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Unanswered Questions in KTVU #Asiana Crash Gaffe

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KTVU  by Mike Hale

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(Note from editor: Mike Hale posted these comments on the Asian American Journalists Association Media Watch Facebook page about the incorrect names of the pilots aired on KTVU during its coverage of the Asiana crash. The comments are re-posted here with his permission. Hale is a television & film critic. )

So why is KTVU successfully stonewalling on the most basic question: where did the names come from? Pointing out the racism of the incident is necessary, but it seems to me that the strictly journalistic implications are even more important.

In the absence of any real information about what happened in the newsroom — really, there’s NO significant information in any article I’ve seen, and certainly not in the station’s apology — there seem to be two possibilities. One: the truth is as simple as we suspect — that the names came from Twitter or Reddit or a bathroom wall — and the station considers this so embarrassing, so completely shattering to any faith people might have in its news gathering, that it will do anything to withhold or obfuscate it. Two: the “source” (love the use of that word here) was actually someone inside the station. Staggering incompetence and laziness, or malfeasance. Hopefully the station will fill out the picture, or someone who reports about TV news will get at the truth. Or are we happy not to look too closely at how the sausage is made because the recipe may be the same in our own newsrooms?

(Another thing no one seems to be pointing out: not only were the names KTVU read clearly false, but two of the real names had been reported for days! So an anchor, a producer and who knows how many other staffers had to have been unaware of one of the basic facts in their station’s biggest ongoing story.)

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