When the Australian official took to the podium to explain to reporters the discovery of satellite images that might show pieces of MH370, he carefully omitted to tell them the source.

The images were from a US satellite. The Australian Maritime Safety Authority's John Young did not mention this to the media.

When asked, he avoided the question.

And when reporters phoned Australian defence officials to ask the same question, they were given a firm "no comment" or "we can't discuss". This may seem odd, because the satellite's owners, the US company DigitalGlobe, were only too happy to tell the media.