I know this is old news for the US but it has a timeless quality for me: “CNN apologized on Tuesday 21 November and offered a rare explanation from its control booth for a technical glitch many viewers failed to notice — a large “X” the network flashed over Vice President Dick Cheney’s face.

The wayward graphic, which CNN said lasted for about one-seventh of a second, appeared during the network’s live coverage of Cheney’s speech on Monday addressing critics of the Bush administration’s conduct of the war. A spokesman for the vice president said Cheney had no comment on the incident.” (Yahoo News)

The caption at the bottom of the CNN screen says “CHENEY: I DO NOT BELIEVE IT IS WRONG TO CRITICIZE.” Apparently the technical hitch was caused by a ‘switcher device’ problem. Some CNN guy who answered a phoned-in complaint on the issue was fired after defending the fault on grounds of freedom of speech. I kid you not.

If you’d like to hear what Talk Show America thought about it try their 5 December podcast (63MB). It also includes some interesting pro-Iraq War ‘adverts’.