Cheat-Seeking Missles

Wednesday, November 23, 2005

CNN Apologizes For X - Sort Of

Updated
"We obviously regret that it happened and are working on the equipment to ensure it is not repeated."
And with that, the "momentary glitch" -- 2005's version of the "wardrobe malfunction" -- is over and done with, according to CNN. Evidence already was pointing pretty clearly that the big X on the VEEP's face was technical, not political, in nature. CNN explained today, according to AP, that:
The "X" is something used by a computer to mark a space where one visual element is to segue into another, and is normally not seen by a viewer. The network likened its appearance to a computer that inexplicably freezes.
Well, excuse us for thinking the worst. It is CNN, after all.

Update: Maybe we ought not ask to be excused. Daily Pundit offers a recording of a conversation between the CNN switchboard and a woman named Preska Thomas, in which the switchboard person said the X was deliberate, was freedom of speech, that the president and vice president "should stop lying," and "if you don't like it, don't watch."

Switchboard operators do not speak for companies. But will CNN track down and fire this guy? If they don't, they might as well have put the X up deliberately.