Objective journalism cannot hold politicians to account

The major story of day three of the election campaign was the coalition’s announcement of a 1.5% cut in the rate of company tax. The way this story was covered by The Australian and The Guardian represent two completely different views of the role of journalism in an election campaign. It was an unfolding story throughout the day as the ALP demanded to know how the cut would be paid for. Treasurer, Chris Bowen rejected Tony Abbott’s claim that the cut could be paid for by previously announced spending cuts as: “magic pudding economics” and double-counting. Although both sides were strong on rhetoric neither party was keen to put detail to their claims.