CNN has apologized for a graphic error that resulted in Russian President Vladimir Putin appearing on screen, with a banner that read “Reports: ‘Jihadi John’ Identified.” “Jihadi John” is the previously unidentified militant believed to have carried out the beheadings of two Western journalists.
According to The Times of Israel, the mistake, which happened Saturday, was blamed on a server failure:
A spokesman for CNN told the Russian Tass news agency: “Due to a failure of a video server during today’s breaking news broadcast, a photo of Vladimir Putin, prepared for our next report, was accidentally shown. We apologize for that mistake.”
RT, the Russian government-backed news channel, mocked the mistake–airing the CNN clip with an added drumroll sound effect.