Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Private Jokes no Longer Safe



Private jokes sent via email often go to unintended recipients and land the sender in trouble but it is not only email that is now risky. One wonders if private jokes cannot now be safely made at all. Where are all the "privacy" advocates?

"A television station apologised to viewers after an internet video showed a longtime weather anchor clowning around in front of a computer graphic of a woman's breast. WBKO-TV, a station based in Bowling Green, Kentucky, said on its website that it has reprimanded weather anchor Chris Allen for "acting in a juvenile and unprofessional manner." Rick McCue, station vice president and general manager, said Allen remains an employee.

The tape was from years earlier, never aired on television and was stolen by a former employee, who posted it on the internet, according to the station, which did not name the former employee.

WBKO's statement included an apology from Allen: "This video - which was never intended to be seen outside of the station - was part of a joke that was played on me during a lighter moment off the air several years ago.

Source