MR. RUDE CAN'T POSSIBLY COVER UP THIS LATEST BLEMISH Make-up artist Lily Fontana, who took to Facebook to vent over her treatment at the hands of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on Wednesday night. — Daily Telegraph, 23rd August, 2013

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

Of course the story of Rude Mr Rudd was bound to make it into the papers.

It's real water-cooler stuff and a shoo-in for the gossip columns.

But should the opinion of a Brisbane make-up artist really be front-page news ?

Sydney's Daily Telegraph reckoned the answer was yes. And having splashed Mr Rude on the cover it brought us the full shocking scandal in a double-page spread inside .

NO AMOUNT OF MAKE-UP CAN CONCEAL RUDE RUDD — Daily Telegraph, 23rd August, 2013

And with such a golden opportunity to bash the man they hate the Tele was never going to stop at that.

Nor was Miranda Devine, who was given the chance to sink the slipper right up the front of the paper.

JOINING THE DOTS REVEALS PM's PRICKLY PERSONALITY — Daily Telegraph, 23rd August, 2013

But even Ms Devine's comments didn't mark the end of it.

Further back in the book the paper's National Political Editor Simon Benson took up another full page with a frank assessment of Mr Rudd's character .

CRACKS NOW APPEARING IN KEVIN'S MAKE-UP — Daily Telegraph, 23rd August, 2013

And in the middle of the paper there was even more, with a collection of quotes and comments from the make-up artist and a friend, and also from Malcolm Turnbull and Philip Ruddock, none of whom had witnessed the incident but who were all happy to be given a free kick.

And naturally it was then capped off with an editorial repeating the criticisms that the Tele's reporters and columnists had already made

RUDE REMINDER OF RUDD'S MAKE-UP — Daily Telegraph, 23rd August, 2013

For those of you who somehow missed this earth shattering story, it stemmed from a post on Facebook in which make-up artist Lily Fontana told her friends

Just finished doing Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbott's make-up for the People's Forum at the Broncos Leagues Club. One of them was absolutely lovely, engaged in genuine conversation with me, acknowledge that I had a job to do and was very appreciative. The other did the exact opposite! Oh boy, I have [never] had anyone treat me so badly whilst trying to do my job. Political opinions aside ... from one human being to another ... Mr Abbott, you win hands down. — Daily Telegraph, 23rd August, 2013

And what a win it was. So excited was the Telegraph by this putdown of the PM that it quoted Ms Fontana's message word-for-word no less than five times.

Here, here, here, here and here. With a shortened version here to make it six.

So how did the Tele justify hammering this trivial story so hard?

First because:

Character is a vital component in a prime minister. — Daily Telegraph, 23rd August, 2013

And second because, according to the Tele's prosecutors,

... they fit a pattern of allegedly unpleasant behaviour by Rudd towards others. — Daily Telegraph, 23rd August, 2013

They being things that Rudd has done before.

And sure enough, each of the Tele's damning articles cited a list of previous convictions for bad behaviour, starting with four references to Rudd's famous Sandwich Spit.

... in 2009 he'd reduced a RAAF flight attendant to tears during a dispute about a sandwich. — Daily Telegraph, 23rd August, 2013

That was followed by three reminders of Kevin's notorious Hairdryer Gate.

... blowing up over a hairdryer in Afghanistan ... — Daily Telegraph, 23rd August, 2013

Then came two references to Rudd's famous

Foul-mouthed temper tantrums caught on camera. — Daily Telegraph, 23rd August, 2013

And finally there was one reminder from Miranda Devine that a colleague had once called Rudd

... a "psychopath" ... — Daily Telegraph, 23rd August, 2013

Now, given that Kevin Rudd is running a presidential-style campaign and that Labor has been attacking Tony Abbott's personality, the PM can hardly complain if voters and the media judge Rudd on his character.

But this is character assassination.

The Tele ran five deeply negative stories about the same incident-all built on the opinion of one woman who was with the Prime Minister for a few minutes.

Rudd says he didn't actually speak to her.

And even the Tele's Simon Benson accepts that the claim he was rude to her is disputed ...

... sources in the room say Rudd wasn't rude to her at all. In fact he didn't say a word apart from thank you when she finished. — Daily Telegraph, 23rd August, 2013

SO ... Lily Fontana's opinion is looking like a flimsy excuse for ONE big story, let alone five of the same.

And it gets even flimsier when you read the Tele's Facebook page, with reactions from readers, one of whom is a fellow make-up artist ...

I've worked on jobs where Kevin Rudd has been involved in. Not once was he rude!! This is just another ploy to tarnish the PM! — Daily Telegraph Facebook page, 22nd August, 2013

I had the unfortunate pleasure of sitting next to Mr Abbott ... on a flight to Brisbane ... I very politely asked him a question on gay marriage and he was a rude arrogant pig. We all have our stories to tell..... maybe the Telegraph should spend less time on spin and more on hiring some real journalists.... — Daily Telegraph Facebook page, 22nd August, 2013

SO, given that there are doubts about this latest offence, what about Rudd's previous convictions such as the infamous hairdryer explosion?

Well, according to News Corp Australia's own political correspondent, Malcolm Farr, that never happened. Almost as soon as the Tele stories were published he tweeted ...

The story of Rudd and the hairdryer in Afghanistan stays alive even though totally untrue. Denied by those there including journalists — Malcolm Farr, Twitter, 23rd August, 2013

Last Friday morning, when The Daily Telegraph hit the streets, Kevin Rudd was campaigning in Western Sydney which is Labor and Tele heartland.

Asked what he thought about the story, he said it was a beat up, and he then posed a question

Kevin Rudd: Why is it that day after day whether it's in The Daily Telegraph or the other papers Murdoch owns across Australia ... why is it that they are constantly taking a club to our government and not putting Mr Abbott under one minute scrutiny? And the answer to that is pretty simple: Mr Murdoch wants Mr Abbott to be prime minister. — ABC News 24 Breakfast, 23rd August, 2013

Now we're not sure whether that charge can really be levelled at all Murdoch's newspapers.

But Rupert's journalists can be in no doubt about how to please their boss. Only last week he was tweeting:

Conviction politicians hard to find anywhere. Australia's Tony Abbott rare exception. Opponent Rudd all over the place convincing nobody. — Rupert Murdoch, Twitter, 20th August, 2013

So let's look at the Telegraph in a little more detail, because there is absolutely no doubt about its bias in this election.

In the first week of the campaign we tallied the Tele's coverage and found that exactly half its 80 political stories were slanted against Labor, while none were against the Coalition.

In the last two weeks the result is even clearer.

Out of 107 stories:

59 in our opinion are quite clearly Anti Labor. While just four are anti the Coalition. Only three of the Tele's stories are pro Labor, while 19 are pro the Coalition. And the rest are neutral.

Looking through the pages it's also clear that it's not policies or performance that Murdoch's paper is attacking. It's Rudd himself, whom they paint as a psychopath, a narcissist, a bore and a cheat, and a great deal more.

STOP THE NOTES PM accused of breaking rules in debate ... — Daily Telegraph, 12th August, 2013

' DOES THIS GUY EVER SHUT UP? ' Stopwatch shows Rudd hogged mic — Daily Telegraph, 22nd August, 2013

Some of the negative stories-like those one-sided reactions to the two debates at least have some foundation.

Others are triumphs of invention, like these three shocking beat-ups

COULD THIS BE KEVIN'S UNDERARM MOMENT? Trevor Chappell's underarm ball — Daily Telegraph, 20th August, 2013

RUDDBO Kev tells tales of his time on the front line — Daily Telegraph, 14th August, 2013

CRANKY PM SEEKS LABOR SAFE HAVEN — Daily Telegraph, 22nd August, 2013

All these stories, which carry the byline of the Tele's political reporter Gemma Jones, make the Prime Minister look angry, dishonest or not to be trusted.

The Ruddbo story accused him of trying to:

... cover himself in the reflected glory of the nation's troops ... — Daily Telegraph, 14th August, 2013

The evidence for this claim?

He told a group of soldiers in Townsville that he had been to Afghanistan five times and twice been outside the wire.

The Trevor Chappell underarm story relied on reports that Rudd had insulted lawn bowlers at a club northern NSW by not using them for a photo shoot. Yes, really.

And the Cranky PM story, which accused Rudd of being negative, angry and lashing out ... well let's get the Tele to explain that one for us:

A testy Kevin Rudd yesterday said his people's forum preparation involved talking to "real people"-then he left to go to a barbecue at the home of a Labor Party member. — Daily Telegraph, 22nd August, 2013

Yes, believe it or not, that was the story.

And yesterday The Sunday Telegraph followed up with more of the same, only this time they splashed it on the front page

RUDD'S KITCHEN RULES EXCLUSIVE: PM SUSPENDS CAMPAIGN FOR SYRIA TALKS BUT FINDS TIME TO STAR IN TV COOKING SHOW — Sunday Telegraph, 25th August, 2013

Once again the line was that Kevin is a big noter who can't be trusted .

HE started the day with the sombre announcement that the campaign had been suspended so he could focus on urgent talks about the Syria crisis. What the Prime Minister didn't say was he had his taxpayer-funded VIP jet waiting so he could fly home to Brisbane for the afternoon to appear on a cooking show, the ABC's Kitchen Cabinet. — Sunday Telegraph, 25th August, 2013

Rudd did go to a briefing on Syria that evening.

And Tony Abbott has taken time out of his campaign to appear on Kitchen Cabinet too.

Yet once again the Tele managed to cook this morsel into the dish of the day.

And the other Murdoch tabloids happily turned on the gas, with Melbourne's Sunday Herald Sun, Adelaide's Sunday Mail, Perth's Sunday Times and Brisbane's Sunday Mail all joining the roast

HE'S COOKED HIS GOOSE He wasn't saving Syria. He was slaving in the kitchen. — Sunday Mail, 25th August, 2013

Not surprisingly, on the Telegraph's Facebook page last week, there has been scorn by the bucketload

You idiots would do anything for a story! — Daily Telegraph Facebook Page, 21st August, 2013

The Daily Telegraph isn't good enough to put on the bottom of my bird cages or the cat's litter box. — Daily Telegraph Facebook Page, 22nd August, 2013

Now whether this campaign will damage Rudd at the ballot box is open to debate.

But the PM's popularity has plummeted since the campaign began.

And the Tele's intentions are certainly clear.

Back in April, News Ltd as it was known then, told advertisers that the Telegraph's readers are:

... the people who decide federal elections. — News Australia Sales, Daily Telegraph, April, 2013

We haven't got time to tell you in detail what the other Murdoch papers are doing.

They're not as bad as the Tele. But ... Mebourne's Herald Sun has had its moments

WHAT A CROC — Herald Sun, 16th August, 2013

RUDD'S ROAD TO NOWHERE — Herald Sun, 20th August, 2013

And Brisbane's Courier-Mail has at times tracked the Tele

'CHEAT' RUDD TIES HIMSELF IN NOTES — The Courier-Mail, 12th August, 2013

DOES THIS GUY EVER SHUT UP? — The Courier-Mail, 22nd August, 2013

The Courier-Mail has also tucked into the Prime Minister for getting fat

He clearly enjoys a good pie (and a cheese platter, and a pizza), but it looks like Prime Minister Kevin Rudd may have enjoyed a few too many in recent weeks. — Courier-Mail online, 19th August, 2013

Read more on this story

And of course The Australian has also been there to put the boot in through its columnist Janet Albrechtsen ...

VOTERS ARE WAKING UP TO THE REAL RUDD The seemingly sunny PM has some disturbing personality traits — The Australian, 21st August, 2013

Of course, why didn't we see it before? He's a serial killer and a cannibal to boot.

Almost 50 years ago, Rupert Murdoch was asked by the ABC if he enjoyed running a newspaper empire and telling his editors what to do.

Peter Nicholls: Do you like the feeling of power you have as a newspaper proprietor, of being able to sort of formulate policies for a large number of newspapers in every state of Australia? Rupert Murdoch: Well, there's only one honest answer to that, and that's yes. Of course one enjoys the feeling of power. — ABC, Five Australians: Rupert Murdoch, 25th July, 1967

In that same program, Murdoch volunteered his views on press freedom, and he was very clear about what was needed in Australia to ensure that freedom was preserved.

Rupert Murdoch: I think the important thing is that there be plenty of newspapers with plenty of different people controlling them, so that there's a variety of viewpoints, so there's a choice for the public. This is the freedom of the press that is needed. Freedom of the press mustn't be one-sided just for a publisher to speak as he pleases, to try and bully the community. — ABC, Five Australians: Rupert Murdoch, 25th July, 1967

Shall we just hear that again? Freedom of the press must not just be one-sided, for a publisher to speak as he pleases, to bully the community.

I couldn't have put that better myself.

And if you want more on this theme, you'll find plenty more on our website. But for now that's all from us. Goodbye.