CNN SENIOR MANAGEMENT LAUNCHES INVESTIGATION INTO CHENEY "X" - Control Room Staffer Laughed

The Drudge Report ^ | 11-22-05 | Matt Drudge

[rabair]

XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX TUE NOV 22, 2005 08:25:48 ET XXXXX

**Exclusive**

CNN SENIOR MANAGEMENT LAUNCHES INVESTIGATION OF CHENEY 'X'; CONTROL ROOM STAFFER 'LAUGHED' WHEN X FLASHED

CNN management has launched an internal investigation into how a giant black 'X' mark appeared over Vice President Dick Cheney's face -- as he delivered a speech from Washington on Monday!

"We are taking this matter very, very seriously, and I can assure you no one at this network would ever deliberately place an 'X' over the vice president's face," a top CNN source, who asked not to be named at this time, said from New York.

A well-placed CNN insider claims a control room staffer "laughed" when the image appeared shortly after 11 am.

A careful review of the tape now shows a white colored 'X' was also transposed over Cheney's face during the speech, it appeared for less than 1/15 of a second, creating a startling flash effect.

CNN spokeswoman Laurie Goldberg emails: "We concluded this was a technological malfunction not an issue of operator error. A portion of the switcher experienced a momentary glitch. We obviously regret that it happened and are working on the equipment to ensure it is not repeated."

A rival network news director asks: "When has an 'X' ever aired on CNN before? Who had the graphic sitting in the key signal? Who generated the 'X'?"

The vice president himself is said to have brushed off the incident, a White House source said early Tuesday morning.

Developing...

[RasterMaster]

Typical leftist tactics...um, I mean "glitches".

NO SPINE ZONE?

[mewzilla]

CNN should tell us what was printed under the big x, over the "IT'S WRONG TO CRITICIZE" text. Bet that would explain a lot.

[shiva]

Maybe they thought this would boost up their ratings with the Left? Idiots!!

[CROSSHIGHWAYMAN]

It's a White House ploy to garner Black Muslim support......

Cheney X

[Lazamataz]

I already made that joke.

[Doogle]

so it was just an electronic snafu, but we managed to insert a white one for our story,but it was originally black and we don't know how we did it...
we'll investigate and promote, I mean we'll find a scapegoat.

Doogle

[Red Badger]

I heard it on the X..........

[BlueYonder]

I thought it was a black X, not a white X?

John Kerry was quoted as saying, "It was a black X before it was a white X." /sarcasm

[dfwgator]

Here's another "glitch":

[Triple]

My take is that it was deliberate - and the Lefty that did it thought nobody would catch him, and that it would be his own private little joke/protest.

[i_dont_chat]

Is anyone familiar with the phrase:

Transition begins after 6 frames of black

Is it frames? or games?

From the "white" version, the word black is not so obvious.

[in hoc signo vinces]

We may all be missing the boat here.... Bill Gates hacked into the digital feed and added the "X" as a media stunt to launch Micro-soft's X-BOX 360...how about that for a tin foil hat conspiracy?

[The_Victor]

I have a two word solution to the entire problem...

Fox News

[finnman69]

technical malfunction my ass

CNN has proved itself once again to be an amateurish organization.

[rabair]

actually, that text on the bottom of the screen has already been figured out as nothing really that important by the blogosphere: "Transition begins after 5 frames of black" is what it says. But that isn't even that important, read my theory (start of thread) on why the CNN excuse is so bogus... Also, I didn't think of, what I've seen others mention about the "Mr. X" thing.. I'm sure that was part of their little joke.

[McGruff]

I can assure you no one at this network would ever deliberately place an 'X' over the vice president's face

Would you testify to that under oath? I think not.

[papertyger]

Anyway, make up your own minds... I don't work with this equipment, and I know a lot of "experts" have agreed that it was probably a malfunction... But common sense to me tells me that excuse is bogus.

FRiend, if you think the on-air help are a bunch of insufferably arrogant pricks, you should check out the ones that don't have the personality or looks to get in front of the camera.

You're right, they are lying.

[savedbygrace]

I've been in the video business for 20 years. I never worked in news, but I've worked in control rooms, and I can see how this could be an unintentional error . . . IF it only appeared a few times.

There should be lots of eagle eyes watching the Air monitor closely. It's inconceivable that nobody would have seen this as it happened, certainly by the third or fourth appearance, probably on the first blip.

Then the mad dash to find the source on the master switcher. That might take a few seconds, or even a minute or so, depending on the repeat frequency.

How long before the X flashes stopped appearing, and how frequent were they?

[LIConFem]

"I thought it was a black X, not a white X?"

Trying to play the race card, are we??

;o)