TV

BBC News Completely Cooked The Subtitles During Trump’s Inauguration

"Just tell him to get out of my face."

by Tom Clift  21 January 2017

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Now that we’re officially living in the age of President Trump, the work of journalists is more important than ever before. When the leader of the free world trades in bald-faced lies, it’s integral that news organisations remain vigilant, and are ready to hold power to account.

With that in mind, it’s safe to say the BBC didn’t exactly get off to the best start, with the British broadcast facing ridicule on social media after broadcasting footage of Trump’s inauguration with the wrong subtitles. And I don’t mean they were off by one or two words. These subtitles were for a completely different program.

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A BBC viewer in Southampton posted the erroneous footage to Twitter, and it is kind of incredible. Unfortunately there’s no sound, but I remain confident the subtitles are wrong.

For example, at one point, the Archbishop of New York, Timothy M. Dolan, is subtitled as telling Trump “no one wants you here.” At another point, President Obama is seen with his eyes closed seemingly thinking “just tell him to get out of my face.” Actually, come to think of it, that one might be accurate.

According to The Daily Mail, the subtitles were meant to accompany the children’s program The Dumping Ground. So close…and yet so far.