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Most error filled newscasts
- Thread starter nomadcowatbk
- Start date
I'd say anything on MSNBC. ;D
Off to TIO we go.........
G
Off to TIO we go.........
G
This may come as a shock to a lot of you, but these newscasters, local and network, usually base their writing on the newswires: Associated Press and Reuters. That's throw a lot of you for a loop, because you've already come to conclusions about the relative biases of the TV networks, but no one has really looked at the wires. So if you think there are mistakes in the newscast, you might want to check the source. Perhaps they didn't make a mistake...but they just reported something you don't like or agree with.
I.N.N. Independent News
Robnoxious said:
That's what happens when you get your news shipped from Iowa. Ironically, KLJB in their home market, their original client, dumped them six months ago for a deal with the ABC affiliate.
WTNH/WCTX in New Haven, CT. And I'm not talking about the fact that they didn't renew their Chief Meterologist's contract after 27 years either. I'm talking technical problems galore. Plus the fact in all the promos for Good Morning Connecticut their morning Newscast it never says "Watch 7AM-8AM on MY TV 9 WCTX." The anchors will always say more news coming up in a moment over on MY TV 9.
A lot of glaring errors on TV newscasts here in Nashville, but most of you don't live here, so it wouldn't do any good for me to post them here, except for this gem:
On a "today in history" segment, they said that John Lennon and Yoko Ono got married on this date in 1967. It was actually 1969.
On a "today in history" segment, they said that John Lennon and Yoko Ono got married on this date in 1967. It was actually 1969.
This falls under technical errors I guess. About 3 Sundays back, WDTN channel 2 in Dayton had a 6 p.m. newscast where EVERY story that the news and sports anchors called up had video but no audio. They spent more time apologizing for the problems and saying they'd have the story later than they spent on news and sports! Then on the 11 p.m. newscast they did it again! This time the sports guys was ready. When a video of a local coach started playing with no audio he simply said "and the coach was speechless". He then finished the sports without calling another video shot.
In my area, this happens a lot. They make mistakes on the typing all the time, and have been doing it forever. Like, for exmaple, when Timothy McVeigh was on trial, they spelled his name MecVeigh.
On weekends, only the first three or four minutes of the news is useful. Most of the rest of it is coverage of whatever festivals are going on in town, stuff that the festivals usually ask them to cover.
Our local TV news is basically a rehash of what you read in the newspaper that day, or the day after. Sometimes, they break a story, but rarely. Radio is even worse. They are usually two days behind the newspaper, and can be inaccurate. The statewide news is often a rehash of local news on a minute or two before.
On weekends, only the first three or four minutes of the news is useful. Most of the rest of it is coverage of whatever festivals are going on in town, stuff that the festivals usually ask them to cover.
Our local TV news is basically a rehash of what you read in the newspaper that day, or the day after. Sometimes, they break a story, but rarely. Radio is even worse. They are usually two days behind the newspaper, and can be inaccurate. The statewide news is often a rehash of local news on a minute or two before.
If you follow A.P. stories throughout the day as I do, each version is usually correcting something from the previous version. An example from last night:
BC-US--Day Care Fire, 2nd Ld-Writethru,523
Woman charged in Texas day care fire returns to US
Eds: Removes reference to Tata being born in Nigeria; authorities
have said she was born in the U.S. and has family in Nigeria.
HOUSTON (AP) -- A woman accused of fleeing the country after a
fire at her Texas day care center killed four children...
Other notable causes for mistakes on the air:
-Poor spelling/typing skills
-Video server crash
-If you're still using tapes, the deck can eat the tape
-Automation crash
-Command link from robotic cameras to automation severed
-Inattentive camera/prompter operators
-Director/TD trying to do too much at once
-Overworked producers trying to fill two hours of news without help
BC-US--Day Care Fire, 2nd Ld-Writethru,523
Woman charged in Texas day care fire returns to US
Eds: Removes reference to Tata being born in Nigeria; authorities
have said she was born in the U.S. and has family in Nigeria.
HOUSTON (AP) -- A woman accused of fleeing the country after a
fire at her Texas day care center killed four children...
Other notable causes for mistakes on the air:
-Poor spelling/typing skills
-Video server crash
-If you're still using tapes, the deck can eat the tape
-Automation crash
-Command link from robotic cameras to automation severed
-Inattentive camera/prompter operators
-Director/TD trying to do too much at once
-Overworked producers trying to fill two hours of news without help
Good list by TheRob, but for general errors, as opposed to technical, add poor education to the mix as well.
Watched a weekend newscast on KPHO Phoenix, where the reporter was covering the "Supermoon" and commented that parents found it a good opportunity to get their children out to teach them about astrology.
Yup.
Watched a weekend newscast on KPHO Phoenix, where the reporter was covering the "Supermoon" and commented that parents found it a good opportunity to get their children out to teach them about astrology.
Yup.
One time a news station I worked for had a chyron title that said "Perdue University" instead of "Purdue University". Several months after that, I got to work with the chyron and was pretty good at catching misspellings and grammar mistakes. I even spotted a map that showed that they had the wrong county for a crime scene before one newscast and by alerting them they did not air that map.
Our stations have some problems. An example, misspelling "perfect" last night. They said "pefect."
This topic could crash the site. There are so many "errors," especially in locally-produced newscasts and especially if you count syntax, poor writing, and as mentioned, chyron mistakes. After the shooting in Tucson AZ a few months ago, WIS-TV in Columbia SC, the dominant news station in the market, had their anchor reporting about the events of the day with a huge font to the side: "TRAGEDY IN TUSCON."
Yeah, every station has its problems. When I was at KTXS/Channel 12 in Abilene, Texas, ours were not so much the technical type of errors (but one of our TDs had apparently no clue how to run the switcher) but more reporter-type errors. And not the egregious bias-type "errors," but simple errors in attribution, mistakes in editing, and even missing deadlines (we actually fired a reporter for missing the 6pm show three times in a row).
In D/FW, every station has graphics problems. I think they get their operators from the local day care center. Strike that - I'm sure those kids can spell better than that.
In D/FW, every station has graphics problems. I think they get their operators from the local day care center. Strike that - I'm sure those kids can spell better than that.
I'll nominate the closed captioning service for WJW/8's "Fox 8 News In The Morning".
I noticed this when staying briefly with a relative a year ago...it was the best unintentional comedy on local TV news, and we ended up watching the show every morning just to see how bad the closed captioning would get.
This wasn't the usual real-time transcriptioning errors you see. Half of it was content that apparently had no connection with the on-air script or live chatter. It was almost like they were captioning some other newscast.
And maybe they were.
Occasionally, you'd see an old-style modem "NO CARRIER" disconnect!
I noticed this when staying briefly with a relative a year ago...it was the best unintentional comedy on local TV news, and we ended up watching the show every morning just to see how bad the closed captioning would get.
This wasn't the usual real-time transcriptioning errors you see. Half of it was content that apparently had no connection with the on-air script or live chatter. It was almost like they were captioning some other newscast.
And maybe they were.
Occasionally, you'd see an old-style modem "NO CARRIER" disconnect!
OhioMediaWatch said:
Typically this is done by voice recognition software, not a human being. So a computer has to figure out what a person is saying. And if the input to that computer isn't properly programmed....well you know the rest. Another computer handles switching. Where's HAL when we need him?
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