Take a quick look at the image at top and it’s fairly clear that someone has used the words “red-faced” to describe Anthony Albanese’s reaction to hearing that US president Joe Biden had pulled out of this week’s Quad talks in Sydney.

“Red-faced!” “Red-faced!” “Red-faced!” Talk about reinforcing a message!

Crikey, any journalist worth their salt would surely then feel the need to identify the source(s) of that comment if they could, right?

And the Media Glass House thinks they would. But enough about real journalists. Let’s talk about Sharri Markson and her comment piece on Sky Views the other day.

Markson reinforced those not-so-subliminal messages with words of her own: “Commentators say Albanese has been left redfaced over the cancellation..”

Note the plural “commenators”. So who might they be?

Markson mentions only one and he was …. (are you ready, folks! drum roll please and please try to refrain from laughing too loudly) … The Australian Financial Review’s Phillip Coorey.

Markson goes on to say that Coorey had written the cancellation “was a big embarrassment for Mr Albanese”. She then said another report in the Fin. Review claimed the cancellation “will rob the Prime Minister of the international spotlight that comes with hosting the leader of the free world”.

We think we’ve tracked down the Fin. Review story Markson is referring to and in it Coorey only talks about Biden’s pulling of the pin as “an embarrassment” to our PM.

Indeed, Coorey on Insiders seemed unwilling to score too many points over the incident, explaining quite fairly why Biden came to his decision.

So, BUGgers, what are we left with? The words “Red-faced” in quotes. The claim that commentators (once again, note the plural) used those words. And not a single attribution to back any of that up.

Good Lordy! Could non-journalist Sharri Markson be gilding the lily a bit here? Deliberately doing as much damage to Albanese as she can, as per her job description and befitting Sky View’s reputation for unbalanced, rightwing rhetoric?

Let’s inject a dose of reality into Markson’s story-telling. The “red-faced” claim was total bullshit in the first place. Albanese wasn’t some pimply faced high-schooler being knocked back for a date from some girl he fancies in front of all his mates!

Biden pulling the plug was absolutely no reason for Albanese to be embarrassed about anything. And Markson would know that.

Yet it hasn’t stopped her trying to turn an embarrassment that really wasn’t an embarrassment into a “big” embarrassment big enough to cause Albanese to be red-faced either figuratively if not literally.

It’s shit, it’s what she does for a living and it’s got nothing to do with journalism.

And if anyone has any doubts about that, answer this simple question: if Scott Morrison had won the 2022 election, would non-journalist Markson be banging on about his being red-faced over a Sydney Quad meeting being abandoned?