Our Media Glass House researchers could not suppress a chuckle when they read the headline on the story below that appeared in the latest edition of The Weekend Australian.

The item filed from the Queensland state election campaign trail told readers of the Murdoch media’s national broadshit of an encounter between LNP leader David Crisafulli and federal Opposition Leader Peter Dutton.

The meeting was notable not least for the fact that Mr Crisafulli has declared he does not support Mr Dutton’s plans to festoon the nation including Queensland with nuclear power stations.

The news report in The Oz somewhat coyly reported that if Mr Crisafulli wins the 26 October election, Mr Dutton “will attempt to win over” the new premier to support his federal pro-nuclear stance.

On reading that and the headline suggesting Mr Dutton would try to “woo” Mr Crisafulli, our MGH team members could not help but imagine the would-be premier and would-be prime minister as lead characters in some sort of rom-com movie like Love Actually, one of the Bridget Jones’s Diary instalments, or akin to Elizabeth and Mr Darcy in any number of big-screen versions of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.

In reality, they ask, does anyone really believe a Prime Minister Dutton would be using whispered sweet nothings to “woo” an eyelid-fluttering Premier Crisafulli partly hiding behind a Chinese silk hand fan?

They think not and believe their interaction on this issue would be more akin to Scarlett and Rhett’s. (main picture)

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The numerous high-wealth individuals, hedge funds, and private equity firms behind The Bug know what it’s like to enjoy, nay endure, what are best described as “modest” readership numbers.

Yet even when just a mere handful of readers peruse one of our world exclusive yarns, we are comforted by the knowledge that Bug staffers including our beloved MGH researchers are reading our output.

But can the same be said of another Brisbane-based online news source, InQueensland?

For example, take a look at the headline in this US political story run last week by InQueensland.

The debate between vice-presidential candidates happened last Wednesday our time and the item is still on the InQueensland site, double-l and all.

Has nobody working for InQueensland read it in the past five days?

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Speaking of InQueensland, our MGH teams were intrigued by a headline atop a column by contributor David Fagan publish on 1 October.

The column itself was all about alleged poor planning of public transport by Queensland governments, comparing the Brisbane transport network with its bigger and apparently better counterpart in Sydney.

All well and good, except the headline (below) told readers we are on the downward spiral to “mediocracy” – a system in which the ruling class is made up entirely of mediocre people.

Trouble is, Mr Fagan’s column concluded that on our present trajectory we are destined for “mediocrity”. (below)

A fine line? Perhaps, admit our MGH researchers.

But, while a mediocracy guarantees mediocrity flowing from mediocre decision-making, they maintain that there is a definite difference in meaning and besides, the word “mediocrity” was specifically chosen by Mr Fagan to make his point.

So, our MGH teams ask, who inserted “mediocracy”? Is AI at work writing headlines at InQueensland?

If so, then safeguards and human oversight are definitely needed to ensure the intent and meaning of opinions such as Mr Fagan’s are respected.

Our MGH teams believe that’s a very important consideration if we are to discuss important public issues in a civill manner. Ooops!

***

Ean Higgins was a journalist with the national broadshit The Australian when he disappeared in 2020.

Last week – in 2024, four years after he disappeared – a NSW Coroner’s Court report formally declared him dead.

All of which led our MGH researchers to ponder how – given those few, simple, essential facts – could Sky News publish a story on the coroner’s findings like this?

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