WGN is sorry

Variety reports that WGN has apologized for its Nazified acknowledgement of Yom Kippur:

Tribune Media’s flagship TV station WGN-TV Chicago has apologized for including an offensive image in a Tuesday night report on the Yom Kippur holiday.

The station’s 9 p.m. newscast aired a report on the holiday, the day of atonement that is the holiest day of the year for Jews, that included an image of the star of David with “Jude” in the center. That symbol was used as the badge that Jews in concentration camps and elsewhere in Germany were forced to wear during the Nazi regime.

WGN general manager Greg Easterly and news director Jennifer Lyons issued a formal apology to viewers on Wednesday after a local outcry.

“We failed to recognize that the artwork we chose to accompany the story contained an offensive symbol. This was an unfortunate mistake. Ignorance is not an excuse. We are extremely embarrassed and we deeply apologize to our viewers and to the Jewish community for this mistake. We are investigating how this situation occurred, reviewing our in-house policies and making changes in order to avoid such mistakes happening in the future. Thank you for your understanding. We promise to do better.”

I would be curious to know “how this situation occurred.” Will WGN make the result of its investigation public? I doubt there are any in-house rules to prevent ignorance and malice from manifesting themselves. We are suffering an epidemic. The Democrats rely heavily on them in bastions such as Chicago.

Yom Kippur concluded at sundown last night. I would like to stay in the spirit of the holiday but I am straying. This is the text message my Torah study teacher sent out a few hours before sundown on Tuesday:

Remember that aside for asking G-d for forgiveness, we need to ask our fellow man for forgiveness things we did to him/her. G-d cannot/will not forgive us for things that we did to other people. We need to “man” up and face those head on. (Also, it’s a time to forgive those who did things to us.)

All the events of the upcoming year are being finalized in the next 35 hours. We have a chance to change history as it stands to play out.

Prayer, repentance, and tzedaka can change any decree for the better.

Remember it’s a day to get rid of our “buts.” No excuses on our failings. Let’s be honest with ourselves and take responsibility for our actions. (Even if I can’t fix all my failings – I can at least acknowledge them.)

We earnestly pray that the numerically resonant year of 5776 will be a better year than 5775 for the entire world.

UPDATE: Robert Feder has a good account of the WGN story here.

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