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“It was a bulletin I shall never forget.”

Computer glitches cause Peter Hitchener to turn to trusty paper script & glasses.

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It was computer gremlins -and not malware- that sent Nine News Melbourne into a spin last night, forcing Nine to switch to the Sydney bulletin briefly, before Peter Hitchener returned with paper scripts and glasses to continue.

But after coping with traditional tools, Hitch smartly turned a near disaster into a behind the scenes insight through Twitter and Periscope, laughing off the night of technical mishaps.

“No it wasn’t malware; no it wasn’t a bitcoin demand for ransom,” Hitch later explained. “Nothing like that. It was just a teeny bit of aberrant computer stuff that got into the system.

“People were running down into the studio with scripts,” he noted.

Tony Jones went scriptless while Livinia Nixon, on location at Queen Vic Markets, was nearly rendered speechless after eating something with too much spice.

“It was a bulletin I shall never forget.”

8 Responses

  1. Newsflash. Due to budget cuts in the Newsroom, Peter Hitchener is to be replaced by a CGI representation lip-synched to iSpeech. The entire bulletin will be run from an iPad controlled by a backpacker on a 457 Visa in the recently vacated Human Services Office.

  3. But when are these new-age producers and directors ever going to learn. This wonderful automation (ahem) dies, and often. Peter – remember your old days when you did have paper scripts. When the film breaks or the tape’s not ready ‘read the blues’ until the FM gives the thumbs up. So simple yet these days one glitch brings the entire bulletin crashing down. Simply, paper scripts in hand or on the desk would avoid all of the drama.

    2. “People were running down into the studio with scripts,” he noted.
      Never had that issue did we Mr Henderson/Mr Ross. Scripts on the desk, copy with the FM.

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