“Drunk” Aussie News Anchor On-air, didn’t Show-up on Stint the Next Day (Video)
On Wednesday, July 31, Kerryn Johnston of WIN's Wollongong and the presenter for ACT bulletin made a joke of herself when she announced on-air that she might sound too bubbly for her post.
"Good evening. Tonight I'm going to sound like a drunk," she said as she opened her news greeting the televiewers.
Then she made a sassy smile, went over her notes and told the staff to make a new camera angle. Apparently, she thought that they were just having a technical rehearsal.
See the video here:
Too bad for Ms Johnston, she was not drunk that night but rather a little more perky as she was excited for a Brumbies win.
On Thursday night, Aug 1, seasoned actor Ms Johnston, did not attend her stint in the ACT bulletin.
According to a report from The Canberra Times, Ms Johnston's blunder was the first major glitch to happen after she and co-host Amy Duggan replaced the more seasoned anchors Danielle Post and Greg Thomson. The two former anchors resigned after WIN had downsized its operation in June 26.
It seemed that Ms Johnston will now be a big embarrassment for the network. During its change of anchors, WIN Newtork NSW/ACT General Manager ANDY Vauitier was confident that the change was for the better.
"This will not affect the quality, quantity or content of the Canberra bulletin. The news gathering process will remain unchanged," Mr Vautier told Fairfax Media.
"It is critically important that in order to remain viable and to continue providing genuine local news content WIN continues to look for new, better and more innovative way of delivering high quality news service to the people of regional Australia," he assured viewers at that time.
Viewers still wait if Ms Johnston will show up for her Friday's nightly show.
News anchors have a very challenging job, especially if they are covering breaking news, which requires that they should be prompt, credible and well-informed.
Just recently, in the wake of the Asiana Airlines crash landing, Oakland TV station KTVU and National Transportation Safety Board was found negligent of its media responsibility when anchors named the airplane's pilots as Captain Sum Ting Wong, Wi Tu Lo, Ho Lee Fuk and Bang Ding Ow.
These names were obviously pun made to the pilots' Asian names but all parties concerned were careless to notice the mistake.
See video here:
As much as the TV station issued its apology, the Asian American Journalists Association decided that KTVU is "hardly off the hook."
And who would have forget NBC affiliate KFYR-TV news anchor A.J. Clemente getting fired for his first day in the job when he clumsily said "Fucking... Shit" on air.
He did not realize that his microphone was already on as he practice the difficult pronunciation of London Marathon winner Tsegave Kebede's first name.
A lot of news anchors had been victims to unexpected bloopers involving their jobs.
In fact, there had been compilations of funny news anchor fails circulating the news media.
Viewers hope that WIN takes it easy with Ms Johnston.