just is such a bad look. - Studio 10, Channel Ten, 24 April, 2020

While Nine’s Perth News also made sure its viewers knew all about it:

MICHAEL THOMSON: It’s been revealed WA media mogul Kerry Stokes managed to skip hotel quarantine when he flew back from his ski lodge in Aspen, Colorado. - Nine News (Perth), 23 April, 2020

And yet, strangely enough, at top-rating Seven, viewers heard nothing. Nor did readers of Perth’s only daily newspaper, The West Australian. And Kerry’s homecoming was nowhere to be seen on the PerthNow news site.

And why is that? Well, as you’ve probably guessed, it’s Kerry Stokes who owns them all.

Indeed, WA is Australia’s most concentrated media market, with Seven West Media owning the top-rating TV station plus its most-read newspaper and website, so negative stories about the boss can be missed by much of the state.

But remarkably, Seven reporters were on the slopes near Kerry’s lodge last month when a group of Australians tested positive:

ASHLEE MULLANY: They are among 13 Australians currently in isolation, 10 have tested positively and concerning for this town, like so many here, is that there is now community transmission. - Weekend Sunrise, Channel Seven, 15 March, 2020

We’re glad Mr Stokes was not among them.

And while the billionaire did avoid a hotel lockdown, he still had a two-week quarantine at home, where no doubt he was working hard to save his media empire.

Seven West Media has apparently applied for help from the JobKeeper program, to keep staff employed as advertising revenue tanks and bankers circle the group.

But to qualify, group revenue has to fall by 50 per cent. So these must be really tough times for Seven and its 4,000 staff.