Got a tricky question for you: the sort of hypothetical a journalism lecturer might throw at his bright-eyed class of Fourth Estate wannabes.
When is it okay for a reporter or sub-editor to deliberately report an event inaccurately?
What's that? Yes, you.
When the story might harm our nation's security?
Well, that's an answer, sure.
Yes, you up the back.
When the reporting of the facts might lead to widespread panic and death among the community?
Well, sure, I guess.
Anyone else?
When you work for a Murdoch tabloid?
Good. But not the one I'm after. Yes?
If you write or sub-edit cricket for Queensland Newspapers?
Spot on. That's the answer I wanted.
Or at least part of it.
The second part of the answer, it seems, is when someone's nose – not necessarily yours – is well and truly out of joint.
For you see, Queensland Newspapers has apparently decreed that the abandonment of the Sheffield Shield competition never happened.
We suspect it must be an edict from Mahogany Row in Campbell Street because the guys and gals on the floor are too professional for this sort of shit.
Besides, it reeks of the sort of logic you'd expect from someone higher up the fool chain, and you can take our word for it that Queensland Newspapers is no different from most other business organisations in that cream is not the only thing that floats to the top.
As we all know, the cricket establishment took the offered bags of silver and decided that our states' flanelled fools should vie instead for something shiny called the Pura Milk Cup.
But the Courier Mail and Sunday Mail are having none of that tradition-shattering rubbish.
They've decided to ignore history and keep reporting things the way they want to – even if it is totally wrong.
So for weeks now, both mastheads have been sterlingly referring to interstate cricket matches as "Shield" encounters.
Here's a few examples from recent editions:

This from the Courier Mail, Friday Dec 3:

And this, from the Sunday Mail just the other day.

And these couple of doozies from the Courier midweek.

The Shield match at the Gabba? Moving to the top of the Shield table? The Shield final? Warriors' Shield defence?
Wrong on all counts.
But it seems that Queensland Newspapers is never going to let the facts get in the way of a good state of indignation.
We at The Bug are as pissed off as anyone that the powers-that-be have callously thrown away history along with Lord Sheffield's ugly piece of silverware.
But there are ways of registering a protest without breaching the journos' code of ethics.
There's nothing wrong, if you want to make a point, by just calling the interstate cricket simply that – interstate games/matches – for a few years, just in case this Pura Milk Cup business turns sour. (Sorry)
If they want to make a protest – and still be totally accurate – why not just call the next interstate game a Cup clash.
Do that for 20 years until they consider Pura Milk has put sufficient cream into the Cup coffers to deserve a free plug. (Sorry)
Besides, it used to be quite kosher for respectable newspapers and the Courier and Sunday Mails to ignore the naming rights of events or stadiums in sports reports.
But here's the rub.
We suspect this silly little piece of gamesmanship from Queensland Newspapers is for all the wrong reasons.
The Courier Mail and the Sunday Mail are happy to talk about the one-day Mercantile Mutual Cup till the cows come home. (Sorry)
Nor do we recall their crying a lot of spilt milk (sorry) when the big race in November suddenly became the Foster's Melbourne Cup.
They might have carried on a bit when the state's beloved Lang Park became Suncorp Stadium, but their protests soon pailed (sorry) into subservience.
For, you see, CUB, Mercantile Mutual and Suncorp-Metway are big print media advertising spenders.
And the Courier or Sunday Mail insist on placing their masthead's name at the front of any report on any award, function or event they sponsor, so they're not at all adverse to the concept of a little bit of promotion for monies outlaid.
The problem here is really a question of why the noses of Queensland Newspapers are so out of joint over the Pura Milk Cup.
We suspect it's got nothing to do with the shameful discarding of tradition.
We suspect it's got everything to do with the fact that Pura Milk is a southern-based company which isn't doing nearly enough advertising with Queensland Newspapers – if any at all.
We checked the supermarkets and takeaways for Pura products and they're very few and far between at the moment.
So we suspect that once Pura Milk gets some product on the shelves – and more importantly – starts booking some serious advertising columns up Bowen Hills way, the Courier-Mail and Sunday Mail will quickly re-right history and be awash with the Puraist of thoughts. (Sorry)

PS. Spare a thought for Coca-Cola, who pay for a Pura Milk Cup points table in the Courier's sports pages. It's the only time the Pura Milk Cup gets a guernsey. (Sorry)