diff --git a/subprojects/gst-docs/examples/tutorials/basic-tutorial-1.c b/subprojects/gst-docs/examples/tutorials/basic-tutorial-1.c
index dfd449b238..573d4b2e90 100644
--- a/subprojects/gst-docs/examples/tutorials/basic-tutorial-1.c
+++ b/subprojects/gst-docs/examples/tutorials/basic-tutorial-1.c
@@ -25,9 +25,14 @@ main (int argc, char *argv[])
       gst_bus_timed_pop_filtered (bus, GST_CLOCK_TIME_NONE,
       GST_MESSAGE_ERROR | GST_MESSAGE_EOS);
 
+  /* See next tutorial for proper error message handling/parsing */
+  if (GST_MESSAGE_TYPE (msg) == GST_MESSAGE_ERROR) {
+    g_error ("An error occurred! Re-run with the GST_DEBUG=*:WARN environment "
+        "variable set for more details.");
+  }
+
   /* Free resources */
-  if (msg != NULL)
-    gst_message_unref (msg);
+  gst_message_unref (msg);
   gst_object_unref (bus);
   gst_element_set_state (pipeline, GST_STATE_NULL);
   gst_object_unref (pipeline);