Channel Nine Underhanded?

When the PM Mr. Howard agreed to a debate he did so on the condition that the 'worm' was not used. The live "worm" is a graph monitoring the reactions of a group swing voters. Channel nine decided to run the debate and the live worm, but because it contravened Howard's wishes they had their feed cut twice before they could hook up a signal to Sky News.

Nine's news chief John Westacott was pretty upset at the news feed being cut calling it an "outrageous act of censorship". He admits that, "we were asked not to use the worm, that's correct, and we didn't agree with any of the conditions that were laid down by the press club."

All the same knowing the conditions and flouting them was pretty childish if you asked me and as far as I was concerned the worm was pretty bloody useless and detracted from the debate. If I had known the debate was on channel 2 I would have changed the station.