Geography Fail: Thailand is not Taiwan

San Jose Mercury News headline claims "Taiwan hunts for shrine bomber."



Journalism geography fail.

On Monday in Thailand, a deadly pipe bomb exploded at the Erawan Shrine, a popular tourist attraction, killing twenty people and injuring more than 100 others. As far as I am aware, absolutely nothing of this nature happened in Taiwan -- an entirely separate and different country -- this past week.

Someone at the San Jose Mercury News apparently doesn't know the different between Taiwan and Thailand. The above headline regarding the bomb blast ran in Wednesday's paper. I think Taiwan would be pretty surprised to learn that it's supposed to be hunting for the shrine bomber.

I'm guessing somebody at the Mercury News got yelled at.

(Thanks, Shirley.)


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KTVU's fake racist Asiana crew names came from an ex-pilot

By now, you know that Bay Area news station KTVU got into some trouble after reporting fake racist names for the crew of the fatal Asiana Airlines flight that crashed in San Francisco last month. The station apologized, an intern got fired, producers were dismissed, and the airline threatened to sue. The incident unleashed all kinds of havoc, but it's never quite been clear where those phony names came from.

Turns out, the names came from an ex-commercial pilot who previously had consulted with KTVU and was considered a reliable source. I'm willing to bet that the station is no longer on good terms with that guy anymore: Pilot consultant source of KTVU's fake pilot list, report says.

According to blogger Richard Lieberman, the whole incident sounds like a complete breakdown in the chain of reporting, which included an Asian American managing editor in the newsroom, Michelle Toy, who apparently did indeed raise the issue that the names sounded suspicious:

No, ESPN. This kid's favorite band is not "Wandai Wrection."

Possible smartass shenanigans during ESPN's broadcast of the Little League World Series.



This is 13-year-old first baseman Nagiru Hiramatsu, who is representing Japan in the Little League World Series. His favorite singer, as identified by ESPN during a recent broadcast, is "Wandai Wrection." Huh? I believe young Nagiru meant One Direction, one of the most popular boy bands in the world. Oops.

I suppose that's better than "Sum Ting Wong."

KTVU producers fired over racist Asiana name prank

Catching up on some news that dropped while I was out... In case you hadn't heard, some folks did indeed get fired for the racist name prank that made it on the air in the wake of the Asiana Airlines crash earlier this month: KTVU producers fired over Asiana pilots' fake names.

Last week, KTVU confirmed that the station fired three veteran producers over the four fake names that should never have made it on the air. Investigative producer Roland DeWolk, special projects producer Cristina Gastelu and producer Brad Belstock were all given the boot after an in-house investigation into the matter.

Meanwhile, the station has been quietly trying to the get all the clips of the on-air gaffe pulled from YouTube, citing copyright infringement:

Uh, never mind. Asiana Airlines is not suing KTVU.

On second thought, maybe not. Asiana Airlines will not pursue a lawsuit against KTVU for those racially offensive names that made it on the air last week: Asiana won't sue KTVU for mistake.

NTSB fires intern who confirmed fake, racist Asiana names

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?

"Captain Sum Ting Wong"? For real? Pranked news station reports racist fake Asiana flight crew names

Holy crap. This has to be one of the most epic broadcast news fails I've seen... and it's racist as hell. Earlier today, Bay Area Fox affiliate KTVU reported the names of four pilots aboard Asiana Airlines Flight 214. Except KTVU got pranked, and the names they were reported were waaaay wrong: KTVU Reports Asiana Air Pilots Were "Sum Ting Wong" and "Ho Lee Fuk."

Yes, these are the "names" that were actually uttered and displayed on live television: "Captain Sum Ting Wong," "Wi Tu Lo," "Ho Lee Fuk," and "Bang Ding Ow." I am not kidding you. There's apparently a racist fourth grader running the show over at KTVU. Here's a video of the gaffe:

News anchor has the worst first day ever

Ah, you gotta love those small-market local newscasts. Check out this video clip of A.J. Clemente's momentous first night on the job as anchor for KFYR, the NBC affiliate in Bismarck, North Dakota. Things did not go well. The first words out of his mouth -- on air -- were "fucking shit," as co-anchor Van Tieu sits there next to him in horror. Let's go to the tape:

diversity report card gives fox a fail

The Asian Pacific American Media Coalition recently issued its annual report card grading the top four television networks on their efforts to include Asian Pacific Americans in their programming and business dealings.

And while diversity on prime time network television has had some small gains and setbacks, for the first time ever, one network failed: Fox Receives F/Incomplete In Asian Pacific American Media Coalition's Annual Television Report Card.