Wrap your brain around the number 21 million. Now look at these numbers.

From Media Monitors, a wrap of mentions in the media from the past week of Oprah Winfrey’s Australian tour announcement, set alongside media mentions of the growing crisis in Pakistan:

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Bear in mind that UN officials say the scale of the devastation in Pakistan is bigger than the 2004 tsunami, and the Haiti earthquake, because 21 million people are affected. Need we remind you that that’s roughly our entire population.

So, is this neat little graphic proof that Tourism Australia’s decision to shell out about $3.5 million to secure Oprah Winfrey’s visit is already paying off in a blitz of free publicity? Or a depressing commentary on what makes news?

Possibly both.

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Extra, extra, read all about it: the Crikey Free Newspaper Tracker continues to be inundated with sightings, so much so, we can’t keep up with you all. Click here for the latest, and we’ll keep plotting the piles of free papers on our map as you send them in:

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