Uh, you can't make this up.
A few things:
Heads will roll, not necessarily Tori Campbell, but someone in the newsroom, trust me.
Editors, I'm sure too. Producers, Assignment Desk guy? The GM? This is stunning.
Several people at KTVU might be updating their resume.
Oh, and some folks are no doubt getting shitfaced at every known Jack London Square tavern.
Wonder if the KTVU Marketing Dept will run any promos? (OK, too easy, sorry.) By the way, noted Howard Stern prankster, Captain Janks, was not involved with this caper.
*Follow me on Twitter
Wait a minute, wait a minute, WAIT A MINUTE! This CAN'T be real, is this real? Wut di fuk
ReplyDeletewelcome to the NFL Mr. Rosenthal, Mr. Raponi
ReplyDeleteHow did Tori Campbell say these names with a straight face? My goodness, some nimrod had to type the graphic/TelePrompter. I was done with Capt. Sum Ting Wong. I'm sure the tragic shooting in SF is helping this go away. Except Twitter is on fire! Nuts..
ReplyDeleteDamon Bruce had fun with this a couple hours before your post. 2nd and 3rd hour, worth listening to podcast.
ReplyDeletelol
ReplyDeleteClus Ter Fuk
I love how she said that the NTSB confirmed it when it was obviously incorrect.
ReplyDeleteFunny. Did someone mess with Ron Burgundy's graphics again? The irony is that KTVU did this to itself. By touting itself as the first on the ground, the first on the air, the first in the actual airplane toilet, KTVU set its bar very high and now needed to ensure that it not only kept pace but outdid itself. Thus once they thought they were the *first* to know the pilots' names they rushed this information to air. Never stopped to actually think it through. Got to be first!! Our promos have to stay true!! We know something nobody else does... and in the end, they got eggroll on their face.
ReplyDeleteSum Ting Wong and Ho Lee Fuk are both in the top 5 on twitter right now...
ReplyDeleteAlso Producer Brad Belstocks (now deleted) reaction tweet at 12:09 of "Oh Sh*t."
KTV U want wise witf dat?
ReplyDeleteI'm not buying the station's claim that the NTSB confirmed the names. They're just making it worse:
ReplyDelete"Prior to air, the names were confirmed by an NTSB official in the agency’s Washington, D.C. office."
7/12
ReplyDeleteNEVER FORGET
Uh oh... Now KPIX is piling it on:
ReplyDeletehttp://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2013/07/12/bay-area-fox-affiliate-pranked-into-reporting-fake-names-of-sfo-plane-crash-pilots/
I havent laughed this hard in years. If it wasnt so fucking sad. Wait until Saturday Night Live gets a hold of this - Tori Campbell - your 15 minutes begin NOW!
ReplyDeleteIndeed. I laughed so hard I got wheezy and my eyes watered.
DeleteAn embarrassment of the first degree.
ReplyDeleteHow could you watch this TV station again and feel nothing but awkwardness.
OhhhMy Gawd. The industrious Chinese already think most Americans are silly and adolescent dumbkoffs. Now this. This is historic, in a small market like the Bay Area. The State of Florida just called, and wants it's CrazyTown label back.
ReplyDeleteUm...dumpkopf.
Deleteand, um, Korean.
DeleteAs a former writer at KTVU. The writers are in charge of the chiron writing in addition to the scripts. Whoever wrote this will already be gone. The mid-day producer could also be fired for not catching this before it aired. Tori won't face any criticism, she appears to have hit this cold and while the anchors all carefully check their scripts before air, this was an update or new story that allegedly broke during the newscast. The assignment desk is not in the loop on script or chiron writing so neither they nor the tape editors will face any repercussions. The Morning Executive Producer will likely get a reprimand.
ReplyDeleteI'm a former writer/producer there too and what you describe is exactly right. I know the regular midday producer and am shocked it got past his eagle eye. I find myself hoping he was just out sick today. If he wasn't, he'll be out sick Monday. This is terrible. You can bet they'll ease up on the chest-thumping promos now.
Deletethis is really sad...
ReplyDeleteHo Li Kow!
ReplyDeleteRich I made a comment a few days ago wondering if anyone has made the Asian driver joke yet. I figured SOMEONE would run with it. Apparently I was correct. You didn't post that post unfortunately. I was breaking news !
ReplyDeleteThat was absolutely my very first thought. But then, wondered, who would be willing to voice it and make a St. Sebastian arrowed target out of themselves?
DeleteThe NTSB doesn't provide manifest lists. If KTVU thinks the NTSB confirmed the names, then someone fooled them by telephone, or spoofed a press release. I don't know the work flow at KTVU, but if it were my station, the producer most likely would have written the copy, and a graphic artist would have created the graphic. At this point, the bear-thwarting reporter in Providence has more job security than whoever is responsible for the outrageous error at KTVU.
ReplyDeleteHell Frosty has job security
DeleteWho would do something like this? It's mean. It brings the giggles, but there may be some very real job security fall out, not at all good in this economy. Probably done by someone who doesn't even follow the news, spends their time being rejected by The Onion. Don't F with people's jobs, Bro!
ReplyDeleteI can't believe this wasn't Janks... very Janks-esque
ReplyDeleteHeads will egg roll
ReplyDeleteTo say heads should roll for this is an understatement.
ReplyDeleteThis is to some degree, a national humiliation.
No it isn't.
DeleteSorry for this unrelated question, but since a lot of KTVU folks are probably reading this, I have a question.
ReplyDeleteWhy are Noelle Walker and Katie Utehs "freelance" reporters?
They sure get a lot of screentime for people who are "freelance" -- and Utehs was a key part of the Asiana crash coverage.
Meanwhile, Noelle Walker is doing the jewelry shooting lead story.
Why aren't they full-time staffers?
What's up with the "freelance" designation?
Katie's Twitter lists her as "freelance."
https://twitter.com/katieutehs
While Noelle Walker's Twitter bio doesn't even mention KTVU.
https://twitter.com/noellewalker
The reason for the freelance designation for the reporters is for the same reason as the freelance designation for every other freelancer working at KTVU.
DeleteIt saves the company money.
Even if they work 40 hours a week, they still call them freelancers so they don't have to give them benefits or any notice if they want to fire them.
KTVU Management cares nothing about its employees and everybody there knows it. if an employee says otherwise they are either a newly hired newbie freelancer hoping to get a full time job in vain or else they are a seasoned veteran hoping that they won't be fired. If a manager says otherwise they are lying to you which they are use to doing anyway.
Accuracy is not important. People are not important. Truth is not important. Only money is important.
Money is made by people watching the show. They are told that viewers like fast paced news so they pack the newscast with the fluff pieces and fire all of the in-depth reporters. They are told that viewers like shiny things so they spend big money on new sets at the same time they are having a round of layoffs. The remaining people get to pick up the slack since there still is the same amount of work to be done just fewer people to do it.
And this is the result.
Fewer and fewer people to do more and more work. Quality is not important. The bottom line is what is important. They know that mistakes will be made and they don't care. They have removed the quality control from the newsroom in lieu of higher profits.
The writer who will likely be fired for this is not to blame. It is the manager that decided to save money by firing two of the writer's coworkers and now makes said writer their jobs as well who is to blame. The writer has to do the jobs of three people and just does not have the time to make sure everything is right. Management knows this and doesn't care. They will fire the writer and replace them with a freelancer, save themselves money, and maybe get a bonus for it at the end of the year.
That's how this happened.
Pretty weak - how could one not catch on after the first couple of names? btw, Sum Ting Wong was the punch line to a hacky joke by former Howard Stern show member Jackie Martling.
ReplyDeleteSommerville apologized on the 5pm. But let's face it-how do state you have the "highest standards of journalistic integrity" when you clearly lied that the NTSB confirmed the names.
ReplyDeleteImagine that Amy G. did the interview with the pilot who crashed the plane at SFO.
ReplyDeleteAmy (breathless with that little girl voice best suited for first graders watching Romper Room) : "So sir, take us through what happened with that landing!"
And Amy G does all this with a smile on her face.
DeleteAmy G: "I've heard that this was a bad one. I can't tell, because all airplanes and airplane landings look the same to me."
DeleteConfirmed by our man at the NTSB, Hugh Jass.
ReplyDeleteThe NTSB a couple of days ago DID give the names of the pilots, so this is even more shocking.
ReplyDeletethis is an expensive lesson for the management at KTVU. If they would have just kept their mouth shut and went about their business they would have needed a truck to bring home all of the awards. Instead, they rubbed everyone's noses in it and they are a national laughing stock. Karma is a bitch.
ReplyDeleteI just read this on another site and came here immediately (hoping to give Rich a "tip") only to see you're running the story.
ReplyDeleteIt's both funny and sad that one week we're heaping praises upon KTVU for their stellar coverage, then laughing at them the following week.
This is normally a Tim Montemeyer move, not a KTVU move. Oh well, even the best, stumble.
...and, so it goes.
As made famous by Linda Ellerbee.
DeleteAs taught to her by Lloyd Dobyns.
DeleteNTSB STATEMENT ON ERRONEOUS CONFIRMATION OF CREW NAMES
ReplyDelete________________________________________
July 12, 2013
WASHINGTON – The National Transportation Safety Board apologizes for inaccurate and offensive names that were mistakenly confirmed as those of the pilots of Asiana flight 214, which crashed at San Francisco International Airport on July 6.
Earlier today, in response to an inquiry from a media outlet, a summer intern acted outside the scope of his authority when he erroneously confirmed the names of the flight crew on the aircraft.
The NTSB does not release or confirm the names of crewmembers or people involved in transportation accidents to the media. We work hard to ensure that only appropriate factual information regarding an investigation is released and deeply regret today's incident.
Appropriate actions will be taken to ensure that such a serious error is not repeated.
###
Contact Information
________________________________________
Office of Public Affairs
490 L'Enfant Plaza, SW
Washington, DC 20594
(202) 314-6100
Kelly Nantel
kelly.nantel@ntsb.gov
Here's the likely culprit.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ntsb.gov/news/2013/130712.html
"The NTSB a couple of days ago DID give the names of the pilots, so this is even more shocking."
ReplyDeleteAsiana released the names of the pilot and co-pilot on Sunday.
The NTSB doesn't release names.
KTVU will probably blame this mistake on Sum Yung Gui.
ReplyDeleteI trust KTVU.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the first hint should have been that the crew members were Korean, not Chinese. None of the listed names look even remotely Korean to me.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I must confess I have not laughed so much in a long time at this joke on KTVU.
I must confess, I wouldn't know the difference between a Korean name and a Chinese name if my life depended on it En Nee How.
DeleteKorean names have "Kim" in them.
DeleteChinese are Ho or Lo or Li or Lee.
Every second family in Vietnam must be named Nguyen or Tran or Singh.
Japanese names always have three or four syllables, with the accent on the second-to-last: Ya-ko-SHEE-tah.
German names have von.
Dutch names have van.
Polish names ski.
Jewish names sky.
Droids are usually identifiable by numbers in the name: R2D2, C3PO.
Dogs and cats usually have "cute" names: Skippy, Whiskers, Pippit.
People serving prison sentences are usually identified by long numbers. Eg: O.J. Simpson--1027820
"Thank you for trusting us" -- my ass!
ReplyDeleteWow, your ass talks?
DeleteMy wife felt bad for the names of the crew, she said they most of been teased as kids. That's what she gets for TRUSTING KTVU.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletePu on Tu
ReplyDeleteAs the great Ernie Anastos would say, "Keep f**king that chicken."
ReplyDeleteNot the first time a major market station has had a huge gaffe yet lived to tell about it (or apologize for it):
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yExhzotEu4s
Of course the writer and producer should be canned. But let's focus on Tori, how dumb is she?. In the day this would never happen, as most anchors were serious news hounds, not just readers. The old school anchor types would have beat someone up for giving them copy like that. No excuse, don't tell me she didn't have time to pre-read it. Bull sh#t!.
ReplyDeleteyou know that janks is somewhere out there, banging his head agains the wall and screaming...WHY DIDNT I COME UP WITH THIS????
ReplyDeleteho lee fuk....hilarious
This is why the public thinks of the press: Wi Too Stupid.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wB-tq2OE7wo
ReplyDeleteThis is the Damon Bruce segment mentioned by another comment.
Sorry Freelance Stringer Camera People. A Friend who Sells Breakers to KTVU mostly, said they stopped buying Video. Must be saving for a Payout? I really don't see much Breaking Stuff on there since the Fuk Up. A few things, but mostly rehash of past events, Fluff. Maybe the LA Market for you folks. Stringers that is. Last Night they Jacked Photos of a Fire out East Contra Costa, from a Newspaper (Still Shots) while CBS and ABC Locals had Real Video! I used to see a lot of Breaking News on 2. That's what set them apart. Now the ABC 7 Station is the Breaking News Leader. We want Real News. They have more issues than the Pilot Ones. What is happening over there?
ReplyDelete