Iranian regime officials have themselves acknowledged a death toll of 3000 protesters.
There are credible estimates based on high ranking sources within the regime and the photos, videos and testimony which has made it through the communications blockade that 12,000 are dead.
So why is the Australian media still reporting a figure of 500?
What has happened in Iran in the past few days has every hallmark of a massacre not seen since the 1979 revolution. It is crimes against humanity. When the regime allows its own media orgs to broadcast from morgues and tells the NYT 3000 are dead we should believe them (then multiple that many times over).
This is a critical time in Iran's history. The mainstream media has a responsibility to cover it. And they have a responsibility to get it right.