diff --git a/webapp_column_right.py b/webapp_column_right.py
index c23d538fa..921a22d41 100644
--- a/webapp_column_right.py
+++ b/webapp_column_right.py
@@ -214,8 +214,12 @@ def htmlNewswire(baseDir: str, newswire: {}, nickname: str, moderator: bool,
             item[0] = item[0].split('CDATA[')[1]
             if ']' in item[0]:
                 item[0] = item[0].split(']')[0]
-        publishedDate = \
-            datetime.strptime(dateStr, "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S%z")
+        try:
+            publishedDate = \
+                datetime.strptime(dateStr, "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S%z")
+        except BaseException:
+            print('WARN: bad date format ' + dateStr)
+            continue
         dateShown = publishedDate.strftime("%Y-%m-%d %H:%M")
 
         dateStrLink = dateStr.replace('T', ' ')