when in doubt blame an intern

["Kevin Vahey" <kvahey@mediaone.net>]

Big embarrassment at ABC after the network's affiliates were all sent a
story script with the headline "Gore Kills Child." The intro to the item
read like this: "Al Gore was arrested today for killing a small child with
his teeth." Then there was a note listing the various bits of film available
with the story, including "Various shots of Gore with dead body" and "a
(sound) bite with John Carpenter of the Austin Police Dept."

The story seems to have gone onto ABC's internal wire from station WFAA in
Dallas. Here's the network's explanation: somebody was teaching a rookie
freelancer how to use the computer system to send scripts, created a silly
story as an example - and the rookie pressed the wrong button, sending the
story out.

It didn't get on the air anywhere