Plan B Forum

In what can only be described as a comedy of errors, an Argentinian TV news channel delivered a stunning, if slightly flawed, scoop on Thursday night when it reported that William Shakespeare, “one of the most important writers in the English language” had died five months after receiving the Covid vaccine.

The gaffe of, well, Shakespearean proportions happened after Noelia Novillo, a newsreader on Canal 26, mixed up the Bard with William “Bill” Shakespeare, an 81-year-old Warwickshire man who became the second person in the world to get the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.

William Shakespeare died in 1616, while his namesake – an inpatient in the frailty ward at University hospital, Coventry, at the time of his first vaccination – died this week from a stroke unrelated to the jab.

Sadly, the distinction was lost on Novillo as she informed viewers of the playwright’s death during the 8-10pm slot on Thursday.

“We’ve got news that has stunned all of us given the greatness of this man,” she said. “We’re talking about William Shakespeare and his death. We’ll let you know how and why it happened.”

Over footage of Bill Shakespeare chatting as he received the vaccine, the newsreader added: “As we all know, he’s one of the most important writers in the English language – for me the master. Here he is. He was the first man to get the coronavirus vaccine. He’s died in England at the age of 81.”

After the clip exploded across social media, Novillo explained that she had expressed herself badly and blamed the error on absent punctuation.

“Over the past few hours, as I’m sure you will have seen, a report has gone viral. I actually knew what I was saying to people, just like I always do,” she said on Friday.

“I expressed myself badly; I missed out a full stop, a comma, some brackets. I wanted to clear up something that was very unclear and of course people misinterpreted it.”

But by then, the damage had been done and the snarking had begun.

“There were only a few years between them,” wrote one Twitter user.

“Let us not weep for William Shakespeare,” urged another. “He lived his life and enjoyed people’s affection for centuries.”

Another added: “Such a fuss over William Shakespeare’s death, but they didn’t mention that he was in such a bad way that he hadn’t produced a hit in centuries. Overrated.”

Burning Petard wrote: ↑

Sat May 29, 2021 4:04 pm

I see alot of the same kind of ignorance in general media about guns or cars. I recently saw a story from USA about bad auto designs that knocked Ford for using front engine, rear drive in the Lincoln Blackwood luxury pickup (only built for a couple of years, in a Ford F150 pickup plant as a luxury re-badge) Funny most of the pickups I see on the road have front engine and rear drive. Fact checking seems to be a lost art except perhaps for politics. Easy job to cut from news media and magazine publishers.

snailgate

Crackpot wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 01, 2021 5:02 pm

4WD is always an option unless you’re buying a Subaru and they don’t make pickups.