text: Natasha Exelby has paid a high price for her weekend blooper, after the humorless management at ABC24 banned the newsreader from playing any future on-air role. 
   
   Exelby, who only recently returned from a foreign correspondent and anchor role with Turkish broadcaster TRT World, was told Monday she has been axed from newsreading duties, after being caught off guard during a live news shift Sunday. 
   
   In video that has since gone viral, the former “Wake Up!” co-host is seen looking startled as she suddenly realizes the cameras have returned to her after a prerecorded package has finished. 
   
   It’s a slip-up almost every newsreader in the world has committed, but rarely costs the TV presenter their on-air job. 
   
   The decision to bench the freelance newsreader and producer comes from the same broadcaster widely criticized for the more serious charge of failing to vet the audience of its panel program “Q&A” and allowing one-time terror suspect Zaky Mallah to join the live TV debate. 
   
   The error, described by then-Prime Minister Tony Abbott as “completely incomprehensible” and compounded when it was rebroadcast on ABC24, saw no one from the program sacked. 
   
   Most viewers laughed off Exelby’s innocuous gaffe, posted by the ABC’s own Media Watch program — it sparked waves of support, rather than acrimony, for the “mortified” news professional. 
   
   SBS newsreader Janice Petersen tweeted a screen grab of herself caught putting lipstick on while live, writing in solidarity: “it happens.” 
   
   Sky News political reporter Samantha Maiden celebrated the human error, telling her Twitter followers: “that’s @NatashaExelby and she’s awesome. She’s too much for @ABCmediawatch. Too fabulous.” 
   
   Exelby told News Corp. “it would be inappropriate for me to comment.” 
   
   Exelby was told Monday she would no longer be used in an on-air role, an ABC spokesman said in a statement: “Natasha Exelby is a casual contributor, not a staff member. She has been booked for occasional on-air shifts when needed, and also does other occasional shifts for the ABC News channel. 
   
   “Contributors work out their shifts with managers on a per needs basis. Details of individuals’ shifts are confidential to them and not something the ABC publicly comments on.” 
   
   News Corp. is pursuing ABC management for further comment, addressing directly her removal from newsreading duties, either as a freelancer or otherwise. ||||| This article is over 1 year old 
   
   Freelance journalist Natasha Exelby ‘read the riot act’ and offered more training after series of missteps, but will remain in casual production role 
   
   ‘Slip-ups will happen’: ABC says presenter won’t be fired over TV blooper 
   
   A casual journalist at the ABC, Natasha Exelby, has been taken off air after she missed her cue on live TV and video of her dramatic reaction went viral. 
   
   The ABC director of news, Gaven Morris, has denied Exelby is being punished and said reports she had been fired or banned were untrue. 
   
   
   
   “Live television is a demanding art and slip-ups will happen – our presenters are humans, not robots,” Morris said. 
   
   “We take on-air standards extremely seriously, but we don’t expect perfection. No one would ever be punished for a blooper and, while it isn’t appropriate to publicly discuss confidential details of people’s personal work arrangements, this has not happened to Natasha.” 
   
   Morris said he has assured Exelby the ABC wants her to continue working various shifts she has been rostered for. 
   
   “While she is not currently doing any on-air shifts, this will be subject to normal performance management. I have spoken to Natasha and conveyed our regret that this has attracted such attention.” 
   
   Footage of Exelby playing with her pen then apparently realising she is on air and gasping in horror has endeared her to the public, with calls for her to return to Australia’s TV screens and a petition, which had garnered more than 3,000 signatures by Tuesday morning. 
   
   The ABC has denied Exelby has been banned or sacked. 
   
   Guardian Australia understands that after a series of missteps including Sunday’s high-profile blooper she was “read the riot act” by news management on Monday. 
   
   Sources said Exelby had been offered more training and may be given on-air shifts again at a later stage. 
   
   Natasha Exelby (@NatashaExelby) Thank U all for ur generous support. Not my finest hour. Myself and my mesmerising pen honourably salute you! 
   
   After the Daily Telegraph reported on Monday that the Queensland-born journalist had been “banned”, the opposition leader, Bill Shorten, led calls on Twitter for her reinstatement. 
   
   Bill Shorten (@billshortenmp) It's live TV. This is just ridiculous.https://t.co/xy6dp7nKwi 
   
   Russell Crowe (@russellcrowe) Come on ABC - Australian Broadcasting Commission - talk about an over reaction to an over reaction . Free @NatashaExelby !!! https://t.co/4xALx8V5PN 
   
   Kevin Rudd (@MrKRudd) Don't worry @NatashaExelby. Just a flesh wound. Check out my swearing video if you want a serious #blooper. Australia wants you back on air. pic.twitter.com/RSDTgR1X3U 
   
   Presenters and other journalists shared stories about their embarrassing mistakes while at work. 
   
   Grant Denyer (@grantdenyer) Nothing wrong with a bit of day dreaming at work @NatashaExelby . I fell asleep while on air. #putyourbloopersout pic.twitter.com/10CE3Cqkph 
   
   Sally Rawsthorne (@sallyrawsthorne) I asked for an interview with someone who has been dead since 1962 #putyourbloopersout 
   
   Amelia Gilbert (@ameliagilbert) Sorry @NatashaExelby, but @LeeLinChinSBS had the greatest blooper of all time https://t.co/SqXtA3S9Sd #PutYourBloopersOut 
   
   It’s not the first time Exelby has been caught in an inappropriate reaction on live TV. Several years ago on Ten she giggled repeatedly while reading serious news items about deaths and disasters. 
   
   Facebook Twitter Pinterest Natasha Exelby giggles while reading the news 
   
   The ABC would not be drawn on the circumstances of the blooper and released a statement saying Exelby was a casual contributor and not a staff member: “She has been booked for occasional on-air shifts when needed, and also does other occasional shifts for the ABC News channel. Contributors work out their shifts with managers on a per-needs basis. We don’t comment on the details of people’s work arrangements.” 
   
   Exelby is best known as a co-host of the disastrous breakfast show Wake Up on Ten, which was launched by the former Seven Sunrise executive producer Adam Boland in late 2012. 
   
   She was dumped as co-host after just 13 days on air and rock-bottom ratings. Boland blamed her sudden exit on her “chemistry” with the two other co-hosts, James Mathieson and Natarsha Belling. 
   
   The entire show was axed in May 2014 owing to lacklustre ratings. ||||| "She has been booked for occasional on-air shifts when needed, and also does other shifts for the ABC News channel. Contributors work out their appearances with managers on a per needs basis. Details of individuals' shifts are confidential to them and not something the ABC publicly comments on," the spokesman said.
target: – Natasha Exelby lived out every news anchor's nightmare on live TV over the weekend, and to add to that nightmare, some are saying she's been sanctioned for it, per the New York Daily News. A video circulating online shows the Aussie journalist on ABC24 on Sunday, zoning out and staring at a pen while waiting for a prerecorded portion of the show to end, not knowing at first the camera had cut back to her, per the New York Post. Once Exelby realized she was back on the air, she let out a startled gasp, but quickly composed herself and continued with the broadcast. News outlets reported Exelby, a freelance journalist, was yanked from on-air segments for ABC, with some even framing it as a firing. But ABC's news director insists that's not true and that "slip-ups will happen." "Our presenters are humans, not robots," he says, adding Exelby is simply an occasional contributor (not a full-time employee) who only does on-air segments as needed, even though at the moment she hasn't been rescheduled to do more on-air bits, per the Guardian (which cites sources saying Exelby had been "read the riot act" by management). The Australian notes she's been hired to temporarily read the morning news for a Sydney radio station while the regular host is on break. Exelby, who had supporters such as Russell Crowe rushing to her defense, thanked everyone on Twitter, adding, "Not my finest hour. Myself and my mesmerising pen honourably salute you!" (This news anchor reported on horrible news that hit too close to home.)