Today, San Francisco’s KTVU reported that these were the names of the pilots of Asiana Flight 214 that crashed on Sunday. Below is video of the reporter reading those names. Station VP Tom Raponi says they “sincerely regret the error.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=VqjlhtKIToo READ THE REST
KTVU: "Sum Ting Wong" and "Ho Lee Fuk" piloted crashed plane
This is of course horrible and racist and inappropriate but … I am ashamed to admit that I laughed a lot.
On the other hand, even an ugly American like me knows there are no Korean people with names remotely resembling these…
hey at least it’s a tiny chronology of the events.
sad that anyone in a newsroom would be taken by this. heads are going to roll, frank somerville!
Wi Tu Lo made me snort. I think we can make fun of a region’s language without being racist. I knew a man named Harry Butts and I laughed at him all the time.
This is truly unprofessional on the station’s part.
Sadly enough, Korean media also has its terrible moments with foreigners as well, blaming them for a myriad of problems from STD to crime when statistics clearly show otherwise.
Yeah, if it’s a friend over a drink that’s one thing - but in the news? incredibly poor taste.
“KTVU regrets the error and has since fired the fact checkers responsible: Ben Dover and Jack Mehoff.”
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-tv-station-asiana-pilots-20130712,0,3923067.story
And it’s been retracted.