UPDATE: Richard Hinds comments in The Age entertainment pages:
"So on Melbourne Cup day, when Fairfax reported that jockey Damien Oliver had admitted to a confidant that he had bet on a rival horse, Seven's response would prove revealing. Too often, rights-holding networks take far more seriously their perceived responsibility to 'promote' an event than to report on it. Even if that means sometimes ignoring controversies that might remove the gloss from their product.
"The man at the centre of the controversy was racing's answer to Judd. Superstar rider. Emotional hero of a Melbourne Cup victory. And, as Seven went to air, racing and state government authorities were making bizarre claims that The Age should not have run the Oliver story because it might detract from their festival of frocks and frills.
"How did Seven cover the story on a day when, you suspect, it would have preferred to be spruiking the celebrities in the marquees or running yet more wacky stories on racegoers in gorilla suits? Aggressively, fairly, thoughtfully and in a manner that added greatly to the coverage's credibility. So well, you hope other networks that eschew journalism for boosterism in their sports coverage take note."
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