The Daily Telegraph has marked the historic vote for same-sex marriage with a downbeat front page featuring the miserable TV character Al Bundy from 1980s sitcom Married with Children.
“Now we can all share the joy,” was the sarcastic headline.
As the long-running Fox sitcom wrapped up 20 years ago the misanthropic husband slumped in front of the TV is unlikely to be a recognisable figure to the Telegraph’s younger readers.
The negative image of traditional marriage in Rupert Murdoch’s Sydney tabloid contrasts with the Sydney Morning Herald’s joyful front page featuring the rainbow flag and the word YES.
Some historic Australian front pages today! #MarriageEquality #FrontPagesToday pic.twitter.com/6i4BF2QkS2
— Paperboy (@frontpagestoday) November 15, 2017
The Telegraph, edited by Christopher Dore, who takes pride in his ability to capture the mood of his Sydney readers, was out of step with editors in the rest of the News Corp stable, which universally marked the occasion as historic and joyful.
News Corp’s Northern Territory tabloid, the NT News, joined in the spirit with a front cover featuring a giant rainbow-hued YES.
The Australian, the Courier Mail, the Herald Sun and the Advertiser all portrayed the celebrations across the nation as Australian overwhelmingly voted to change the marriage laws.
Tomorrow’s @BgoAddy front page, today. Bendigo says yes to #marriageequality #loveislove pic.twitter.com/jJespz5Rs4
— Nicole Ferrie (@nicoleferrie) November 15, 2017
Conservative commentators Miranda Devine and Mark Latham, who both campaigned for the No vote, were featured on the front page of the Telegraph – Devine saying she would accept the result and Latham explaining “why western Sydney delivered a loud no”.
“The people have spoken,” Devine wrote inside. “Same-sex marriage will become the law of the land.
“And it will do so with the blessing of the nation. Those of us who opposed this change to our foundational social institution accept with good grace the verdict of 61.6% of our fellow Australians who voted yes.
“But don’t forget that leaves a significant minority of Australians who voted no.
“Almost four in 10 Australians did not want to want to change the definition of marriage — and their view deserves respect. More than two thirds of the electorates which voted no are in Labor’s heartland of western Sydney.”
On Thursday night Andrew Bolt and Steve Price delivered their verdict on Nights with Steve Price on 2GB. The conservative shock jocks called Labor senator Penny Wong and the prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, hypocrites for opposing the postal vote and praised Tony Abbott for initiating it.
“But it would be nice if [Turnbull] also gave credit to Abbott, who proposed a solution that didn’t just give power to the people but saved the Liberals from splitting,” Bolt wrote on his blog.
TOMORROW’S FRONT PAGE PAYS TRIBUTE TO TODAY’S HISTORIC RESULT pic.twitter.com/blW0kPvF8y
— The NT News (@TheNTNews) November 15, 2017
The Daily Mail marked the event with a characteristic long headline and photographs of near-nude revellers in Hyde Park: “Rainbow without an end! Same-sex marriage supporters party long into the night and strip off in Sydney’s Hyde park as they go all-out to celebrate the yes vote that changed Australia forever”.
