WGN Sorry For Using Nazi ‘Jude’ Badge To Illustrate Yom Kippur Story

The folks at WGN-TV have some atoning to do today. During its 9 PM newscast Tuesday, the Chicago TV outlet aired a story about Yom Kippur, the solemn end of the High Holy Days in Judaism. All good so far, but it was the graphic over the anchorman’s shoulder that spurred an apology from the Tribune station today:

A local named Marc Karlinsky spotted the gaffe and took to Twitter with it. The CW affiliate was quick to reply to him and apologize for “using an offensive image.” Today, station brass took that regret national, with General Manager Greg Easterly and News Director Jennifer Lyons issuing this statement:

“Last night we ran a story to recognize Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement. Regrettably, 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.”