Sept. 23--WGN-TV News issued an apology to viewers Wednesday after the station ran an image of a Nazi symbol while reporting a story about Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement.
As anchor Tom Negovan reported the story Tuesday night about the holiday, which began at sundown, the image projected behind him was of a yellow star patch that Nazis forced Jews to wear in Germany.
The symbol is considered offensive because it was used during the Holocaust as a way to mark Jews as different and to dehumanize them. Jews were eventually forced out of their jobs, homes and businesses and held in concentration camps, where millions died.
According to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, many survivors of concentration camps made ripping the star patch off their clothing their first gesture of freedom.
In the apology letter, WGN-TV officials said the graphic came from an image bank and the station didn't recognize that it was offensive.
"Please know we are reviewing our in-house policies and changes have already been made to make sure a hurtful oversight like this never happens again," officials with the station wrote in their apology.
The mistake went viral and by Wednesday afternoon had gotten the attention of media personality Perez Hilton, Buzz Feed News and The Hollywood Reporter.
lbowean@tribpub.com
