diff --git a/tools/gst-inspect.c b/tools/gst-inspect.c
index 89a1fab..b47ca2c 100644
--- a/tools/gst-inspect.c
+++ b/tools/gst-inspect.c
@@ -1735,7 +1735,7 @@
   g_option_context_add_main_entries (ctx, options, GETTEXT_PACKAGE);
   g_option_context_add_group (ctx, gst_init_get_option_group ());
   if (!g_option_context_parse (ctx, &argc, &argv, &err)) {
-    g_printerr ("Error initializing: %s\n", err->message);
+    g_printerr ("Error initializing: %s\n", err ? err->message : "(null)");
     g_clear_error (&err);
     g_option_context_free (ctx);
     return -1;