A tale of two papers. Interesting how The Australian and the Sydney Morning Herald see the pokies debate unfolding today…

Australian health reporting goes online. Regular readers will know that Croakey takes a keen interest in innovation in health media and journalism, but most of the examples we’ve come across have been from the US. It makes a welcome change to be able to report some local news on this front.

The Health Reporter, an online publication dedicated to covering Australia’s health system, was launched this week. Thanks to one of the founders, Michael Riley for answering a few questions about the new publication. Riley says the site was “born of the belief by its owners that Australia’s health system is important and large enough to have its own daily online news site producing original news content and opinion”. — Melissa Sweet of Croakey (read the full story here)

Front page of the day. Today’s Daily Telegraph informs us debt-ridden ratings loser Nine had at one point tried to lure both Matthew Johns — sacked by Nine once after being exposed participating in a nasty buddy s-x romp — and John Ibrahim — the positively shady Sydney nightclub owner — with lucrative contracts. They failed on both counts; Johns rejected a $500,000 deal because he didn’t want to work with veteran Footy Show host Paul “Fatty” Vautin. Hard to believe Nine is not Still The One …

Leveson inquiry: Murdoch editors warn of ‘chilling’ regs effect

“The editors of the News International-owned Times and Sunday Times have told the Leveson inquiry they were implacably opposed to any form of statutory regulation of newspapers because of the “chilling effect” it may have on the press.” — The Guardian

Times editor: ‘should have covered hacking harder’

“James Harding, the editor of the Times, told the Leveson inquiry today that the newspaper should have covered the phone-hacking scandal ‘harder’ and ‘earlier’ but publisher News International had ‘poured cold water on it’.” — journalism.co.uk

Today Tonight in court over hire-car story

“Current affairs show Today Tonight is in legal hot water for the second time this month after a hire-car company claimed the program had falsely reported that it was ripping off customers by charging them for damage they had not caused.” — The Age

Google to protest against anti-piracy law on its home page

“Google’s home search page which is accessed billions of times each day will promote material highlighting the company’s opposition to two US anti-piracy bills. However the promotion will not appear on Google’s Australian home page, a Google spokesperson said this morning.” — The Australian

The AP’s social media guidelines

“The Associated Press released a shiny new set of social media guidelines on Tuesday, a sure sign that one of the world’s oldest media organizations is making moves to keep up with the times.” — The Atlantic Wire