This from Poynter Online – E-Media Tidbits:
Today, Mary Ann Akers reports in her Sleuth blog on WashingtonPost.com that OneNewsNow, a site run by the conservative Christian American Family Association, has been having some issues with its filter. Specifically, when it published a June 29 Associated Press article about sprinter Tyson Gay, the site’s automated filter substituted “homosexual” for almost every occurrence of “Gay.” …Which led to hilarious absurdities, such as:
[click this link to the Washington Post piece referenced in to see how outrageous this story is with the athlete’s name substituted for, well, that “other” word…]
Poynter Online – E-Media Tidbits
Technorati Tags: Tyson Gay, OneNewsNow, Christian American Family Association, filter, gay, homosexual
This begs for comment on so many different levels. Given my personality, however, my most powerful reaction is to laugh.
The script to catch offending words was poorly written. We all get caught occasionally on a blanket find/replace script, but I have to wonder what was in the mind of the person who was so intent on killing the word “gay” (which happens to be a legitimate term for homosexual) that he or she ignored all other uses of the word.
Still, I laughed when I read the full Washington Post story.