Yesterday, during CNN's coverage of Vice President Cheney's speech at the American Enterprise Institute, addressing the political critics of the Iraq War, a mysterious large black "X" flashed over the Vice President's face several times. This was in no way an accident.

There is absolutely no way a "X" can sporadically appear on anyone's face on live television by "technological malfunction", as CNN would have us believe, especially when it flashes on and off for less than a second at a time. Someone in the control room has to physically position [and by 'physically' I mean by use of Chyron, or TypeDeko or another such graphics program] the graphical image and deliberately key the image over the live feed; something that is not done by the graphics operator [the keying itself; that goes through the directors board], but by the director, and with the directors full knowledge. I know this because I work in television. We put on 3 shows a day, except on weekends, and I highly doubt that CNN's operations are performed significantly different than our own... The Director is in charge, and in full control of what goes out on the air.

Someone should lose their job over this, and probably will; without fanfare, or a burning need by CNN to publicly acknowledge the event, or even apologize. The Bush-Haters and Liberals feel they can do as they wish without impugnity. And for the most part, they're right. The public rarely, if ever, cares to challenge their ethics. It's sad what we've come to.

[Photo: Courtesy of NewsBusters.org]