Update on the Now Famous CNN "X"

CNN did some scrambling today and made an on air apology and explanation for the "X" which appeared over Vice President Dick Cheney during the CNN live broadcast of a Cheney speech:

CNN apologized on Tuesday and offered a rare explanation from its control booth for a technical glitch many viewers failed to notice -- a large "X" the network flashed over Vice President Dick Cheney's face.

The wayward graphic, which CNN said lasted for about one-seventh of a second, appeared during the network's live coverage of Cheney's speech on Monday addressing critics of the Bush administration's conduct of the war in Iraq.
[...]

The network followed up with a special on-air segment during its "CNN Live Today" broadcast, in which anchor Daryn Kagan joined the network's technical manager, Steve Alperin, in the control room to offer a fuller explanation.

The "X" image, a place-holding marker used by technicians to cue up graphics, is not supposed to be visible to viewers but was inadvertently projected onto the screen by a malfunction in a "switcher" device, they explained.

"So, for all the conspiracy theories out there," Kagan said, " ... that's not what this is about. It's a computer bug that people deal with everyday. It's just that ours was in front of millions of people."

A spokesman for the vice president said Cheney had no comment on the incident.

I'd like to believe them, but with everything going on today, it's easier to believe there was malicious intent rather than an honest mistake. Given their on-air explanation, it probably was a mistake, and I guarantee you it won't happen again.