KTVU apologizes for racist SF plane crash gaffe

KTVU Channel 2 is apologizing for an on-air gaffe that the station — or viewers – won’t soon forget.

During the noon newscast Friday, co-anchor Tori Campbell, announced that “KTVU has just learned the names of the four pilots who were on board” Asiana flight 214 when it crashed at San Francisco International Airport on Saturday.

She then read from a teleprompter while a TV graphic displayed four fake names that clearly were someone’s idea of a joke.

The first name — “Captain Sum Ting Wong” — should have been a give-away that something really was wrong. But Campbell kept reading… “Wi Tu Lo, Ho Lee Fuk, Bang Ding Ow.”

Yikes.

After a break, Campbell made an on-air correction, clarifying that the names were clearly wrong — but that they had confirmed them earlier with the National Transportation Safety Board.

KTVU news director Lee Rosenthal did not immediately turn our calls seeking comment.

http://blog.sfgate.com/matierandross/2013/07/12/1937/

Yup, I laughed out loud and she hesitated
over how to pronounce Fuk. LOL!

The NTSB confirmed the names, but they originated with the station. Still doesn't negate the stupidity of the on-air "talent" that read them off.

http://www.ntsb.gov/news/2013/130712.html

Followed up with:

http://blog.sfgate.com/matierandross/2013/07/12/1937/

Update: The National Transportation Safety Board late Friday issued its own apology for “inaccurate and offensive names that were mistakenly confirmed” to KTVU Channel 2 as those of the pilots of Asiana flight 214, which crashed at San Francisco International Airport on Saturday.

The statement said that an NTSB summer intern, in response to the station’s inquiry, “acted outside the scope of his authority when he erroneously confirmed the names of the flight crew on the aircraft.”

However, in a subsequent phone interview with the SFGate’s Jeff Elder, NTSB spokeswoman Kelly Nantel made clear that the names “originated at the media outlet” and that the intern — unaware of the offensive names — was “acting in good faith and trying to be helpful” by confirming names he didn’t know.

“The NTSB does not release or confirm the names of crew members or people involved in transportation accidents to the media,” Nantel said.

Quote: EvenBob

Yup, I laughed out loud and she hesitated
over how to pronounce Fuk. LOL!

Yoo tu fu nee LOL

The interns name was Dum Gai. lol

Quote: EdgeLooker

The interns name was Dum Gai. lol

At least it sounds like a summer intern screwed up, so then maybe his whole future career path may not be totally derailed, ala Paula Deen. If I was the news anchor though, I still would worry. I watched the youtube earlier today and cringed.

I don't see why they have to label it "racist." It might be a sick to joke about a tragedy, but why do we need to call everything racist?

the teenager in me is coming out, I got a big laugh out of this!

Anyone else feel their apology tried to deflect blame to the NTSB instead of their OWN LACK OF PROFESSIONALISM ? The postings I saw made it clear that someone at the station made up those names as a joke. Hey, maybe they can blame an imaginary intern, except this time one at the station, too.

And besides being in poor taste, it seems like labeling this as racist might be taking it a step too far.

Straight from the script of Anchorman! See below if you haven't seen it. It's hilarious!

youtube video

ZCore13

Quote: JohnnyQ

Anyone else feel their apology tried to deflect blame to the NTSB instead of their OWN LACK OF PROFESSIONALISM ?

Not at all. Not when an important government agency charged with imparting accurate information to the public is checked. That is where the lack of professionalism exists. And to think how much our safety is in the hands of those incompetents and their interns. The station did exactly what professional journalists do several times every day of the week.

I am in aviation almost 30 years now and have had numerous interactions with the NTSB, and have worked with several of the people currently doing the investigation. Any suggestion that they are sloppy or incompetent based on this incident is genuinely misplaced. You are seriously underestimating the pandemonium in their offices this kind of media scrutiny (over a major accident) is generating; they have almost no administrative staff (the entire NTSB only consists of several hundred positions, and the vast majority of those are subject matter expertise on various accident components, not bureaucrats). They are required to be objective investigative experts in not only aviation, but also boating, trains, automobile, trucking, and pipeline incidents and accidents; most folks are structural engineers or subject matter experts in operation, manufacturing, or environmental factors affecting transportation, and they do not work outside their area of specialization or guess about factors not under their purvue. This is that rarest of happenings; a genuine error made by an earnest young person attempting to be helpful (as in, no good deed goes unpunished). The most the NTSB has done wrong is, in ramping up a media response operation fast for the first time in over a decade, provided an inadequate amount of training and/or supervision for that ad hoc staff. IOW, cut them a little slack, please.

Having said that, the event itself is one of the funniest things I have ever seen; after my initial gasp of horror at the realization the prank was successful, not a spoof, I hurt myself laughing. OMG....still laughing a day later. Talk about making lemonade out of lemons...funniest joke out of tragedy since the Challenger jokes (What does NASA stand for? How many astronauts can fit in a VW beetle? and the rest).

I must also note that the NTSB held to their own high standard in issuing an apology, giving the facts of the error, and taking responsibility for its occurence. They didn't say, "What station on earth would read this copy before it goes on the air and not give it huge scrutiny before airing it, for heaven's sake" in response to the tv station saying, "but we confirmed it (with a teenager answering phones for the NTSB) before we aired it..." Good on them.