The premise of Kurt Vonnegut's short story "Harrison Bergeron" is that in this futuristic society, everyone has become equal. Anyone who has an extraordinary talent or any kind of superior physical attributes is handicapped in various ways by the Handicapper General's office so that no one has an unfair advantage over anyone else.

The irony of the newscaster is that he can't do his job. He has a speech impediment that makes it impossible for him to report the news. He ends up handing the news bulletin to a ballerina who had been dancing on the show before the news bulletin that interrupts programming. The narrator explains in the story that all news announcers had a speech impediment, but stops short of saying that it is a handicap they all receive. Readers can infer that there is a good possibility that all news announcers receive a speech impediment as a handicap or that they are chosen for the job due to their challenges. Either way, it is ironic that someone whose job it is to report the news is unable to do so due to speech difficulties.

The television program was suddenly interrupted for a news bulletin. It wasn't clear at first as to what the bulletin was about, since the announcer, like all announcers, had a serious speech impediment. For about half a minute, and in a state of high excitement, the announcer tried to say, "Ladies and Gentlemen." He finally gave up, handed the bulletin to a ballerina to read. "That's all right," Hazel said of the announcer, "he tried. That's the big thing. He tried to do the best he could with what God gave him. He should get a nice raise for trying so hard."

"Ladies and Gentlemen," said the ballerina, reading the bulletin.