The column that has fun with the smaller mistakes and missteps of Australia’s mainstream mediocre; that pays homage to those sweet little fishes that individually don’t amount to a full meal but collectively can cause a tummy upset over the overall state of the once great and noble craft of journalism in this country.
This column poked fun a week ago at the sub-editors throwing together last Saturday’s The Sydney Morning Herald for not knowing what its real front page is.
We pointed out that the paper each Saturday has this strange practice, as they sell their soul and the look of their paper to Hardly Normal wraparounds, to folio the cover, the fake front page, as page 1, while the inside page that looks like a front page but really can’t be because it’s numbered page 3.
And last week, two subeditors (it might have even been just the one which makes it even funnier!) declared that stories that originated on pages 1 and 3 were both “From Front Page”.
Well, Mediocre Bytes is happy to report some improvement in today’s edition, but possibly only because no story on the real front page – that’s the page numbered page 1 – is continued inside the book. As you can see from our top graphic, it starts afresh on page 3.
But that yarn is then continued on Page 12, where the subeditor tells us it originated “From Front Page”! We’ll stick with our view that the real front page of these editions is the cover you naturally look at after picking up your copy on your front lawn or at your local shop. Yes, the one the paper itself calls page one; the only page the paper puts its issue details and cover price on.
And what’s the bet that next Saturday, if the story on the real front page – yes, the one numbered page 1 – is continued elsewhere, SMH subs (or maybe just the one which would make it even funnier) are once again competing over what really is the paper’s front page!
By the way, the SMH‘s dilemma over its page numbering system doesn’t end there.
Today’s pretend page 1 that is really page 3 has two other extensive writeoffs at the bottom that proudly declare that both full stories are on Page 12. The story urging Labor to give Qatar no quarter (at left below) was on Page 19. No cigar and not even close enough to be considered for one.
This mistake, spotted in the paper’s country edition, was still being carried through on the paper’s website this morning in what was clearly a reworked, possibly city edition, in which you’ve probably guessed already, it continued to languish on Page 19.
Want to be alerted immediately a new blog hits Australia’s longest running and most offensive satire site? Simply click on the Follow sign or the link below to be emailed new yarns the moment they are uploaded! The very second we go far too far – and trust us we will – you can then quickly unfollow via the three dots!
The Bug Online 