BBC Weather Forecast Tells Viewers to Expect ‘Nazi Ghosts’

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By Sam Kestenbaum September 16, 2016

A BBC weather forecast in Wales recently told viewers that they could expect to encounter some “Nazi ghosts” along with a cold front in the days ahead.

The subtitling of the forecast delivered by the BBC Wales presenter Sue Charles was supposed to read the “North Sea coast.” But a glitch in the automatic subtitling mis-transcribed the phrase as “Nazi ghosts.”

Viewers picked up on the snafu quickly. “For a moment you might have thought the Nazis had come back from beyond the grave to invade the country from the North Sea,” one quipped, according to the Daily Mail.

The forecast was filmed in Llandaff, Cardiff. A BBC employee told the Daily Mail that it was a problem of automation and not a human error. “Our auto subtitling automatically transcribes the words it hears.”

Every once in a while, the employee said, “there will be the odd blooper and this was one of them.”

This wasn’t the first time the station encountered some technical difficulties.

In 2002, one broadcaster asked for a “moment of violence” during the Queen mother’s funeral.

Email Sam Kestenbaum at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter at @skestenbaum

Sam Kestenbaum is a contributing editor and former staff writer for the Forward. Before this, he worked for The New York Times and newsrooms in Sana, Ramallah and Beijing. Contact him at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter at @skestenbaum and on Instagram at @skestenbaum.

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