Well, at least we know somebody got fired. The NTSB intern who confirmed the fake, racist names of the Asiana Flight 214 pilots to KTVU -- which the station went ahead and reported on air -- has been fired: NTSB Intern Fired After KTVU Reported Fake, Racist Names.It's still not clear where KTVU came up with the names (maybe a bathroom wall?), but according to the National Transportation Safety Board's statement, a summer intern "acted outside the scope of his authority" when he confirmed the fake names in response to KTVU's query.
UPDATE: According to The Desk, the intern in question has been identified as Alexander Fields-Lefkovic, whose job duties as an intern with the NTSB's public affairs office involved routing media inquiries to appropriate parties at the agency -- a job he apparently failed to perform last Friday.
The NTSB apologized and promised that "appropriate actions" would be taken to ensure this wouldn't happen again. Step one: fire this intern's foolish ass. Now, how about you, KTVU?
As for the intern’s inability to discern a gag: “He did not know they were fake names,” Nantel said. “You’d have to ask the station where they got the names from. I don’t know.”More here: NTSB cans intern who ‘confirmed’ names of Asiana pilots.
Well, that’s another mystery. One person familiar with the sequence of events at the station said the initial tip about the pilot names came from “a trusted source” who has provided accurate information in the past. Only this time, the “trusted source” appears to have been kidding. Or trying to put one over on some credulous reporters.
In any case, the station hurriedly sought NTSB confirmation of the tip, unaware that the agency never confirms the names of of flight-crew members in crashes that are under investigation.