Crikey

Just in case any further confirmation that the tumbleweeds completely take over the Big House on the Hill in January was needed, the media coverage figures from the last seven days  — an absent Kevin Rudd top scoring with about a quarter the level of his usual coverage — should suffice.

Sleepy times in Canberra means plenty of state politicians on the Media Monitors’ Top 20 list, with health issues particularly prominent in Queensland and also NSW, along with good old Laura Norder getting a run —  presumably she’s only back on top until everyone has to start trying to get to work again.

Of the few federal types getting coverage, Acting PM Julia Gillard is pretty much neck-and-neck with Kirribilli Kev, Joel Fitzgibbon is high on the list following the death of Private Greg Sher in Afghanistan last week, and Jenny Macklin featured in plenty of discussion of what’s in store for remote indigenous communities in 2009.

The seasonal lack of interest in politics definitely extended to talkback in the last seven days  — apart from the politics of the Australian cricket team of course.

You possibly won’t be surprised that the retirement of the last of the golden patch of Australian cricketers born around 1970 saw two-and-a-half times as much coverage as any politician received, and five times as much on telly. Will we ever see dominance like that again, in any sport?

There’s more on the Media Monitors website.