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.

What do you BUGgers out there think Senator Lidia Thorpe is doing after being ejected from the Senate chamber on Wednesday?

Take a fresh look at our main image, above and below, and captured by AAP’s Mick Tsikas.

Was she pointing to a fly on the ceiling just outside the Senate doors? Airing her recently nail-polished middle finger to make sure it’s drying properly? Telling fellow Senators she’ll be back after one day?

No. Our best guess is that you all think – okay, know! – that she was flipping the bird to indicate what she thought of being censured by her Senate colleagues after throwing a torn-up motion sheet at Queensland Senator and national leader of the white indigenous One Nations people Pauline Hanson.

But what was clearly obvious to all of you out there was not as clear to a certain Daily Mail scribe… apparently. Cue Max Aitchison’s take on the incident.

Need another look at that Parliament House image?

It would appear that Aitchison needs to be less cautious in his reporting – more assertive, maybe? – or else a trip to Specsavers is warranted?

Editor’s note: Yes, we accept that Aitchison could argue that he’s used “appeared” correctly in accordance with its general definition but BUGger it, we still think it doesn’t sound quite right – that “appeared” has evolved more into “I’m not sure this happened; what do you think?” territory and should have been left out. So there! Sue us!

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For the ten thousandth (slight exaggeration there) and not the last time, the washed- up, bitter, old hacks who compile this column fondly remember the time when the once-great craft of journalism followed some basic rules of reporting.

And one of those – a cadet on their first day of work probably learnt this way back when – is that two moving objects collide; one does not collide with the other. The second thing that first-day cadet might have learnt is that a moving object hits – not collides with – a stationary one. Simples.

Okay! Okay! It’s probably a fair assumption that the moving car in the ABC story above was probably more at fault that the moving train restricted to track work but you see, there was once a time when reporting that two moving things collided avoided any inference of fault. It was a sound and logical approach to anyone’s reporting skills that still should be applied across the board. It’s called being professional.

It’s just sad to see Aunty leading the way in further lowering journalism standards, if that’s at all possible.

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