The systemic-functional concept of congruence is employed to demonstrate the complexity and inaccessibility of media texts for students new to English in the context of economics or the Australian media, drawing on an analysis of media texts related to commentaries and reports concerning the 1995 Australian Federal Government Budget. It is shown that sophisticated linguistic skill is necessary to unpack the composite metaphors, expected and unexpected mixtures of imagery, and the cultural shorthand employed by media texts. It is suggested that novices will require not only time, but guidance to sift their way through the density of language to ascertain the intended meaning. Moreover, the introduction of such learning strategies is also taken as crucial for students to learn how to move freely from the congruent, spoken versions of their discussion groups to the more formal, incongruent wordings required in their written work. (LLBA 1999, vol. 33, n. 3)