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ABC7 Apologizes for Their Obama-Osama Flub
Here's a little tale of media "b" "s": Apparently typing O-b-a-m-a instead of O-s-a-m-a is as easy to do as it is to not catch before the graphics go up on air. While many were quick to scoff at Fox News and at least one of their affiliates for the typo-blooper, our local ABC television affiliate KABC-7 can count themselves among those for whom the "s" in Osama was replaced with a "b" for Obama.
The bloggers at TumbLAngeles called the channel out on their Tumblr blog. ABC7 responded with a terse apology: "We apologize for it. It should never have happened." Where did ABC7 apologize? On their Tumblr blog.
Our friends at KTLA, who have a tendency to make glaring spelling mistakes on their web content (and not change it, even after it's been pointed out to them) came close to making the same flub, but managed to catch themselves. The url for a blog post on their site about Osama's hideout reveals that the post began as the tale of Obama's hideout: http://blogs.ktla.com/news_custom_eric/2011/05/cool-satellite-view-of-obamas-hideout.html Whoops!
It's not just local news outlets, though, messing up on major international news. Try an Associated Press article about the Royal Wedding run by the OC Register (then picked up by MSNBC) that begins: "We American's may wonder about the hats" and marries Kate Middleton off to Prince Charles all in the first sentence. (It has since been pulled from the interwebs.) Really, AP?
Okay. We know things get a little hectic in the newsroom, and we admit, we make mistakes, too. Usually it's just one, maybe two of us, in separate locations, though, creating and supervising the content you see here on any given day. Times are tough in news media, but there should be more than a couple of pairs of eyes responsible for the content online and on air at ABC7, KTLA, the OC Register, and their (our?) contemporaries. Hell--we aren't even considered legit press by places like the LAUSD.
We used to joke in LAist's infancy, that our typos (more frequent then) were just our secret drinking game: If you saw a typo, take a drink. This isn't a glass house: We make mistakes. So if you spot a typo or error on our site, drop us an email; we want to fix it as much as you want us to! But we promise to not mix up a terrorist leader with our President.
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You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
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