That’s not a newspaper Mr President. THIS is a newspaper!
The NT News has run with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s suggestion to US President Barack Obama that he subscribe to the notorious Aussie rag.
Friday’s edition featured the following (not uncharacteristically) self aggrandising front page, summoning the spirit of Crocodile Dundee to back up the PM’s advice.
At a summit last week, Mr Obama was caught on microphone lightheartedly asking Mr Turnbull to “Let us know next time”, referring to the Chinese purchase of a key Darwin port which the US president learnt about from an article in the New York Times.
The sale of the port raised eyebrows in Washington, being so close to where US military personnel are stationed in Australia as part of the Obama administration’s ‘Asia pivot’ defense strategy.
“Seeking to encourage the circulation of great Australian newspapers, I suggested they should invest in a subscription to the Northern Territory News because it was not a secret,” Mr Turnbull said he replied.
“I did say to him even the US president would struggle to get onto the front page of the NT News without a crocodile angle.”
Never one to miss a golden tongue-in-cheek opportunity, the celebrated irreverent watchdog of the north also ran with a special presidential subscription offer, which included a free NT News stubbie holder, magnets and a singlet.
The NT News has built a cherished reputation for cleverly elevating farcical, mundane and puerile events in the Northern Territory to front-page news, often generating belly laughs around the world.
The News Corp publication won a Walkley Award, Australia’s most prestigeous media honour, in 2012 for its ‘Craker up my clacker’ headline:
And they awarded themselves a ‘Poolitzer Prize’ in 2014 when this front page made its way around the world via social media and traditional media outlets that just couldn’t resist the NT News‘s unique charm: