BBC Weather Forecast Tells Viewers to Expect ‘Nazi Ghosts’
Image by Getty
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
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
