A BBC News presenter seemingly unaware she was on air was caught scrolling on her phone in a major technical blunder this afternoon. Annita McVeigh didn't realise she was live on TV during the lunchtime bulletin and used her phone during what she thought was a commercial break. But the camera was actually pointing at the journalist, who picked her phone up and scrolled through it for a while before placing it under some papers.
The video shows Annita talking to some colleagues, who also appeared unaware that the livestream had started. Once the team realised the blunder, the top stories began as the presenter seemed to brush the incident off and started presenting the bulletin. Viewers noticed the blunder and shared the clip, with no sound, on X, formerly called Twitter .
TV critic and broadcaster Scott Bryan wrote: "The moment Annita started checking her phone was when I started panicking." Annita returned to our screens in March after she was taken off air for a whole year when BBC bosses decided to merge its news channels. To celebrate her return, the journalist posted a picture of herself in the studio and wrote: ".
...
and I'm back. In Studio C with #NewsNow until 1500GMT - so good to be bringing you the news again." One fan replied to Annita's post saying: "So good to see you back, it's like you've never been away.
" Another said: "So pleased to see you back @AnnitaBBC, I have really missed you. At long last an experienced newsreader." A third fan commented: "Congratulatio.