I can testify how easy it is to make a mistake when you’re putting up live TV graphics, sometimes called “keys” or “supers.” It’s one of the many jobs I’ve done at one of the TV stations where I worked over the years.
 
While my accuracy record was pretty good, no one is above an error. I remember a long time ago we were doing a story on Dr. Henry Morgentaler, a controversial physician who openly performed abortions in the city. I accidentally keyed a pro-choice protestor with the wrong name and a qualifier as an anti-abortionist.
 
This was before social media, but our phones went berserk with complaints from both sides and rightly so.
 
And that’s why I have some sympathy for whoever was doing the job at CTV Toronto at noon Wednesday. They ran a promo for a story about Doug Ford’s upcoming fundraising dinner. Unfortunately, the graphic that ran under the picture of a smiling Premier wasn’t exactly what they wanted. You can see it below.



It’s clear from the white line up the middle of the picture that they were setting up for a split screen with a reporter and that the drug yarn was coming up next. But given his brother Rob’s well known battle with drugs during his time as mayor, it seems especially unfortunate.