SERIOUS court matters have turned into a bit of a joke among 2CC listeners after a news presenter mispronounced part of her report.
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In an update on the case against Lieutenant John Alan Jones, who has been found guilty and jailed over the spanking of a young female officer, the newsreader mispronounced findings from a court martial as being from a court ''marital''.
![On-air news blooper appeals to listeners On-air news blooper appeals to listeners](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-ct-migration/2d5600c5-c242-4c7f-9dfe-9de407cbbcea.jpg/r0_0_729_471_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
One Today reader emailed us with the response, ''Oh dear - if it was a marital situation there may not have been a problem.''
Not 10 out of Ten
ON THE topic of bloopers, ACT Deputy Chief Minister Andrew Barr reckons he's found ''Gold!'' in the form of a TEN Capital News blooper video from the late 1990s.
Posted on YouTube, the video features a series of stuff-ups from key news presenters from throughout the year.
Mr Barr was particularly amused by a shot of a ''a very young Simon Corbell'' who had a cameraman's light fall in his lap mid-interview.
My favourite is of a female presenter who shouted out a comical ''you bastard'' at a motorised glider after the pilot flew up beside her and almost blew her off the screen with the wind of his propellers.
There are also plenty of sneezes, crashes, tongue-twisters and even a presenter who has somehow been turned bright green. You just can't run from your mistakes these days, can you?
Complaints register
MISTAKES rarely go unnoticed, though, and the number of complaints to the Advertising Standards Bureau give us proof of this.
The bureau received complaints over almost 500 advertisements this year, with the most whinged-about portraying a picture of two men hugging, alongside a picture of a condom with the words ''rip and roll''.
More than 222 people formally whinged about the ad but the bureau dismissed their claim, ruling that the important public health message (safe sex) overruled any social sensitivity. The second-most complained about ad (75 complaints), which showed an Indian person doorknocking to sell the best energy deals, was accused of racial vilification for its subtle suggestion that the man could not be trusted. This complaint was also dismissed.
In fact, of all the 500 adverts complained about to the bureau only 57 were upheld. Hard to please everybody, I guess.
Noll's prize visit
THERE WERE hundreds of very pleased students screaming and cheering at St John Vianney's Primary School, Waramanga, yesterday after a special visit from Australian Idol star Shannon Noll. The school won a free concert via 104.7 radio after raising $1500 for the ACT Cancer Support Group.
Year 2 student Sammy Urbaniak, 8, couldn't believe her luck when the idol invited her on stage to sing his hit song What About Me and was even more shocked when he changed the lyrics to ''What About Sammy''. The duo performance was acknowledgement of Sammy's generosity - after all, it was she who suggested the school raise money in honour of her dance troupe friend, Shenese, who sadly died of a blood cancer earlier this year.
Shenese's mum and brother were also invited to the event as well as children from her former school, St Clare of Assisi Primary. Congratulations kids! Good work for a great cause.
Healthy team effort
MEANWHILE, sick children at the Canberra Hospital also felt like Christmas had come early yesterday after members of the Brumbies rugby team arrived to deliver presents.
It seemed almost the entire team got involved with Ben Hand, Nic White, Robbie Coleman, Ian Prior, Matt Toomua, Joseph Tomane, Ben Mowen, Ruaidhri Murphy, Jono Owen, Jesse Mogg, Andrew Smith, Sam Carter, Michael Hooper and Cam Crawford all personally buying gifts - 50 altogether - for the sick children.
With a child of his own, Ben Hand said it was a reality check to see how tough the kids were doing. ''From my understanding the majority of these kids will be spending their entire Christmas break in hospital which isn't ideal. We were all pretty happy to have a chance to come down and say 'hi' and hand out a few prezzies.''
Fingers crossed good health will be one of the presents bestowed on these kids.
Dad gets green light(s)
FINALLY, if the spirit of goodwill isn't enough to celebrate, the fact that a local Canberran has just broken a world record certainly is!
At exactly 4.30am yesterday Forrest father-of-three David Richards received the official tick for breaking the world record for the most lights on a residential property.
The Canberra Times reported earlier this month on the display, which includes 29,630m of LED strings, 15,000 cable ties and an 18m light-controlled tree. Mr Richards said the record was an exciting achievement, particularly for SIDS and Kids ACT, who have benefited from the gold coin donations left by visitors admiring the lights for several years.
''SIDS is an organisation that helps people in some of the hardest times of their lives, so I'm glad this will increase their exposure,'' he said.