Mal, the papers and one little word … Apparently three origin matches weren’t enough for the tabloids this year. News Limited stablemates The Daily Telegraph in NSW and The Courier-Mail in Queensland have  been gearing up for Origin IV, to take place not on the pitch but on the back pages — and possibly in court.

On Sunday, Queensland coach Mal Meninga launched a scathing attack in The Sunday Mail, calling out nobody in particular for nothing in particular. Mal labelled Queensland’s win as “a victory against the very rats and filth that tried to poison a monumental team with lies, personal attacks, arrogance and disrespect”. The Tele seems affronted — it reports today the NRL Match Review Committee wanted Mal to say sorry for what it called his “bizarre” and “vitriolic” column. They’ve also managed to see through the subterfuge and name Mal’s targets: “Meninga viciously attacked the NSW media, NSW officials, Blues coach Ricky Stuart, the match review committee and the NRL judiciary.”

The Brisbane tabloid for its part thinks Mal had every right to be cranky, revealing that “some” have “urged Meninga to counter-attack by launching his own defamation action against cheap shots published in the Sydney press”. In fact, the Courier-Mail reported “explosively” that Meninga had in fact been pre-warned to expect the “Sydney newspaper low-blow!”.

This after the papers went to war over the judicial citing of Jonathan Thurston, were at odds over Channel Nine’s blue-blood commentary team, and last week on game-eve The Courier-Mail ended up in court against the NRL — still part-run by News Limited — after breaching broadcast agreements to air its own maroon-coloured call. It’s more than a game — even at News. — Crikey intern Michael McGowan

Front page of the day. Here’s today’s News International-owned Sun front cover. It’s the front page and the story that’s causing a new furore in the UK. Watch this space.

Welcome to Murdochia

“Murdoch’s influence in Britain — and the United States where the Wall Street Journal, Fox News, and the New York Post are media fixtures — was well documented, even before this recent scandal. But they’re hardly the only places where the News Corp empire has courted political influence and found itself in the midst of political scandal” — Foreign Policy

Assange fronts court with new lawyers to fight deportation

“WikiLeaks crusader Julian Assange appeared at Britain’s High Court last night with a fresh legal team to appeal an extradition order to Sweden where he is wanted for questioning about alleged s-x crimes against two women.” — The Australian

How journalists, community can connect with Google+

“I immediately saw an awesome opportunity for a specific journalist or even better a whole news organisation to make Google+ into something awesome and useful to connect with their community. Here’s how …” — 10,000 Words

Doctor Who BBC Worldwide’s biggest-selling TV show

“Doctor Who was BBC Worldwide’s biggest-selling TV show internationally last year and, along with brands including Top Gear, Lonely Planet, the international version of Strictly Come Dancing and BBC Earth, helped earn more than £300m in revenue.” — The Guardian

Helicopter dumps giant water load on reporter

“Suzi Theodory was ready to cover an LA County wildfire for Time Warner News. She even had her anti-smoke sunglasses on! But what she wasn’t prepared for was to be doused with hundreds of gallons of water from above.” — Gizmodo