I'm an expat, so I read/watch a fair bit of news, as I'm always keen to keep up with what's going on at home.
Australian news-
SMH online, I don't mind their political coverage, or at least a few of their writers. Ross Gittins especially. Although I think it is slipping a bit, you're more likely to see celebrity stories or other mindless crap on their website.
As for the general media situation, I'd say that Australian newspapers are generally pretty dismal. I think this is because we have, I think, the least diverse media on earth in terms of ownership. In capital cities you find a news ltd tabloid and a news ltd national daily, The Australian, with the exception of Sydney and Melbourne, who are the same but have a fairfax broadsheet each, and Perth that has a news ltd tabloid plus the West Australian. Overwhelmingly concentrated media ownership, I don't think any country in the western world has anything like it.
Obviously don't watch Aussie tv, although having been home last year, during the federal election, I was pretty dismayed at how dumbed down everything was. I remember landing in Sydney and seeing sunrise or the today show on one of the tvs at the airport. Embarrassing. Even sixty minutes, (is that still on?) which used to be the standard bearer of a serious current affairs show on commercial television, seem to have morphed into a slightly upmarket version of A Current Affair. The ABC and SBS are much better. I can watch their news and get actual news, rather than celebrity drivel or stories about people's pet dogs being rescued. And ABC and SBS both have great documentaries.
British news:
I am somehow proud that while Australian newspapers, and the media in general, are very ordinary, at least we have nothing as bad as The Sun. I don't own a TV so I generally just read the BBC website, which I suppose is okay for keeping up with things.
I actually spend much of the year in Germany, and the media here I think is of a high standard, comparatively. Sure, it has its newspaper equivalent of The Sun, and its TV equivalent of Today Tonight, but I find the newspapers and TV here to be of much higher quality. The debate you see on TV is often informed, rational and intelligent, and the news has coverage which is much more balanced and critical than much of the English speaking media.
Overall though, definitely plenty of bad and ugly in the media.