Twitter-fed billboard backfires for local TV station when anchors appear next to gang rape reference
By Press-Register staff
November 30, 2009, 5:25PM
View full sizeA passing motorist's photo shows the unfortunate juxtaposition of three of WPMI-TV's on-air personalities with a Twitter headline stating that three people have been arrested in a gang rape case.
MOBILE, Ala. -- An attempt to add a live Twitter breaking news feed to a digital billboard in Mobile backfired for local television station WPMI-TV when the words "Three accused of gang rape" appeared next to smiling photos of 3 of the station's on-air personalities.
The advertisement showed the station's anchors, Greg Peterson and Kym Thurman, with their top weatherman Derek Beasley, alongside the latest headline and the words "Right now on Twitter".
As luck would have it, the time at which the top headline on Twitter read "Three accused of gang rape in Monroeville" and the anchors' photos were juxtaposed was caught on camera by a passing motorist on Interstate 10.
Enter the Internet.
The photograph found its way on to a South Carolina blog, the Palmetto Scoop, then on to social media site Mashable, before being sent around the Internet in a series of e-mails and blog posts. It's even appeared on a newspaper Web site in the United Kingdom.
The British Web site and other Internet sites have stated that 2 members of the station's senior staff have been suspended over the billboard incident. Calls by the Press-Register to the NBC affiliate's general manager and to an operations vice president with the station's parent company were not returned on Monday.
By Press-Register staff
November 30, 2009, 5:25PM
MOBILE, Ala. -- An attempt to add a live Twitter breaking news feed to a digital billboard in Mobile backfired for local television station WPMI-TV when the words "Three accused of gang rape" appeared next to smiling photos of 3 of the station's on-air personalities.
The advertisement showed the station's anchors, Greg Peterson and Kym Thurman, with their top weatherman Derek Beasley, alongside the latest headline and the words "Right now on Twitter".
As luck would have it, the time at which the top headline on Twitter read "Three accused of gang rape in Monroeville" and the anchors' photos were juxtaposed was caught on camera by a passing motorist on Interstate 10.
Enter the Internet.
The photograph found its way on to a South Carolina blog, the Palmetto Scoop, then on to social media site Mashable, before being sent around the Internet in a series of e-mails and blog posts. It's even appeared on a newspaper Web site in the United Kingdom.
The British Web site and other Internet sites have stated that 2 members of the station's senior staff have been suspended over the billboard incident. Calls by the Press-Register to the NBC affiliate's general manager and to an operations vice president with the station's parent company were not returned on Monday.
