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Obama Or Osama: The Mediagasm (VIDEO)

First Posted: 05/ 3/11 10:20 PM ET Updated: 05/ 4/11 02:14 PM ET

Osama And Obama

As we've already pointed out, having to cover President Barack Obama's announcement of the operation that resulted in the death of Osama bin Laden proved to be pretty hectic for everybody involved.

But the good news, as far as the media is concerned, is that they'll probably never ever have to spend as breakneck a period of time on a story that involved both Barack Obama and Osama bin Laden. So never again will there be a night when so many on-air talking heads confuse the president's name with the terrorist's.

Either way, I have a suggestion: Let's all stop worrying about it from now on!

Yeah, folks, I remember the halcyon days of yore, when Obama's rising popularity collided headlong with Osama's staying power as a news fixture. It wasn't long before folks on the teevee started having those unfortunate slips of the tongue and America's heroic chyron makers were accidentally broadcasting one name at the bottom of the screen when they meant the other. For a while, fans of Obama would catalogue every time Fox News would do it, as if it were -- you know -- the greatest burn ever! But by 2011, it's pretty clear that it's an accident.

Folks, everyone does it! Check out this post from Dan Amira at Daily Intel. Norah O'Donnell did it on Twitter. Mark Knoller did it twice. Keith Olberman did it minutes before making fun of someone else for doing it. It's done by pundits and newsmen. Cable aces and local anchors. Liberals and conservatives. Even British people. I've probably done it myself. This is something we really no longer need to make note of.

(Though, to be honest, I never understood why people just didn't use "bin Laden." BIN LADEN. Seems like a pretty straightforward way to keep this straight.)

Anyway, Ben Craw has made up one last highlight reel of people suffering from this lapsus linguae in the aftermath of the announcement that bin Laden had been killed. Let's enjoy! And then let's agree to just let this go, forever.

Story continues below

WATCH:

[Video produced by Ben Craw]

[Would you like to follow me on Twitter? Because why not? Also, please send tips to tv@huffingtonpost.com -- learn more about our media monitoring project here.]

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As we've already pointed out, having to cover President Barack Obama's announcement of the operation that resulted in the death of Osama bin Laden proved to be pretty hectic for everybody involved. ...
As we've already pointed out, having to cover President Barack Obama's announcement of the operation that resulted in the death of Osama bin Laden proved to be pretty hectic for everybody involved. ...
Show Twitter blick
I find it extremely satisfying that Obama broke into an ep of THE APPRENTICE to tell the country that Osama was dead.
2 hours ago from web
Video: Obama condecora a comando militar que mató a Osama Bin Laden
Video: Obama condecora a comando militar que mato a Osama
DFW: Viewers: Osama, Obama & Becky Oliver
OBL=Osama Bin Laden OBL=Obama beenn lying
4 hours ago from web
RT ~We can report met the dog that took part in the raid. /via
reflexionfidel: no tiene forma de ocultar que Osama fue ejecutado en presen... via
Premio Nobel Paz habla a tropas y felicita por asesinato de líder Al Qaeda Osama Bin Laden Fort Campbell, Kentucky.
En vivo habla a tropas sobre asesinato de Osama Bin Laden
7 hours ago from web
Smart RT : Why We Mix Up 'Osama' and 'Obama': A Linguistic Reason - The Atlantic
The Atlantic: Why We Mix Up 'Osama' and 'Obama'
RT : Why We Mix Up 'Osama' and 'Obama' -- explains
Why We Mix Up 'Osama' and 'Obama' -- explains
Interesting explanation of why Obama/Osama mixups are so frequent, from a linguist and
10 hours ago from web
Osama Rap Spoof Reveals How Obama Really Wanted To Make His Announcement (VIDEO) via
"Had his name been Osama Tin Laden, we likely would have seen a lot fewer Obama/Osama mixups."
Juan Gonzalez: Obama visits Ground Zero: Osama Bin Laden is dead, but terror lives on
Love it: explainer on Obama/Osama confusion this goof only goes one way, turns out!
Here's blood in your eye, Osama: New Yorkers lined the streets to cheer President Obama before yesterday's sombe...
N'importe quoi : Histoire Obama - Osama !
 
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0 minute ago (11:11 PM)
The media wouldn't mix the names up so easily if they'd refer to the President as "President Obama" and not "Obama." They should refer to OBL as "bin Laden" and they'd have fewer problems.
7 hours ago (4:09 PM)
I agree with the statement above that people should have just used ‘Bin Laden’ instead of just ‘Osama’ anyway. He wasn’t from a country where his family name came first. He should have been called by his full name or just his last name. That way, a lot of this confusion could have been avoided. No one referred to Hitler as ‘Adolf’ or Mussolini and ‘Benito’.
Even with celebritie­s, the media needs to stop calling everyone by their first name as if they’re old friends unless the person only goes by one name.
03:19 PM on 5/05/2011
And who would have believed the next Presidenti­al ticket after 9/11 would be Obama/Bide­n just a few letters away from osama bin laden. No way you'd believe that on 9/12/01.
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kareemachan
Watashi ha jibun no tame ni to kangae te iru hito
14 hours ago (9:25 AM)
And some people still don't want to believe it. Thus, birtherism­.
This comment has been removed due to violations of our [Guidelines]
04:58 AM on 5/05/2011
Maybe there would be no mixup if the media spelt USAMA's name correctly. The powers that be didn't want the American people to see USA everytime they read his name... but is is Usama, not Osama.
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kareemachan
Watashi ha jibun no tame ni to kangae te iru hito
14 hours ago (9:26 AM)
Actually, it can be either way. There's no one-to-one correlatio­n when translatin­g Arabic to English, and either 'Osama' or 'Usama' is equally correct.
12 hours ago (10:53 AM)
Only FOX NEWS is spelling it correctly - go figure...
04:45 AM on 5/05/2011
Well, both head (one headed) the similar organizati­on. The difference between both is only in one letter.

It's just a grin of fate.
03:55 AM on 5/05/2011
If they preceded Obama with the proper title it wouldn't happen. Instead the talking heads call our president, Obama, which is disrespect­ful. Of course they refer to "W" as George Bush which is, at least, more formal.
06:59 AM on 5/05/2011
Respect is one thing OsamaBinBa­ma can't buy. You can buy the White House but you can't buy that little thing called respect. When you don't have it, it is priceless.
03:36 PM on 5/05/2011
What, are you 13 ore younger?
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JeffmChicago
It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World
11:20 AM on 5/05/2011
barnowl you are spot on! f & f
08:37 PM on 5/05/2011
Why is everyone on a first name basis with a terrorist anyway??? If you use the president'­s last name then use the terrorist'­s last name. End of problem!
03:04 AM on 5/05/2011
I don't know which is worst. Having a name that sounds simular to Osama or having a face and beard that closely resembles the recently depated terrorist.
At least now, I hope peple will stop staring at me in Walmart.
photo
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
YankeeCanuck
01:11 PM on 5/05/2011
Oh dear, I think you will be as stare-wort­hy as ever in Walmart. Get ready for all the cellphone pics. It's gonna be close-up time. ;-)
11:04 PM on 5/04/2011
The Problem is the 24 hour NEWS cycle! I'm just glad I discovered Jon and Stephen... best news in the biz :-P
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Marc Thibault
Green Explorer
10:46 PM on 5/04/2011
to say is bad, but to write it? you guys at Huffington did it this morning.
10:44 PM on 5/04/2011
Well, I get Communism and Capitalism mixed up all the time myself, they both have k sound and they both comtrol the media's message, oh yeah and the people swallow it up.
09:46 PM on 5/04/2011
The problem is the 'b' in 'Bin Laden.' People are eliding the names by accidental­ly jumping to the 'b'. Easy enough to do. I have terrible problems with names so won't pass judgment, although it should be pointed out that the Fox people are not models of journalist­ic literacy.
08:30 PM on 5/04/2011
on purpose...
07:50 PM on 5/04/2011
Just say "Bin Laden"! News announcers always say last names. Why do they not say "Bin Laden"?
09:59 PM on 5/04/2011
Yeah, I guess you can't say "Hussein". I hope we don't have to kill anyone named "Barrack".
07:19 PM on 5/04/2011
I have more respect for the journalist that caught themselves and corrected the mistake instead of going on without doing so. I wonder if other countries think our President died after watchin our crappy news anchors?
07:32 PM on 5/04/2011
I agree. The woman from Global confused it so much it felt almost like it was almost deliberate­..