Some follow-up on the WCCO's disastrous investigative news report that falsely claimed a New York City Chinatown meat market sold dog meat. Turns out, it was actually "duck" meat. One hell of a misunderstanding -- one obviously inspired and reinforced by the stereotype that Asians eat dogs.At this point, it seems like WCCO would just like the mess to go away, and has taken steps to remove all traces of the original story from the website. The station has failed to acknowledge or address the mistake -- but a newsroom source says there might be hell to pay: WCCO Duck Dog Story: Newsroom source predicts "heads will roll" and reveals how mistakes were made.
New details have emerged regarding the WCCO-TV story broadcast last Thursday that falsely claimed local dogs were being sold as meat for human consumption in New York City's Chinatown, and it doesn't look good for I-Team reporter James Schugel and his bosses.The Asian American Journalists Association's Minnesota chapter is calling for an apology and explanation from the station and reporter James Schugel for his irresponsibly idiotic report: Asian American Journalists demand apology from WCCO "dog meat" reporter.
The entire chain of command was involved in the decision to run what has become known as the "duck/dog" story, all the way up to CBS corporate in New York, according to a WCCO newsroom source who spoke to City Pages on the condition of anonymity for fear of being fired.
"It was approved by multiple middle manager producers, and the CBS lawyer," says the source. "Our news director hasn't said a word, hasn't approached anyone in the newsroom about it. He may make heads roll before his head rolls."
Also see Jeff Yang's blog post, which pretty much nails the issue on the head: WCCO-TV's idiotic "Chinatown market sells dog meat" story: Reporter and news director need to come clean.