It’s no easier that it’s a Barcodes player being victimised by the media, but AussieRulesBlog certainly gained greater empathy for the ‘victims’ of the media through Essendon’s travails in recent months.

We looked in vain tonight for a flood of articles, from journalists far and wide, apologising for the misinformation, assumption, supposition and plain old fantasy that has descended on Harry O’Brien in recent days.

O’Brien announced yesterday that he is battling depression.

So much for all those informative articles about O’Brien’s “falling out” with coach Nathan Buckley.

Emma Quayle wrote in The Age that “the media … has grown, … is competitive, … wants to know more and more, and … an opinion that says ''just wait …'' is not really considered an opinion, or enough of one.”

While that’s undoubtedly true, the problem is the substitution of all manner of misinformation in the absence of any substantive information.

Much footy talk is largely flimsily-based opinion, but mass media have taken the flirtation with fiction to a new level. And apologies? Nary a one, we suspect.