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A BBC newsreader was caught playing with her smartphone live on air

A BBC newsreader was caught playing with her smartphone live on air

A BBC newsreader was caught playing with her smartphone live on air
28 June 2016

“Hello, you’re watching BBC news and I’ve forgotten to put the bins out.”

At one point or another we’ve all been guilty of mindlessly messing about with our phones at work, checking a WhatsApp conversation about a Cheeky Nando’s, making a substitution in Fantasy Football, sharing videos of cats crashing into things on Facebook, or indeed reading messages about overflowing bin juice - only for a boss to catch us in the act. 

So then, spare a thought for seasoned news presenter Joanna Gosling, slouched, elbow on table and caught staring idly at her smartphone seconds into a news bulletin on the BBC. LIVE ON AIR.

Thankfully, ever the consummate pro, initially startled by the sweeping camera she puts the phone down and acts as though nothing occurred at all, even ensuring she plants the phone down screen first.

Between Brexit and Euro 2016 you'd assume a major news hub would have enough going on that she wouldn't need to whip out the phone, but then maybe it was bigger than we thought: a source in Brussels perhaps, or maybe, just maybe, it was a chippy tea in the Gosling house that night. In which case, fair enough.

Come with us as we break the clip down in all its awkward glory...