Twitter billboard for Local 15 in Mobile
Mobile NBC affiliate Local 15 (WPMI) has tweeted its way into trouble. A billboard showing off the station’s live headlines from its Twitter account provided this unfortunate juxtaposition, shown above in this photo captured by a driver.
The headline, “3 Accused of Gang Rape in Monroeville,” sits next to the smiling trio of anchors.
The station’s general manager and news director were suspended for a week over the incident.
Even more shocking? The billboard doesn’t actually show the station’s Twitter account name! It’s @LOCAL15NEWS, by the way.
- Original tweet and story
- Palmetto Scoop broke the story, picked up by Mashable and the Mobile Press-Register
Should the station have handed out suspensions over the incident? Will this ultimately hurt the news department’s credibility?
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Media of Birmingham 
Sometimes you just can’t see the forest for the trees – have you ever concentrated so hard on something you are writing that suddenly everyday common words don’t look right? …and big details go right by you? Looks like we’ve found some people who can relate…
But does the punishment really fit the crime? It’s an amusing juxtaposition, but no more exciting than taking a screencap of any newscast with a headline crawl at the bottom.