Tale of two papers

While the Sydney Morning Herald decides, in a fit of rare bravery, to shun Howard's "beliefs"...

Sydney Morning Herald, September 10:

"Readers should not be worried if they missed the Prime Minister's statement of Australia's core beliefs. It was easy to do. We will not repeat them here because, to be frank, we can't quite recall what they were. His list of beliefs seemed a bit like some of Mr Howard's own promises: with all the business about core or non-core, they get a bit elusive. It is enough to know the Prime Minister thinks he believes something. That will reassure the emotionally needy in the community. The rest of us will just have to cope with our suspicion that Mr Howard believes unshakeably in whatever gets him what he wants. Everything else is just spin."

The Guardian, September:

The Guardian relaunches in a Berliner style and articulates a vision for a truly 21st century newspaper. The British broadsheet is far from a perfect institution - Medialens has long accepted that - but at least it seems to know what it stands for, whom it represents and the values it serves.