Fox News extends streak of on-screen graphics flubs

The Cutline

When you have 24 hours of cable news programming to fill--with the requisite scrolls and chyrons and touch-screen-wall-maps and human holograms--you're bound to make some mistakes. But Fox News has had a string of on-screen graphical flubs this week, all of them pointed out rather gleefully by left-leaning websites.

On Monday, Fox News aired what should have been a simple chart of the unemployment rate under President Obama. But the graphic appeared to show the current 8.6 percent rate of unemployment unchanged from the previously reported 9 percent rate.

On Wednesday, Fox News' graphics department had some trouble with U.S. geography, mislabeling Utah as Nevada:

And later, the network mistook Vermont for New Hampshire:

To top it off, Fox flubbed a graphic of the GOP candidates, placing a photo of Barack Obama above Mitt Romney's name:

Business Insider's Glynnis MacNicol suggested Fox "fire the person in charge of its graphics department."

While that may sound extreme, two years ago Fox executives announced a "zero tolerance" policy for on-screen errors. Via a 2009 memo:

Effective immediately, there is zero tolerance for on-screen errors. Mistakes by any member of the show team that end up on air may result in immediate disciplinary action against those who played significant roles in the "mistake chain," and those who supervise them. That may include warning letters to personnel files, suspensions, and other possible actions up to and including termination.

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