Three Australian television networks were caught up in a bizarre blunder this week.
A spokesperson for the New South Wales Rural Fire Service visited stations Nine, Seven and Ten on Wednesday night to discuss the scorching weather in Sydney.
The RFS media and communications manager, who appeared on 9NEWS, was known as ‘Ben Richardson’, without rank.
However, at 10 News First he quickly became “Brady Clarke” and rose to the rank of captain.
The confusion didn’t end there, however, as the hapless media spokesperson turned to 7NEWS for yet another name change.
In his third media appearance of the day, he was identified as “Inspector Ben Shephard.”
However, all three networks were wrong and the spokesperson’s name was actually Ben Shepherd.
All along there was a big tell-tale clue about the spokesman’s true identity, which apparently went unnoticed by the three announcers.
A bizarre gaffe occurred this week when the NSW Rural Fire Service spokesman was on the beat at stations Nine, Seven and Ten on Thursday afternoon to discuss Sydney’s scorching weather. Pictured: Ben Shepherd
Inspector Shepherd wore his name tag prominently at every interview.
The bizarre gaffe comes after eagle-eyed Today Show viewers pointed out a major problem with Channel Nine’s Olympic logo.
Armchair sleuths took to the MediaSpy forums earlier this month to point out that the network was still displaying the Olympic rings logo above the time on the Today Show.
With the Paris 2024 Olympics now over, some commentators suggested the network was a little behind the times and should instead use the Paralympic logo: Agitos.
Posting a series of screenshots from the Today Show on the forum, one commenter pointed out the “mistake” and said they had noticed that “occasionally the Olympic rings are still animated with the Today logo.”
The RFS’s director of media and communications, who appeared on Nine News, was known as Ben Richardson, without rank. However, on 10 News First he quickly became Brady Clarke and rose to the rank of captain.
In response to the discovery, another chimed in, arguing that Nine should use the next two weeks to promote the Paralympics.
“It would be nice to put a Paralympic logo instead,” they wrote.
Another chimed in: “Shouldn’t it be replaced with the Paralympic symbol which is the Agitos for the next two and a half weeks?”
Previously, an eagle-eyed TikTok user claimed the network had been using an incorrect version of the famous Olympic rings logo.
Marketing professional Kiandra Trickett, known as The Original Kiki on social media, revealed that Nine appeared to be using an altered and unauthorised version of the Olympic rings.
In his third media appearance of the day, the man with multiple names had become, this time, Inspector Ben Shephard. However, that name was also incorrect.
He then showed images of the different iterations of the logo that have been used over the years.
Trickett then showed the 9Now version, which shows a different connection between the rings than that established in the official IOC guidelines.
While each ring is interlaced behind and in front of each neighboring ring in those patterns, the 9Now version has each ring completely overlapping, either in front of or behind the neighboring ring, without the interlacing effect.
The rings themselves are also thinner than the official IOC design.
All the while, there was one big tell-tale clue to the spokesman’s true identity, which apparently went undetected by the three broadcasters. Inspector Shepherd wore his name badge prominently in every interview.
