TV worker sacked for Sarkozy subtitle 'joke' 01/05/2007 00:00

PARIS, April 30, 2007 (AFP) - A French TV worker has been sacked for letting a "joke" about right-wing presidential candidate Nicolas Sarkozy slip into the English-language subtitles of a news report, his employer said Monday.

In the US version of a news bulletin by the public broadcaster France 2 last week, a Sarkozy appeal to French voters to join his campaign was translated as a call for them to "to rally my inflated ego".

The erroneous subtitles were broadcast to cable television viewers in the United States, including in New York, where the slip was reported on several French expatriate websites.

France 2 director general Philippe Baudillon said the subtitler responsible had been dismissed, calling the incident "unacceptable".

He said the US freelancers who translate the news reports "sometimes joke among themselves by playing around with the subtitles" and that short-staffing had allowed one such "joke" to make it on air unnoticed.

Copyright AFP

Subject: French news