What is ironic about the newscaster?

The
premise of 's short story "" 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.

Theof 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.