diff --git a/src/GUI/gui_funcs.cxx b/src/GUI/gui_funcs.cxx
index 8ee2d9b44..bc6bdc9c8 100644
--- a/src/GUI/gui_funcs.cxx
+++ b/src/GUI/gui_funcs.cxx
@@ -166,10 +166,8 @@ void mkDialog (const char *txt)
 {
     NewGUI *gui = (NewGUI *)globals->get_subsystem("gui");
     SGPropertyNode_ptr dlg = gui->getDialog("message");
-    if (!dlg) {
-        SG_LOG(SG_GENERAL, SG_ALERT, "'message' dialog missing");
+    if (!dlg)
         return;
-    }
 
     dlg->setStringValue("text/label", txt);
     dlg->setStringValue("button/legend", "OK");
diff --git a/src/GUI/new_gui.cxx b/src/GUI/new_gui.cxx
index a0885b845..f45b17ba7 100644
--- a/src/GUI/new_gui.cxx
+++ b/src/GUI/new_gui.cxx
@@ -147,8 +147,9 @@ NewGUI::getDialog (const string &name)
 {
     if(_dialog_props.find(name) != _dialog_props.end())
         return _dialog_props[name];
-    else
-        return 0;
+
+    SG_LOG(SG_GENERAL, SG_ALERT, "dialog '" << name << "' missing");
+    return 0;
 }
 
 void