“Let’s get this straight. In 1998, David Hicks signs up to train with a US-backed group, gets snapped posing ineptly with an unloaded, borrowed weapon on his first day, never gets anywhere near a fight, and is back home in Salisbury, South Australia, six weeks after he left. Three years later, referencing another conflict in another country, every editor worth his salt plasters an altered version of this shot next to their ‘Soldiers of Blue Terror’ stories”.

Alan Johnston analyses The Australian’s coverage of the ‘David Hicks’ story in Australia.