From today's Crikey email:

Did you see the interview with Kevin Rudd last night on the 7.30 Report? Not once, not twice, but THREE times, they 'supered' him as, "Kevin Rudd, Shadow Opposition Leader"! A conspiracy or a f**k-up they say in the classics, as Slimey slips and slithers trying to find some traction on Iraq.
Question: did Kevin supply the title to be used, or has the ABC anointed him the Opposition Leader in waiting?

Maybe they were trying to get in before Crikey could do that themselves. Also in the email:

A Nine viewer writes:
"What could possibly be more important than 9's early morning coverage of the war?
How about a replay of an old Masters golf tournament, rather than its quite passable early morning news? No sign of a Today Show, either, as the Male Model from Mudgee's just appeared on screen and is talking to a bloke at Augusta whose under a storm stick.
I hope this madness stops before I miss the Parrot!"

That would explain why the golf was on Ch.9 this morning when I went to switch on the Today show even though, when I flipped over to Ch.7's morning show I heard the golf had actually been rained out. This comes interestingly timed, since certain individuals were bleating the other day about the ABC dropping its overnight BBC feed. At least the ABC weren't actually ditching any of their own coverage in doing so, which is more than can be said for Ch.9 dropping its whole morning show for golf... and a repeat of golf at that.

posted by James Russell | 5:46 PM