Fox 5 San Diego apologized for mistakenly portraying President Barack Obama as a rape suspect during a news broadcast Friday.
Instead of a picture of the suspect in a sexual assault at San Diego State University, a photo of the President with the text “NO CHARGES” ran over the shoulder of anchor Kathleen Bade as she reported that there would be no charges filed in the case.
The shot was noticed quickly by the newsroom, assignment editor Mike Willie told the Times of San Diego.
“Yeah, there was an accident when they had an over-the-shoulder [display],” Wille said. “It wasn’t on purpose.”
The error was followed by an on-air apology from fellow anchor Misha DiBono, seen in the video.
Senior vice president of corporate relations for Tribune Media Gary Weitman told the Times, “I want to let you know that the station will be running an on-air correction and an apology tonight; please be sure to watch for it.”
A station graphic designer, Thomas Condry, fessed up to the error in the “Times’” comments section, where he apologized for the mistake.
“Please refrain from judging this station,” Condry wrote to one commenter. “Everyone here works very hard, and this was my mistake alone. I don’t know if you know any employee here, but I do know I haven’t seen you in the station which leads me to believe you know nothing about our level of respect or contempt regarding any topic.”
Watch the on-air apology here.