Aussie newsreader caught daydreaming on air, gets fired
- 7 years ago
SYDNEY — An Australian newsreader has been fired after she was caught daydreaming on live TV.
When a pre-recorded report came to an end, news anchor Natasha Exelby appeared on screen fooling around with a pen and lazily staring into space.
Realizing she was back on air, a startled Exelby gasped, but then recovered quickly to hand over to sports news.
Exelby’s employer, ABC24, failed to see the funny side, however.
The station fired the newscaster, saying she was a casual contributor, not a permanent member of staff, and had only been booked for occasional on-air shifts when needed, according to the New York Daily News.
Other journalists hit out at ABC24’s decision to fire Exelby. They described her as a natural, professional presenter and said ABC24 had massively overreacted.
Others newsreaders pointed out that they had made worse bloopers on air and not been fired.
And now an online petition has been launched to get her reinstated.
Exelby said she took responsibility for the mistake, according to News.com.au.
She recently returned to Australia after 18 months working as a correspondent for a Turkish TV channel, covering the war in Syria and major terrorist attacks in Europe.
Exelby said that with all the sad news out of Syria recently, she was just glad to give people a laugh — even at her own expense.
When a pre-recorded report came to an end, news anchor Natasha Exelby appeared on screen fooling around with a pen and lazily staring into space.
Realizing she was back on air, a startled Exelby gasped, but then recovered quickly to hand over to sports news.
Exelby’s employer, ABC24, failed to see the funny side, however.
The station fired the newscaster, saying she was a casual contributor, not a permanent member of staff, and had only been booked for occasional on-air shifts when needed, according to the New York Daily News.
Other journalists hit out at ABC24’s decision to fire Exelby. They described her as a natural, professional presenter and said ABC24 had massively overreacted.
Others newsreaders pointed out that they had made worse bloopers on air and not been fired.
And now an online petition has been launched to get her reinstated.
Exelby said she took responsibility for the mistake, according to News.com.au.
She recently returned to Australia after 18 months working as a correspondent for a Turkish TV channel, covering the war in Syria and major terrorist attacks in Europe.
Exelby said that with all the sad news out of Syria recently, she was just glad to give people a laugh — even at her own expense.