I guess that the Mail on Sunday thought it was an entertaining way to describe death and disaster in a faraway country. It ran this picture of the Australian bush fires with the headline "Er, Bruce... the fire's the other way!"
Clearly, the subeditor had presumed that the image of a fire engine driving away from the "vast advancing wall of smoke and flames" was "fleeing". It could, of course, have run out of water and been returning to pick up a fresh supply. It could even have been heading towards another area of fire located behind the photographer's lens.
Whatever the case, it was an insensitive way to report on a tragedy that, according to the paper, had resulted in 25 deaths (with the total now having reached 171). And that Bruce cliché also served to underline the paper's chauvinism.
Memo to MoS editor Peter Wright: Er, would this be a good time to explore subbing being outsourced to Australia?
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