News crew robbed at gunpoint during live broadcast

KTVU reporter Cara Liu was going live when a nearby news crew was attacked.



Whoa. When the news becomes the news... On Thursday morning in San Francisco, two local television news crews were attacked and robbed -- live on the air -- while reporting on a homicide at Pier 14.

News crews robbed in S.F., camera operator pistol-whipped

KTVU reporter Cara Liu was live on the air when someone ran up to a nearby news crew from KNTV, which was also reporting from the scene, and robbed them at gun point. The assailant held a gun to a camera operator's head, pistol whipped him, and ran off with a camera and tripod.

The guys who dressed up as bloody Asiana flight attendants

The unwelcome return of "Ho Lee Fuk," "Sum Ting Wong" and "Wi Tu Lo."



Well, Halloween is upon us. And with the early weekend festivities came a whole lot of crappy racist costumes, documented on social media for all to see. Just when you think you've seen all the bad taste you can take, a photo like this comes my way, taking that shit to new heights.

Behold, the assholes who dressed up as bruised and bloodied Asiana Airlines flight attendants. This photo was apparently taken over the weekend at the Sidetrack Video Bar in Chicago.

Their costumes, of course, refer to Asiana Airlines Flight 214, which crashed earlier this year in San Francisco, killing three passengers. And yes, their name badges identify themselves as "Ho Lee Fuk," "Sum Ting Wong" and "Wi Tu Lo" -- the fake racist flight crew names that infamously ran as a prank on KTVU.

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:

Hey everybody, that Korean TV news screenshot is fake

All right, I have to address this because it keeps getting passed along to me...

This screenshot (perpetuated by this article) of a Korean TV news broadcast's alleged tit-for-tat poke back at KTVU has been doggedly circulating since last week. Because two can apparently play the fake name game.

It's fake.

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?

Asiana Airlines suing KTVU for racist fake name report

(UPDATED) In the aftermath of KTVU's on-air racist fake pilot name prank debacle, Asiana Airlines has announced that it is suing the TV station -- but not the National Transportation Safety Board -- over the incident that "damaged the company's image": Asiana to sue San Francisco TV station over names.

It was an epic, mind-blowing fail. The names, which were presumably plagiarized from a fourth grader's joke book were actually displayed and read aloud on air. KTVU said the names were confirmed by the NTSB. The NTSB blamed a summer intern. KTVU issued not one, but two apologies. I'm hoping multiple people got fired.

And now, the airline has confirmed that it will take legal action against the Oakland TV station for allowing the racially offensive names to get on the air. Asiana claims the gaffe "seriously damaged the reputation of the four pilots and the company." The NTSB, however, is apparently off the hook:

"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: