The Sunday Telegraph featured a large photo of the Opposition Leader in front of an Australian flag, with the headline "Australia needs Tony".
When 1233 ABC Newcastle asked for comments on our Facebook page, we were flooded with responses.
They ranged from former readers, including Liberal voters, vowing never to buy the paper again, to those defending an independent media as free to express its views.
Some called it a "blatant campaign ad", describing it as "disgraceful", others pointed to bias in other sections of the media and suggested a lack of objective reporting anywhere.
Dr David McKnight from the journalism and media research centre at the UNSW, discussed the controversy with 1233's Jill Emberson.
David is the author of Rupert Murdoch: An Investigation of Political Power, and is a former ABC and Fairfax journalist.
He says the cover featuring Mr Abbott is "more extreme" than we've witnessed in the past in Australia.
"I mean that's really quite extraordinary," he says.
"Murdoch has a long history of intervening in politics in Australia and Britain.
"I guess it's the degree to which he does that which is surprising.
"Some would describe it as a British disease, or The Sun disease.
"Murdoch's newspaper, The Sun in London does this kind of thing, very garish, full-on front pages."
David says when the election campaign began, the Daily Telegraph ran a front page with the headline "Throw This Mob Out".
"There's no prizes for guessing which mob they were talking about," he says.
David recalls that in 1975 the Australian newspaper "turned" on the Whitlam government after previously supporting them.
He says the paper's journalists went on strike, and issued a statement saying "we can't be loyal to a propaganda sheet".
"That's the only comparison that I can recall, something to compare with what the Telegraph in particular is doing these days," he says.
David points out that editorials in Fairfax papers have started to swing behind the Coalition as well, but says it's not unusual for a newspaper's editiorial to favour a particular party.
"What the Sunday Telegraph has done is run an editorial, so-called, on its front page with a gigantic photo of Tony Abbott," he says.
"What that arouses in people I guess is a feeling that newspapers, sure they can take a stance, but they have a public duty to be responsible, ethical.
"These sort of front pages just tip the balance right over.
"Yes, Fairfax also has editiorial positions and probably in favour of Abbott too, but they don't turn their front page over into a campaign organ of a political party."
As for whether such front pages actually affect the way readers vote, is not so easy to establish.
"Most researchers would agreee there's a significant amount of influence, but it's very hard to say," David says.
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