D Friday, October 23, 2009 METRO Fowl play: Sesame Street has nothing on the scale of Melbournes big bird. It dominated the skyline as newsreader Peter Hitchener masterfully ignored the giant gull Picture: Channel Nine Now, for beaking news Other on-air gaffes An American newsreader forgot she was still hooked up to her microphone as she went for a break and called her sister-in-law a control freak in 2006. Julie Etchingham, then a Sky News presenter, did not realise her microphone was still on and made an embarrassing on-air gaffe when she joked during a David Cameron speech that Conservatives favoured a policy of extermination on immigration. Her embarrassed bosses apologised for the regrettable incident. By Jo StEElEYOUR make-up is done. The ear- piece is in.Youve shuffled the papers on the desk and checked the auto- cue. The producer counts down the final seconds before you go live on air in front of millions of people. Suddenly, a Godzilla-sized seagull struts nonchalantly behind your head. The bizarre scene occurred when a quite ordinary-sized seagull walked in front of a camera positioned by a TV channel to capture a birds eye view of Melbourne, Australia. The massively magnified gull ambled into shot, paused next to newsreader Peter Hitcheners head. It then exited the stage and ducked off the screen. Ever the professional, Hitchener proved unflappable and only mildly flinched as he read a piece to camera about the underworld murder of a 27- year-old in 1982. But he revealed later to a Melbourne radio station that studio cameramen were hiding behind their cameras to conceal their laughter. It had the beadiest huge eyes youve ever seen in your life, he said. index.html2.html3.html4.html5.html6.html7.html8.html9.html10.html11.html12.html13.html14.html15.html16.html17.html18.html19.html20.html21.html22.html23.html