CNN confuses Australia with Austria, sparks Twitter reactions

American news channel CNN has become the subject of social media ridicule, when one of its reports mixed up Austria with Australia.

In a recent news item, CNN’s caption read, “Australia building a fence at the Slovenian border.” It was clearly a typographical error, since the two countries are thousands of kilometres away.

Late last year, Austria announced that it will erect a 3.7-kilometre mesh fence in its bid to increase border security measures, according to a report by SBS. European countries have been facing record influx of migrants, and various efforts are being put in place to control the issue.

Reports claim that it was Vox Executive Editor Matthew Yglesias who first called out CNN’s blunder, when he uploaded a screenshot of the wrong caption on Twitter on Tuesday. “This seems a little paranoid for an island nation thousands of miles away,” he wrote.

Yglesias’ post launched reactions in the social media, with most Twitter users resorting to humour. Some even used the hashtag #newsfail.

CNN is not alone in mistaking the two countries. A Google search of Austria and Australia generates top entries such as, “austria and australia are they the same?” and “austria and australia confusion.”

A thread in Yahoo also tackles the same issue, in answer to the question “difference between austria and australia.” While most of those who answered pointed out specific geographical answers, one simply wrote, “The similarity between Austria and Australia is the same as Bear and Bare... they are examples of words that sound similar but have nothing else in common!!!”

In June 2015, CNN also generated attention after one of its correspondents, Lucy Pawle, reported that an ISIS flag has been spotted at a gay parade in London. It was later discovered to be a flag with sex toys on it. The news channel took down the video from its site, but not before eliciting various comments from viewers.