/ 12 February 2009

e.tv makes ‘Bush is dead’ broadcast blunder

e.tv News mistakenly broadcast during one of its news bulletins that former United States president George Bush had died.

e.tv’s news channel on Wednesday mistakenly broadcast during one of its news bulletins that former United States president George Bush had died, the BBC reported on Thursday.

For about three seconds, shortly after 2pm, e.tv News ran a moving banner headline across the screen saying “George Bush is dead”.

The “misbroadcast” happened when a technician pressed the “broadcast live for transmission” button instead of the one for a test-run.

e.tv spokesperson Vasili Vass told Beeld that the error crept in when the technical director wanted to test what a certain type of banner would look like on the screen. “Instead of the preview button he pressed the one for direct broadcasting.”

“We’ve learned from it, all test banners will now be done in gobbledegook,” he added.

He said he could not comment on whether the person responsible would face disciplinary action.

The mistake was first reported on by Beeld, and on the media group’s website, News24.com.

“Its unfortunate, because we never comment on their mistakes,” said Mr Vass.