The worst TV typo ever?
Cory Bergman January 2nd, 2007
This might be it. CNN has since apologized. “I’m going to be calling Senator Barack Obama to make a personal apology,” said Wolf Blitzer. Obama’s press secretary thanked the blogosphere for bringing it to his attention. “Though I’d note that the ’s’ and ‘b’ keys aren’t all that close to each other, I assume it was just an unfortunate mistake, and don’t think there was any truly malicious intent,” Tommy Vieto said.
11 Comments Add your own
1. Safran | January 2nd, 2007 at 1:00 pm
Oh, man, I’ve been there. Your fingers just get used to typing certain words, and before you know it you’ve broadcast something that makes you want to crawl under a desk. I’m sure the tin-foil-hat crowd will read something into this, but I can’t even count the unfortunate typos I’ve made over the years.
(Just now, I typed “broadcasting” above instead of “broadcast. That’s how used to that word my fingers are. Fortunately, I noticed.)
I bet the graphics person felt like someone in a Southwest Airlines ad: “Wanna get away from it all?”
2. Rico Suave | January 2nd, 2007 at 5:58 pm
I believe we’d be thinking something different if this woulda happened on FOX News…. And they were probably waiting until mid-2008 to pull that one…
3. JIB | January 2nd, 2007 at 6:00 pm
Being a producer at Fox News, I know how many eyes get to see a FS before it airs (4: Graphics, segment producer, chyrong operator, and line producer). I don’t care how tired you are, no excuse for that on-air error.
Having said that, can you imagine what the blogosphere would be saying (same people as the tin-foil-hat crowd) if Fox News had made this mistake? Forget the Southwest Ad…remember the Pecante sauce ad: get a rope (sorry Saddam)
4. Greg | January 2nd, 2007 at 6:26 pm
My first day as a chyron operator I left the “L” out of “Public Director”…
arrgh…
5. thedetroitchannel | January 2nd, 2007 at 6:27 pm
hey, just returned from a one day trip to chicago and drove thru the hyde park section where mr. osama has a house.
nice area. real nice.
6. newshound | January 2nd, 2007 at 8:23 pm
I seem to remember MSNBC adding a “g” to Niger Innis’ lower third.
7. Tom | January 3rd, 2007 at 12:55 am
Yet another reason why I choose NOT to watch the Communist News Network. How many times do they have to screw up?!?!?! Do we see Fox News screw up that many times?
8. Holden | January 3rd, 2007 at 8:57 am
CNN is a regular Obama love nest, so despite the assertions of the tinfoil hats, this gaffe simply appears to be plain old incompetence on the part of CNN.
9. JIB | January 3rd, 2007 at 2:56 pm
Again…the issue is not CNN’s incompetence. They are mediocre all the time (but then again, I’m not being fair and balanced). Case in point: Blitzer apologizing once again during — FORD’s FUNERAL!
The issue is what would websites, blogs and TV critiques be saying about the matter. I don’t read Tom Shales getting all wound up about it…
10. Safran | January 3rd, 2007 at 11:21 pm
I want to point out, against the tide though it may be, that news producers are human. We work in tiny, dark rooms producing live news coverage 24/7. Things make air that would surprise people, no matter how many checks and balances are in place. We put out an enormous amount of information and more than 99% of it goes out just fine and uncommented.
JIB: I too, was a producer. I went through that same process you listed above. And I, too, aired graphics with mistakes. Heck - I’ve seen books with typos. Think of how many eyes - and spellchecks - didn’t flag that!
Check out the corrections section of any given newspaper. They make plenty of mistakes. And that’s after the reporter has written it, the editor has edited it, and the managing editor has approved it. In magazines, they have fact-checkers pore over this stuff, and still make mistakes.
So, your politics or preference in hearing news you agree with aside, please at least allow some human element in this.
11. ASC | May 6th, 2008 at 12:03 pm
But on TV news, the number of words is so small relative to a newspaper or a book. What are there, maybe 100 words in a broadcast? If they can’t proof 100 words, why not hire a chimpanzee instead? By the way, the headline ribbon sign outside the News Corp building in NYC is always good for bad typos. This week, there was a story about a girl who was being charged with “homodice.”
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