Honestly you can't win.
Broken is as broken does, to borrow a little from Forrest Gump... Whatever the captain called it, the end result was back to the terminal and get you on another flight.
Imagine the complaints if the captain had elected to proceed with a "broken" aircraft. How peeved would the passengers be if they found out - for example, when the "broken" part manifested itself, say, as an air return 15-20 minutes in? Or - heaven forbid - a sudden irreconcilable loss of control (substitute peeved-off passengers for peeved-off relatives instead).
Media staff covering every non-event from the aviation world should start widening their horizons. Why not report when Mr. Jones at 5 Acacia Gardens Bridgewater car won't start, and he has to tell his wife her 10:30 departure to the hairdressers has been cancelled pending arrival of a new battery?
SLF and media should get a freaking life.
VH-Grumpy