Hands up those out in Bugland who believe news programs should strive for accuracy and no-nonsense, honest, reporting at all times?

You know, the adherence to the basic tenets of journalism?

Well, we can discount last night’s pre-6pm promos for Channel 9 Brisbane’s main nightly news bulletin.

“In two minutes….,” the Millionaire Hot Seat promo for that bulletin began, “…..see the exact moment two helicopters collided at Sea World….” all accompanied by vision of the two copters converging.

You know what The Bug‘s Media Glass House compilers shouted as they enjoyed an end-of-the- long weekend rumbo and Coke at their various boarding houses close to The Bug‘s office?

BULLSHIT! they texted one another almost as one. B.U.L.L.S.H.I.T!

And, sure enough, did the bulletin show the moment of impact on the vision they clearly had in hand? No.

The MGH’s beef with all this is not the station’s decision not to show the impact. That might be based on very sound, although perhaps debatable, reasons. Four people died in that accident.

But they weren’t being honest either. The MGH deplores the shabby Daily Mail-style click-bait approach to getting viewers to stick with the news. This is a serious news bulletin; whoever penned that promo is not reaching new hyperbolic heights in promoting a reality TV show that “will stop the whole world in its tracks”.

The promo promised viewers something the bulletin had no intention of delivering.

The MGH’s own view is that showing the moment of the collision would not have been an affront to those who have sadly lost their lives or been gravely injured.

News programs happily show trucks ploughing into dozens of stalled cars on a blizzard-hit US highway in which people are getting killed.

One of our MGH compilers unfondly remembers a time at the Jubilee Hotel in Brisbane when he was roundly put upon for having the temerity to suggest the vision of the moment Steve Irwin and that stingray came together should have been aired instead of being destroyed.

Here was a man who had made his name internationally for getting up close and personal with potentially dangerous wild animals.

Our silly MGH compiler thought the world was entitled, without the video getting too graphic, to see exactly how Irwin met his death and whether he’d done something pretty bloody stupid.

He remains to this day surprised about how many of his colleagues vehemently thought otherwise.