# Did a CNN reporter leave her mike on in the bathroom?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-a-cnn-reporter-leave-her-mike-on-in-the-bathroom/370918>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 31, 2006, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-a-cnn-reporter-leave-her-mike-on-in-the-bathroom/370918 "2006-08-31T14:01:27Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\
**Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-a-cnn-reporter-leave-her-mike-on-in-the-bathroom/370918/41 "2006-09-01T16:29:50Z")

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An audio tech (at a different network) told me it’s not unheard-of for the new generation of digital equipment to have software glitches that would keep a microphone live (or keep it from going live) sometimes. If that were the case, they may have been trying to cut her off unsuccessfully.

And no, live news feeds don’t normally run on delay.

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**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\
**Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-a-cnn-reporter-leave-her-mike-on-in-the-bathroom/370918/42 "2006-09-01T17:33:43Z")

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I was under the impression it was good practice to always leave lav mikes on. Otherwise you were relying on the “talent” to remember to turn them back on before they went live again.

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**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\
**Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-a-cnn-reporter-leave-her-mike-on-in-the-bathroom/370918/43 "2006-09-01T18:17:06Z")

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[QUOTE=InvisibleWombat]  
[nitpick]It’s _closed_ captions.[/nitpick]  
[/QUOTE]

You don’t know that. Maybe **Ethilrist** was sitting with his nose three inches from the screen.

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**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\
**Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-a-cnn-reporter-leave-her-mike-on-in-the-bathroom/370918/44 "2006-09-01T18:54:31Z")

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[QUOTE=PoorYorick]  
Ohhhh . . . And all this time when you guys were saying “lav mike,” I thought “lav” was short for “lavatory.”  
[/QUOTE]  
I hadn’t heard of that variation of a necklace so when I first heard **Chicago** :

And I’ll appear  
In a lavalier that goes  
All the way down to my waist

I thought :smack: That’s where they got the name for the type of microphone!

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