Washington DC Capitol shooting prank call

CNN was fooled by an obvious prankster, prompting Bernard Shaw to lash out at the "idiot," but maybe the real idiots were those who put him on the air.

Every time there's major breaking news event involving a tragedy or live action video, from the OJ chase to the Diana car crash to the TWA crash, a fan of syndicated radio host Howard Stern always manages to get onto CNN and/or MSNBC (onto ABC in the OJ chase) with a fake phone call. They make it onto the air since the cable networks never bother with any basics of call screening. It happened again last Friday during CNN's live coverage of the Capitol shooting. As recounted on the "Captain Janks" Web page, the Stern fan reported: "I called CNN's assignment desk in Washington, DC and told a producer that I was the spokesperson for 'Washington Memorial Hospital,' the place where the gunman had been rushed in critical condition, and that I was authorized to report that he had died of multiple gunshot wounds. The producer asked me if I would be willing to go on the air with Bernard Shaw and report it live. 'Of course.' I replied, trying not to sound too excited." "After a screening process by the producers that included the phone number of the 'hospital', (which I had gotten earlier), the correct spelling of my name (Michael Bowen), and the wording of my report, I was transferred to Atlanta, GA where the on-air phone line is sent through. Within seconds, I on the air with Bernard, and plugged in to the world."

As any resident of the Washington area knows, there is no such thing as Washington Memorial Hospital. But that didn't deter CNN. So, at 5:29pm ET on July 24 CNN viewers heard a live report from the fake caller, rehabilitated to be from GW Hospital though the on-screen graphic read "Washington Hospital Center." Bernard Shaw: "Michael Bowen is a spokesman for George Washington University Hospital. He is live on the telephone now. Mr. Bowen, what can you tell us?" "Bowen": "The gunman, whose name will be withheld, has died of multiple gunshot wounds to the chest at 4:52 p.m. Reports said that he was angry that his radio was broken. He couldn't listen to Howard Stern." Shaw: "Oh my goodness. We were just victims of a hoax. My sincerest apology to you our viewers. Sometimes during live coverage, we have idiots who penetrate telephone systems and our system was just penetrated. That was not a spokesman from George Washington University Hospital...That was a hoax. All I can do is put my palms up and apologize to you. If there was a way to prevent it, believe me, you would not experience what we just experienced. Well, that was awful, and I hope that person -- well, I shouldn't say that, that wouldn't be polite, would it?"

 

NEXT