Promoting segment on Obama, Hardball displayed a photo of bin Laden

Summary: Hardball displayed a photo of Osama bin Laden behind Chris Matthews as he promoted a segment on Sen. Barack Obama, saying: "[W]hat did Barack Obama say and why is it causing controversy? Well, we'll take a look at that fight that erupted today over something Barack said on the campaign trail." Matthews later stated, "You may have noticed a graphic over my shoulder -- a picture we showed over my shoulder -- that was a mistake earlier in the broadcast. We apologize for the error." Matthews provided no further explanation of the error or why it occurred.

The February 18 edition of MSNBC's Hardball displayed a photo of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden behind host Chris Matthews as he promoted an upcoming segment on Sen. Barack Obama, saying: "[W]hat did Barack Obama say and why is it causing controversy? Well, we'll take a look at that fight that erupted today over something Barack said on the campaign trail." Later in the program, Matthews stated, "You may have noticed a graphic over my shoulder -- a picture we showed over my shoulder -- that was a mistake earlier in the broadcast. We apologize for the error." Matthews provided no further explanation of the error or why it occurred.

Hardball's display of bin Laden's picture and Matthews' subsequent apology have been noted by the website Huffington Post, among others.

Media outlets have made similar errors before. On the January 1, 2007, edition of CNN's The Situation Room, host Wolf Blitzer promoted a segment on bin Laden by showing a photo of bin Laden with top lieutenant Ayman al-Zawahiri along with a caption that asked, "Where's Obama?"

On the January 2, 2007, edition of CNN's American Morning, Blitzer apologized for the incident: "Unfortunately, there was a graphic, instead of saying, 'Where's Osama?' it said, 'Where's Obama?' We want to apologize for that bad typo. We want to also apologize personally to Senator Barack Obama. I'm going to be making a call to him later this morning to offer my personal apology." A January 2, 2007, Associated Press article reported that the "apology was accepted."

On January 3, 2007, blogger and media critic Greg Sargent noted in a post on the blog TPM Election Central that the Yahoo! News photo page had displayed an image of Obama with a caption that read: "Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida." On February 15, 2007, the New York Post published a correction that stated, "Due to an editing mistake, a small number of copies of yesterday's Post carried a headline referring to 'Osama' over a story about Sen. Barack Obama on Page 2. The Post regrets the error."

From the 7 p.m. hour of the January 1, 2007, edition of CNN's The Situation Room:

BLITZER: Still ahead, as the world focuses in on Saddam Hussein, what about another man feared and hated around the world -- that would be Osama bin Laden? Are American forces any closer to finding him in this new year?

From the January 2, 2007, edition of CNN's American Morning:

BLITZER: One additional note, I just want to make a correction, an apology, Soledad [O'Brien, co-host at the time], for what we did yesterday. In The Situation Room, we had a bad typographical error in one of our graphics. We were doing a piece on the hunt for Osama bin Laden in this new year, 2007.

Unfortunately, there was a graphic, instead of saying, "Where's Osama?" it said, "Where's Obama?" We want to apologize for that bad typo. We want to also apologize personally to Senator Barack Obama. I'm going to be making a call to him later this morning to offer my personal apology -- Soledad.

From the February 18 edition of MSNBC's Hardball:

MATTHEWS: Also, what did Barack Obama say and why is it causing controversy? Well, we'll take a look at that fight that erupted today over something Barack said on the campaign trail.

[...]

MATTHEWS: You may have noticed a graphic over my shoulder -- a picture we showed over my shoulder -- that was a mistake earlier in the broadcast. We apologize for the error.

—R.C.