CNN, which bills itself as “The Most Trusted Name in News,” has apologized for a technical gaffe that caused the cable channel to display a photo of Vladimir Putin above the blazing banner “‘JIHADI JOHN’ REVEALED.”
The error occurred late last week as CNN London correspondent Max Foster discussed the much ballyhooed news that the man called “Jihadi John” has at last been identified as twentysomething British Muslim Mohammed Emwazi, The Telegraph reports.
The fun starts about 40 seconds into the CNN story, as the right side of CNN’s split screen shows a still image of the notorious, knife-wielding ISIS decapitator, dressed in black, with only a slit for his eyes. The right side of the screen then goes blankly black for a moment. Then an image of Putin, president of Russia, appears. Putin is dressed in a suit and tie, looking unhappy.
Russia Today, the state-funded news propaganda organ on of the Russian government, has uploaded the full clip onto YouTube.
“Due to a failure of a video server during today’s breaking news broadcast, a photo of Vladimir Putin, prepared for our next report, was accidentally shown,” a CNN spokesman said.
“We apologize for that mistake.”
Emwazi, the real “Jihadi John,” is a 26-year-old British citizen who obtained a degree in computer science and business management at a mediocre, taxpayer-funded university in London where Islamic radicalism is flourishing.
Reports indicate that Emwazi came from a comfortable, sheltered middle-class background. His family is devoutly Muslim.
A recently-discovered image of Emwazi shows him sporting a flat-billed, ill-fitting Pittsburgh Pirates baseball cap. (RELATED: BREAKING: Jihadi John Is A Pittsburgh Pirates Fan)
Prior to this glitch, CNN’s best live-television mistake was that time in November when the second-rated news network warned viewers that they were about to witness a snippet of The Star-Spangled Banner. “Please be advised you are about to hear an excerpt of the national anthem,” the cautionary statement declared — for several seconds in bold font atop a two-tone black background. (CNN Warns America: You Are About To Hear The NATIONAL ANTHEM)
The story after the warning was a heartwarming, patriotic, downright tearjerker of a tale about a Navy mom who surprised her daughter at school.
Errors such as CNN’s snafu are not entirely uncommon in the era of constant, live television news.
A few weeks ago, for example, San Diego Fox affiliate KSWB news anchor Kathleen Bade kept it classy by telling her primetime audience that “the only suspect in a sex assault at SDSU will not be charged” as an image of President Barack Obama appeared on the right side of the screen. Under Obama’s photo were the words “NO CHARGES.” (RELATED: President Obama Cleared Of Campus Rape Charge, Reports San Diego TV News)
Follow Eric on Twitter. Like Eric on Facebook. Send story tips to erico@dailycaller.com.
