X marks the vice president on CNN

CNN has apologized for a “technical malfunction” that briefly flashed a black X over the face of Vice President Dick Cheney during the network’s coverage of a speech on Monday.

The X flashed twice, on the air for a total of one-seventh of a second, CNN said Wednesday.

The incident caused a brief sensation on the Web among people suspicious that it was a political commentary. But CNN said some of its machinery had a “momentary glitch” and no human operator was involved.

The X is something used by a computer to mark a space where one visual element is to segue into another, and it is normally not seen by a viewer. The network likened its appearance to a computer that inexplicably freezes.