diff --git a/lib/reporters/base.js b/lib/reporters/base.js
index 5fe0eb71a6..4c9e8064cd 100644
--- a/lib/reporters/base.js
+++ b/lib/reporters/base.js
@@ -178,7 +178,7 @@ exports.list = function(failures) {
       message = '';
     }
     var stack = err.stack || message;
-    var index = stack.indexOf(message);
+    var index = message ? stack.indexOf(message) : -1;
     var actual = err.actual;
     var expected = err.expected;
     var escape = true;