Mixing up national anthems or flags is not great, and neither is mixing up who’s in a photo. On Tuesday, ESPN managed to combine country misidentification with a photo mixup, rolling out an Associated Press story on China’s Davis Cup (international tennis) team forfeiting a match due to “increased restrictions in response to the current coronavirus outbreak,” but accompanying it with a photo of the Japanese Davis Cup team (who were wearing gear with Japanese flags on it).
The story on ESPN.com doesn’t have a photo that appears when you click the page, but it has a photo of the Japanese team associated with it if you expand the link elsewhere, or if you see it on the app:
Is anyone gonna tell @espn that this is a picture of the Japanese @DavisCup team? Maybe @BenRothenberg will say something… #Cmonman pic.twitter.com/MzrxV4x2Su
— Jumbo Clip (@Jumbo_Clip) February 18, 2020
Here’s what that looks like in a preview:
China forfeits Davis Cup tie because of coronavirus – via @ESPN App https://t.co/btYqA7b15k
— Zac🌴🍻🍹 (@newc88) February 18, 2020
Yeah, that’s not a great mistake to make. And it’s the second time in five months ESPN’s made a significant error with a photo or graphic about China.
[@Jumbo_Clip on Twitter]
