It could be an interesting exercise to compare the prominent coverage of [Steve] Irwin's death with the slim few paragraphs (at most) devoted by the America news media on or about Aug. 4, 1999, to the death of 44-year-old Rodney William Ansell. The 1988 Australian Northern Territory Man of the Year -- so honored in part because he was widely acknowledged to be the real-life character on whom Paul Hogan, Ken Shadie, and John Cornell based their movie character "Crocodile Dundee" -- was killed in a shootout with police.Crikey!
Vin Suprynowicz asks (and answers) several relevant questions.