CNN covers Cheney with mysterious 'X'

[Desertdog]

Certainly sounds like a glitch, to me. I think several, unknown at this time, people need to be fired and never permitted to work in TV again.


CNN covers Cheney with mysterious 'X'
Matt Drudge calls it 'alarming,' network claims it's just glitch
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47523

Vice President Dick Cheney had his face covered by a mysterious giant "X" during CNN's live coverage of his speech from the American Enterprise Institute today.

Giant black X continuously flashed over Vice President Cheney's face during CNN coverage of speech today (courtesy: Drudge Report)

According to the Drudge Report, the "X" over Cheney's face "appeared each time less than a second, creating an odd subliminal effect."

A screen capture by Drudge notes that while one "X" flashed over Cheney's face, CNN ran a headline at the bottom of its screen: "CHENEY: I DO NOT BELIEVE IT IS WRONG TO CRITICIZE."

"This is the vice president of the United States. It is rather serious to be putting black 'Xs' over his face," Matt Drudge said on tonight's "Hannity & Colmes" program on the Fox News Channel. "I felt it rather alarming that this is subliminally being sent out over the airwaves. ... I'm just knocked out."

When asked if he thought it was evidence of the so-called liberal media, Drudge answered, "I don't know. Is CNN liberal?"

The TVNewser website obtained a statement from a CNN spokesperson, who explained: "This was a technological malfunction, not an issue of operator error. A portion of the switcher experienced a momentary glitch."

"It glitched over and over again, huh?" Drudge responded. "The timing of the glitch is interesting."

 

[Fletchette]

"I don't know. Is CNN liberal?"

Is a bear Catholic?...no, wait....Does the Pope...no, no, that's not right...

 

[Coronach]

We have several people here who work in television. Perhaps one of them could opine as to whether or not it is even possible for a technical snafu to produce that effect.

USA Today ran a picture of Condi Rice with obviously touched up eyes (and not in a good way), claiming it was a photoshop error. No one I know who uses Photoshop thinks it was anythign other than deliberate, as it did not match up as an unintended byproduct of any Pshop technique.

Mike

 

[gc70]

Touching up photos is a new low in the MSM. I have noticed over the past several years that you can tell the political leanings of a media organization by the pictures they run - they run favorable pictures of people they like and unflattering pictures of people they don't like.

 

[Don't Tread On Me]

While I do not support either Democrats or Republicans (I support those who support RKBA),


I find this type of behavior extremely disturbing.


In fairness, FOX had photoshopped the photo of Kerry and Bush shaking hands at the start of the debates. They made Bush a lot taller. They closed the gap in their height difference quite a bit.


I'm not sure if FOX has been carefully selecting the worst images if Hillary, Kerry et al, but I definately know CNN chooses the worst photos of any Republican, and does so often.


It really doesn't matter. The media is pure garabge. They are a distractionary tool of tabloid quality. The internet will eventually marginalize even cable news. Before that happens, papers and the main networks will be fossils. Organized, mass corporate media is censored and controlled by the government. They don't write the articles, but they set the agenda.

On one side of the media, you hear nothing but Bush basing, war bashing and general dissent on everything except the governments real action, on the other side you have endless mindnumbing stories on child mollestors, missing women, etc...

While they are each distracting their constituents, the government churns out civil rights attacks. Bad laws from the Congress, heinous policies from the Executive, and evil rulings from the SCOTUS.

 

[ghost squire]

It really doesn't matter. The media is pure garabge. They are a distractionary tool of tabloid quality.

THANK YOU!

I don't know how people can watch that garbage, you would have to have subnormal intelligence to believe some of that stuff.

It's the circus part of the bread and circus thing, I think. Or at least one of the circuses...

 

[ghost squire]

It really doesn't matter. The media is pure garabge. They are a distractionary tool of tabloid quality.

THANK YOU!

I don't know how people can watch that garbage, you would have to have subnormal intelligence to believe some of that stuff.

It's the circus part of the bread and circus thing, I think. Or at least one of the circuses...

FOX runs a news story on sex slaves every year, one year it was CIA sex slaves (no I'm not joking), now its immigrant sex slaves...

 

[Drizzt]

Drudge was on Hannity & Colmes tonight talking about this. CNN says that it was a technical glitch, caused another effect they were using in the video ending.

 

[Kurush]

The USA today thing was legit but I'm skeptical about this. I mean Cheney already looks like Darth Vader, why distract from it

If you look at Drudge's photo closely there seems to be some black lettering below the X... I see the letters "IS" superimposed on the "TO" and the letters "O BLACK" above "CNN today"

 

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

Even if it was an accident initially, their technicians should have cought it and corrected it pretty quick. The fact that the flashing X persisted throughout the entire speech tells me that the boys at CNN wanted it to stay there.

Anyone wanna bet on whether CNN punishes the folks responsible?

 

[Coronach]

The USA today thing was legit

Really? Did they come up with a better explaination than "I really ran amok with unsharp mask. Yeah, uh...yeah. That's it." Because, frankly? That dog won't hunt.

Mike

 

[xd9fan]

Does CNN really think people will believe them, that this is a "computer problem"??? Are they that dumb, blind and twisted???
wait dont answer either question......:banghead:

 

[torpid]

The USA today thing was legit...

HA HA HA!

.

 

[Kaylee]

I think he means "a legit case of someone mucking around with the image on purpose." In which case he's right. There's no way the Condi image was anything but intentional. Not only was it a photoshop hack job, it was a crude, amateurish hack job. Someone should have lost their job just for incompetence on that one.

I can buy a technical error in this CNN/Cheney thing though. Though I'm sure I've not used the same software CNN uses, I have used other video editing tools, and it's not unusual for an "X" of some kind to mean something to the effect of "you're playing a video file with no content here" or "I'm saving memory by not showing the effect you asked for here, but it will be in the final cut."

I'm sure our TV editors will speak up, but I ain't gonna get all aggravated over this one.

 

[itgoesboom]

The USA today thing was legit

Sorry. No.

I have worked as a media photographer for the last 8 years, with lots of experience with large newspapers and wire services, and I can tell you that it isn't legit.

Other photographers have claimed it is, but I know photoshop (atleast the parts used in photojournalism) like the back of my hand, I know what causes what effect, and that was not legit.

I.G.B.

 

[torpid]

I think he means "a legit case of someone mucking around with the image on purpose."

Aha- in that case, I retract my laughter.


!AH AH AH

.

 

[Biker]

This does seem strange, but on the other hand, you would think that with the resources that cnn has, they would be a bit less ham-handed if they were intentionally trying to send a subliminal message.
Don't get me wrong-I have a closet full of tin-foil hats , but this just seems to be too amateurish to be intentional.
Biker

 

[Omni04]

i didn't get a chance to watch that. I am surprised this is the first thread on it- i figured a THRer would have seen it and made a quick post

 

[tetchaje1]

The TV savvy people over on SIGForum are debating this one right now, too. The thread has pictures of the interview, too.
http://sigforum.com/groupee/forums/a/tpc/f/320601935/m/892100414

If the "X" was a glitch, why didn't it also show up on the host's face when his image was shown on the TV 10x as much as Cheney's.

If it was intentional it is piss poor journalism, as usual. :banghead:

 

[Kurush]

I think he means "a legit case of someone mucking around with the image on purpose." In which case he's right.

Yes, that's what I meant.

Other photographers have claimed it is, but I know photoshop (atleast the parts used in photojournalism) like the back of my hand, I know what causes what effect, and that was not legit.

So do you know any filters that would reveal the mysterious black letters under the X?

EDIT: Nevermind they figured out what the mask was on SigForums: http://www.fototime.com/{519E3AD1-A127-4A04-8E27-010589677D07}/picture.JPG

 

[Waitone]

Really interesting collision of stories. While I was reading Drudge's story on the X on Cheney, read this thread http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=167204&highlight=secret+service which highlights the story of a kid in eastern NC who got a visit from the Secret Service because of a school project.

One student “had taken a photo of George Bush out of a magazine and tacked the picture to a wall with a red thumb tack through his head. Then he made a thumb’s down sign with his own hand next to the President’s picture, and he had a photo taken of that, and he pasted it on a poster.”

Just off hand I would expect to see the federales pay a visit to CNN and have a discussion with the techs present during the "malfunction."

I will be standing by to see if Big Media get the same treatment as a kid in a social studies class in Nowhere, NC.

 

[longeyes]

I am no innocent to video. I don't believe it was an "accident." This was bigtime TV, not Podunk or Final Cut Pro.

I think we have a lot of people in this country, unfortunately in responsible places, who have never grown beyond adolescence.

 

[Desertdog]

A later story

CNN SENIOR MANAGEMENT LAUNCHES INVESTIGATION OF CHENEY 'X'; CONTROL ROOM STAFFER 'LAUGHED' WHEN X FLASHED
http://drudgereport.com/flash4cnc.htm


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.

 

[DRZinn]

it appeared for less than 1/15 of a second

Isn't television 15 frames/second? And if it is, that's impossible.

 

[Kurush]

NTSC is 30 frames/second