BBC stated there was a “technical glitch”. (File)
BBC news apologized on the broadcast after a message was accidentally posted on their ticker labeling Manchester United football club “nonsense”.
During a broadcast on Tuesday, news items of the day were put on the news sticker for viewers. At one point, however, the ticker bizarrely read “Manchester United is rubbish”. The line appeared at the bottom of the screen during a tennis update on the 9:00 AM to 10:00 AM broadcast, after which the unusual moment caught the attention of internet users, who shared a clip on social media.
what’s going on with the BBC News ticker?#MUFC#BBCpic.twitter.com/NkAiXkysg0
† (@Ahekh4) May 24, 2022
As seen in the video, a segment of the French Open played as the ticker presented several headlines at the bottom of the screen. There was nothing out of the ordinary to see at first, but then things took a turn for the worse when the media mistakenly labeled the football club “junk”. The ticker was followed by “Rain all over again”.
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The incident caused confusion among social media users. respond to the error, an user wrote: “poor intern must be mortified! Imagine that is their first day.” Another added, “even the BBC news ticker laughs at Manchester United,’ while a third user said: “Apologies by BBC news after an intern, learning how to put text on the ticker (the headlines that run along the bottom of the screen), accidentally posted the words “Manchester United are rubbish” live on the broadcast… Honest and accurate reporting, IMO (In My Mind).”
Later on the day, BBC Broadcaster Annita McVeigh, who was presenting at the time, apologized to viewers and Manchester United fans who may have been offended.
UPDATE: BBC News has apologized.
They say an intern was learning to write text for the ticker and accidentally published it on the BBC News Channel. pic.twitter.com/OkjPIkJAoo
— Scott Bryan (@scottygb) May 24, 2022
Ms McVeigh explained that the error had occurred when someone learned how to operate the ticker and “wrote random stuff, not serious”. The presenter apologized and went on to reiterate that it was a mistake. She added that the ticker was not intended to appear on the screen. According to the independent† BBC a statement also stated that there was a “technical glitch” during training with the test ticker.
