According to thousands of its outraged readers, The Courier-Mail has a lot of explaining to do.

Yesterday’s front page article relating to the murder of Mayang Prasetyo has been labelled as insensitive and distasteful by many Brisbane residents.

Chris Thompson reports.

TRANSCRIPT

In a small cafe in the northern suburb of Wavell Heights, the newspaper stand is looking a little bare.

Bowerbird Cafe owner Dee Lean will no longer stock The Courier-Mail, or any other News Corp papers, for her customers.

She says the move was prompted by the front page of yesterday’s Courier-Mail.

Dee Lean, Cafe Owner: “I think it was disgusting to say the least.”

There was still a lot of anger over the headline today both online in social media and on the streets.

Vox 1: “I do feel that’s offensive”

Vox 2: “Well I think she shouldn’t be judged for whoever she is.”

Former editor of The Courier-Mail Michael Crutcher says it shows newspapers can still make an impact.

Michael Crutcher, Former Editor The Courier-Mail: “What we’ve seen with this is, newspaper front pages still have real clout. Even though many people are accessing news through digital, through websites and apps the front page still has a lot of clout.”

Today The Courier-Mail published a statement saying it had no intention of diminishing the value of Mayang’s life or adding to the grief felt by her family.

Mr Crutcher says that was the right thing to do.

Michael Crutcher, Former Editor The Courier Mail: “It’s an area of journalism around the country that needs to improve.”

A petition posted on the website Change.org has already reached over 22,000 signatures, averaging about 1000 signatures an hour. The petition, posted by The Brisbane Trans Community, specifically asks The Courier-Mail to publicly apologise for articles relating to Mayang Prasetyo.

The Courier-Mail was contacted by QUT News today but declined to comment.

Chris Thompson, QUT News.