diff --git a/frontends/src/jp/cmd_debug.py b/frontends/src/jp/cmd_debug.py
index db864f98..23cf0f67 100644
--- a/frontends/src/jp/cmd_debug.py
+++ b/frontends/src/jp/cmd_debug.py
@@ -138,7 +138,16 @@ class Monitor(base.CommandBase):
         if whiteping:
             self.disp('[WHITESPACE PING]')
         else:
-            self.output(xml_data)
+            try:
+                self.output(xml_data)
+            except Exception:
+                # initial stream is not valid XML,
+                # in this case we print directly to data
+                # FIXME: we should test directly lxml.etree.XMLSyntaxError
+                #        but importing lxml directly here is not clean
+                #        should be wrapped in a custom Exception
+                self.disp(xml_data)
+                self.disp(u'')
 
     def start(self):
         self.host.bridge.register_signal('xmlLog', self.printXML, 'plugin')