Lethal violence is particularly ‘newsworthy’, and international research suggests that media representations of homicides provide a distorted depiction of the actual nature and risk of homicides. Understanding media portrayals of homicide is important given the impact crime reporting may have on public opinion and policymaking. However, much of the past research has been conducted in the United States and the United Kingdom. Using a sample of Australian newspaper articles published between 1 July 2008 and 30 June 2012, this study focuses on whether media representations of homicide are consistent with the actual characteristics of homicide in Australia (as reported in the National Homicide Monitoring Program (Bryant & Cussen 2015) data). This study revealed mixed findings. Although the reporting in the sample was generally inconsistent with official homicide victim and situational characteristics, the reported offender characteristics were similar to the actual characteristics of offenders in Australia.