The Age from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia • Page 155

The Age. 13 March 1982 Saturday Extra TALENTBANK Report: Dennis Shoesmith ft ft cs Jff ss'. v. iiu- Kstr- THE TWO men in a boat, speeding across the deep waters of Lake Laneo in the southern Philippines, are men at war. On the right, cheerfully brandishing an automatic rifle, is a former classmate of Colonel Gaddafi of Libya.

His business: the overthrow of the Philippine Government His name is Dahil Ali, but he is better known by his alias: Kumander Sumer. He is a provincial commander of an Islamic breakaway group, the Bangsa Mora Army (the fighting wing of the Moro National Liberation Front) and controls all its fighting units. Kumander Sumer claims the MNLF is fighting to restore the lost independence of a separate people and sees his army as the alternative Philippines Government. The Government, in turn, sees the MNLF as a rebel group, trying to dismember the State. So Kumander Sumer is a man with a price on his head.

But he wears this stigma with good humor tempered with a fierce cause. He sees his army as invincible, saying: "Our revolution began from nothing and has proved unstoppable." Between 1882 and 1985, Sumer and 15 other students from the southern Philippines studied in Egypt at Cairo's military university. They were just a few of the generation of young Moslems inspired by the Islamic socialist ideals of the late President Nasser. Another student, who was to have a powerful influence on Sumer's group, was Muammar Gaddafi, the future -leader of Libya. Libya has shown constant support for the MNLF during annual 1 meetings of the international Islamic conference.

Tripoli housed' MNLF headquarters and has provided the movement with moral. support and arms. "Uncle as I heard him called, is a hero to many Filipino Moslems, whatever his reputation may be elsewhere. Kumander Sumer, to prove his purpose and show his strength, 1 agreed to take me on a trip through his strongholds in the southern Philippines. We began in the provincial capital of Marawi; a city of fear.

It is a garrison of the army (patrolled by nervous teenage -soldiers recruited from the Christian central and north Philippines) which is seen as an occupying force by Marawi's Moslem communities. Sumer's followers seemed to be everywhere. Even the provincial police (Moslems) respectfully saluted our vehicle, which was crammed with guerillas nursing rifles and grenade-launchers. The conflict has led to an estimated 95,000 civilian casualties in the south over the past 10 years. Dennis Shoesmith is a research officer with Asia Bureau, Australia, an independent Christian group concerned with social justice issues.

Horror! Sydney tabloid war rages rl CLUMP doting nonsense (who) have made one more abortive, plaintive, miscarriage sort of effort to catchpenny a few threepences." These days, the denouncing has lost some of its gusto, but it still remains. In many newspapers, it is convention not to mention the opposition, except perhaps, when they appear in court. But the 'Mirror' and the 'Sun' seem to revel in rowing in public, particularly about circulation figures. They denounce their opposition's credibility. They denounce their opposition's claim to have more readership.

They draw cartoons, attacking each other. The 'Mirror' recently complained to the Trade Practices Commission about a 'Sun' poster and headline. People at the 'Mirror' say the 'Sun' has done the same thing to them. The 'Mirror sparked a vicious exchange with a page-one story which screamed: "The sinking 'Sun' would have you believe today it is the top paper in New South Wales. What balderdash." The newspapers use posters to knock each other's stories.

One day, the 'Sun' proclaimed: "Lorrae Desmond nearly blind," while the 'Mirror said: 'Lorrae Desmond eyesight saved." Mark Day, who was 'Mirror editor for a total of 15 months (they come and go; the past four and a half years there have been six), says that posters were often written to make the public jump to the wrong conclusion. But their accuracy could not be challenged. The 'Sun' once wrote these posters, referring to Elizabeth Taylor when she had a tracheotomy: 'Liz Grey', 'Liz Sinks', 'Liz Near Death. The last poster for that day read: 'Film Star Dies', but it referred to actor George Formby. Day says that the poster competition intrigues the public.

They like to be conned. "If they pick-up a paper after reading a poster and find they have been conned, it's all part of the game," he says. The 'Sun' has always been a touch more respectable, or up-market than the The 'Mirror's' page three girls expose more flesh. The 'Sun' aims for a slightly more middle-class audience, but has not been able to shake-off the tabloid style which Murdoch used to stamp his authority as an international media mogul. Derryn Hinch, now with 3AW, tried to clean-up the 'Sun' when he was editor, but failed.

The paper adopted a "you can believe in it" slogan, dropped the page-three girls and cleared advertisements off pages two and three under ji Shock! By Lindsay Murdoch STEVE DUNLEAVY senior was proud of Steve Dunleavy junior, when he slashed his father's car tyres in the Blue Mountains back in the mid 1950s. I Senior, a photographer on the Sydney afternoon newspaper, the 'Sun', was left stranded with a potential front-page picture of several hikers who had been lost But his son, who worked for the opposite 'Daily Mirror" as a cadet journalist, was hurrying back to Sydney with an exclusive. Three years later, his father had his revenge. When news broke that police had caught the Kingsgrove slasher, one of Sydney's biggest stories of that era, Dunleavy locked his son up in a laundry. Bold, brash, with a touch of larrikinism.

Sydney's afternoon newspapers portray much of the brassier side of life in Australia's biggest city. While afternoon newspapers round the world, including the staid Melbourne 'Herald', are facing struggling circulations due to the increasing influence of television, Sydney people are engrossed in a war of words, pictures, and competitions all adding up to a fierce, sometimes absurd rivalry. The afternoon print battle has captured a buying readership of about 700,000 daily more people than those who buy Sydney's morning newspapers. There is a sense of the unexpected when the 'Sun' (John Fairfax and Sons Ltd) and the 'Daily Mirror' (Rupert Murdoch) hit the streets about the same time. Their style is shock, horror, probe-tabloid journalism: big, dark headlines, buxom page-three girls and lots of sport.

Competitions and promotions have been as much the ink of the battle as the frontpage scoops. During the 1960s and early 1970s, both papers ran competitions giving away cars, swimming pools, blocks of land and even houses. These days the game is Bjngo, but the 'Sun' is no longer playing. It may yet have second thoughts. The circulation is now nearly 65,000 ahead of the 'Sun'.

Observers put the lead down to Bingo, the reader's chance to win $25,000. But Bingo is a last-minute shot in the battle which has raged since the 1950s, before Steve Dunleavy junior, now 45, took the blood and guts of Sydney journalism to New York and made a name for himself. He is now the metropolitan editor of Murdoch's mass circulation 'New York Post'. He is quite unashamed of his outrageous days in Sydney. "I remember the Sydney competition was so fierce that reporters would do anything to get a story literally anything.

I lost count the number of times I posed as a cop, a public servant or a funeral director," Dunleavy says. "I broke into houses to take pictures from mantelpieces everybody did it at the time. We would do anything to win the advantage. Both editors would go berserk if one had four paragraphs there and the other didn't It was the stuff which made Sydney reporters sought after around the world. "The sharper of us would carry rosary beads, a Bible and a Star of David," Dunleavy says.

"If we had to interview a grieving relative, we would produce the rosary beads if they were Catholic, the Bible if they were Protestants, and the Star of David if they were Jewish. It was a. way of winning them over." Mr Dunleavy senior, died in 1972. "We were very close," says his son, "the tricks we played on each other were all Bingo journalism or jingo journalism: it's all in the 'Sun' and 'Mirror. try to convince people in the news not to talk to anybody else.

In a business where a delivery truck missing a set of lights can mean being outsold at a newspaper stand, the reporters and photographers must be sharp to survive. Sometimes, editors tell reporters to take a drive in case something happens in the suburb they are in. Exclusive stories are guarded jealously. The 'Mirror once flew a contact to Hayman Island so the 'Sun' could not get to him. Representatives of the two newspapers are freespending when bidding against each other for rights to controversial books and stories.

They will poach the best staff and ideas. But former 'Mirror' editor and now publisher of 'Truth', Mr Mark Day, says that he cannot recall either newspaper having an advantage longer than one of five editions each day. "An edition is long enough for them to prepare a spoil story," he says. If the newspapers promote a story or series before it hits the streets, more often than not the opposition will prepare a rush story on the same topic and play it up big. Example: On 7 January, the 'Mirror' thought it had a good exclusive on US actress Elizabeth Taylor.

The Murdoch organisation in New York had bought the exclusive rights to the inside story on Taylor by author Kitty Kelly. It was not to be. The 'Mirror's' first edition ran the "ex part of the newspaper game. Dad was very proud of me," Dunleavy says. Today, the enthusiasm of people working on Sydney's afternoon newspaper is still as wild as that of the Dunleavy but not quite as ruthless.

The 'Mirror' moved quickly in January 1979 when the Russian "Red Bikini" girl Liliana Gasins-kaya squeezed through a porthole of a Russian ship visiting Sydney. The man who found her on the shores of Sydney Harbor telephoned the 'Mirror', and the newspaper had an exclusive which went around the World. As Liliana sought refugee status to stay in Australia, the 'Sun' had a photographer staking out the Immigration Department offices. Suddenly, out of a lift in the basement walked two 'Mirror journalists, escorting a girl with a coat over her head. A young man was jabbering in Russian-sounding language next to them.

The 'Sun' photographer and several television cameramen who were waiting started their films as the girl was hurried into a car and driven away at high speed. It had to be Liliana. The cameramen gave chase for a short distance but lost the 'Mirror car in traffic. But the girl, with the coat over her head, was a copygirl at Murdoch's News and while all the fuss was on, Liliana, apparently, walked out another entrance. The payback cam some time later when the 'Sun' assigned a photographer to sit for a week outside the home of a 'Mirror' photographer who was living with Liliana.

Finally, late one night, the 'Sun' man snapped a shot of the couple as they arrived home from dinner. The 'Sun' ran the picture big on page one. Playing tricks is all part of the game. 'Sun' and 'Mirror reporters pay "stooges" to stand in telephone boxes near places where news is breaking. Wasting a few minutes finding a telephone box can mean the difference between missing and catching an edition.

They also learn quickly not to trust the opposition. An experienced 'Mirror' reporter says: "If they are naive enough to believe what we say then that's their bad luck." Unlike the days of Dunleavy and the reporters now knock before entering the homes of families grieving a tragedy. But the mood of competition is such that one of the first questions asked is whether the opposition has been there. Late arrivers on jobs often find the pickings lean. The opposition will take the family album, not just the best pictures, so there is nothing left.

Reporters A fight clusive" over half of page one "Actress Elizabeth Taylor found her seventh husband, US Senator John Warner, 'boring, stuffy and not fun to be with'." But Murdoch's 'Star' newspaper in the US published the same story in time for the 'Sun's New York bureau to see a copy and send the story back to Australia. The 'Sun' ran the story even bigger than the 'Mirror' on its front page. It simply quoted the 'Star'. A characteristic trait of Sydney newspapers is extraordinary amounts of energy and newsprint they spend denouncing one another. In 1958, Cyril Pearl, wrote in his book, 'Wild Men of Sydney': "With other vestiges of 19th century larrikinism this tradition survives in contemporary Sydney, where eminent newspaper proprietors, to the bewilderment of the public and the belittlement of journalism, still project their personal quarrels in their papers." Here are a couple of memorable examples: Sydney's first 'Truth' described the opposition 'Democrat' as a "puling little rag that circulated widely round the Bondi sewer and was much execrated by the rats therein." A rival scandal-sheet the 'Innocents of Sydney', described 'Truth' as "the promulgators of piddling, babbling, frothy, Hinch's authority.

He also moved police stories from page one. Having set out to halve the 'Mirror's' circulation advantage of 47,000 in nine months, Hinch found after 12 months that the margin had grown to 57,000. He resisted demands for a higher advertising ratio, argued with the general manager and directors and resigned in April 1977. These days, the 'Sun' tries to justify its use of page three girls by running the pictures under the guise of fashion. The 'Mirror's girls are usually more brazen.

The paper ran a Miss Summergirl quest with a prize of a South Pacific cruise. In other years, the 'Mirror has run a Miss Schoolgirl quest However, it may be that Bingo, the game imported to Australian newspapers by Rupert Murdoch, will have the most telling effect in the battle. Executives of the 'Sun' say that last March, before Bingo, their paper was rapidly closing in on the 'Mirror's' circulation lead in the six months to 30 March, the 'Sun' was only 3000 behind. The first Bingo game helped the 'Mirror's' circulation jump 8.1 per cent to 30 September. It was so successful that the 'Mirror is now almost certain to continue the game until at least the middle of this year offering total prizes of $700,000 a game.

The 'Sun' "had a brief flirtation with a variation of Bingo, then opted for a $1000 a day "lucky" dollar note competition. The 'Sun's' Bingo game had the card inside the paper. The 'Mirror' spent a fortune distributing cards to practically every household in New South Wales. Bingo is an expensive way to boost circulation in an attempt to grab a bigger slice of advertising revenue. The 'Mirror's' Bingo has cost something like $2 million so far.

The big question which advertisers as well as the two newspapers are waiting to have resolved is whether the 'Mirror' can hold its lead when it drops Bingo. The 'Sun's' editor, Mr Ron Ford, says no. "The 'Mirror's' circulation is a falsely inflated figure which advertisers are sceptical about" he says. "The extra sales are from people buying the paper to get the Bingo number." The group general manager (editorial) of Murdoch's News Ltd, Mr Brian Hogben, says it is impossible to say if one factor has lifted the 'Mirror's' circulation. "Certainly, Bingo has done a lot of good," he says.

Mr Hogben says that the Bingo in the 'Mirror does not encourage people to buy multiple copies like other newspaper competitions which create dubious circulations. "The cards are home delivered and there is no need for people to buy more than one copy to get the Bingo number," he says. "We are reasonably sure that because people playing the game have been buying the paper for a long period that they will be in the habit of buying it They will have come to like it "we will finish up with a substantial number of new, permanent readers." How can Sydney support two afternoon newspapers which cannabalise each other's news and profits? Mr Hogben: "All I can say is that we have no intention of going out of business it depends on whether the opposition can stand the grind." Mr Ford: "The 'Sun' is a resilient soundly based, strong newspaper. We have always had strong advertising support, particularly in the retail field. We are healthy, alive and very much in business, which is not the case for afternoon newspapers around the world, particularly in the United States." Certainly, there has been some premature celebrating by 'Mirror' people.

As Rupert Murdoch said in News Limited's annual report last year, Sydney has the most vigorously fought newspaper battle in the world. It seems there are a lot of shots still to be to the finish: the kind of cartoon both papers use to let readers know which newspaper is in front..