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.

As we’ve mentioned before in this column, it’s not just the silly little mistakes we spot that unimpress us the most; it’s also how long (if at all) it takes to fix them when they’re fixerupable.

We’re obviously talking about errors in the electronic mediocre; clangers in the print media are there to enjoy forever. Even a lift clears of a fart eventually; a sub’s or reporter’s mistake in one of those silly old-fashioned newspapers that you hold in your ink-stained hands – a literal that literally makes you laugh; a blooper of a headline; a really fucked up blockline that warrants an apology next day – hang around for ever and a dismay.

So, let’s take a look at ABC news online, and an opinion piece uploaded mid-afternoon yesterday (Wednesday) by Brettt Worthington (at top and below).

Not a bad piece actually; one you’ll never see in a Murdoch publication seeing it details mishaps of recent times by Opposition Leader Peter Dutton. It’s a competent and fair analysis that, in its own way, helps explain why Dutton and the LNP are taking some hits in recent polls.

As you can see from the image, our column compilers spotted some silly little things only a few hours after it was uploaded.

A most unnecessary “a” stuck in there to make Aunty look just a little bit unprofessional.

Then there was this.

Brett might simply argue that he likes talking and writing pirate – “thems that die will be the lucky ones, Jim lad!” – but we’d suggest “… he started…” would have been the cleaner, shorter way to go.

So has Brett or anyone else fixed up these silly little mistakes many, many hours later?

Nope. As this column was nearing upload, it remains exactly the same. As our heading suggests, does anyone care any more?

REMINDER: As this column has frequently added as a qualifier, perhaps Brett Worthington did not feel a need to have a re-read online of his contribution because it was fine when he filed it. Yes, it’s quite possible a sub-editor at Aunty changed perfectly sound copy. That’s assuming the ABC still has sub-editors?

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As one of our Mediocre Bytes compilers said: “Boy, that must have been some wind gust!”

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