News anchor says she’ll ‘sound like a drunk’ in accidentally-aired tape

The opening lines for a late-night newscast in Australia last Wednesday weren't breaking news, but a comment about the anchor's sobriety.

"Good evening. Tonight I'm going to sound like a drunk," Kerryn Johnston of WIN News Canberra said before smiling, looking down and then asking for a new camera angle.

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Well, at least she warned her audience.

Though in fact, Johnston wasn't drunk; she was rehearsing for technical set-up. WIN Network aired the clip accidentally before the proper newscast, according to the Sydney Morning Herald, causing the anchor quite an embarrassment.

It might be her self-deprecating smile, or her matter-of-fact stare into the camera as she states she'll be sounding tipsy this evening, but the blooper video is racking up views online.

The network's news director said Johnston made the joke about sounding drunk after she stumbled over her words during rehearsal, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

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"This is a newsreader who sets a very high standard for herself. To have it go to air when it was not intended to has been more than embarrassing for her," he said in a statement.

Whether news anchors engage their co-hosts in awkward banter, swear on live television or launch into voice exercises on air, broadcasters are always poised one glitch away from viral fame.