'State' of Confusion

Anybody looking to sell TV time to the U.S. government should contact the State Department, whose spot buy estimate Thursday (Sept. 21) had reporters doing double takes and planning career changes

At a press conference on PSA’s the government bought on Pakistani TV to calm protestors angered by the “Innocence of Muslim”s video,  a State spokeswoman made quite a of the tongue.

The following is ripped (ok, cut and pasted) from the State Department transcript of the exchange:

“QUESTION: Can you give us an idea of the size of the buy?

SPOKESWOMAN: My understanding of the spend was somewhere around $70 million and about seven stations… something like that.

QUESTION: $70 million dollars?

SPOKESWOMAN: $70,000 dollars. I’m so sorry. Let’s correct the record…$70,000. (Laughter.)

QUESTION: I was going to say, ‘My God, I’m going into the Pakistani TV business.’ (Laughter.) That’s

how much they’re charging for…

SPOKESWOMAN: Those are some gold-plated [ads]. Yeah, I just want to…

QUESTION: Is this the Pakistani Superbowl? Is this (inaudible)? (Laughter.)

SPOKESWOMAN: $70,000. Okay, let’s just make this a clean bite: $70,000.”