Wash Post: NTSB Fires Intern in Fake #Asiana Pilot Names/ #KTVU Mixup. ht @angryasianman

The Washington Post reports the intern who incorrectly confirmed the names of the pilots on board Asiana Flight 214 has been fired.

The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration says the interns responsibility was to route the call to the appropriate media relations person.

Instead without authorization the intern confirmed the names not knowing the whole thing was a joke.

“He did not know they were fake names,” NTSB spokesman Kelly Nantel said. “You’d have to ask the station where they got the names from. I don’t know.”

For its part, KTVU would only say the names came from a “trusted source” who has been reliable in the past.

Meantime the station has agreed to meet with the Media Watch committee of the Asian American Journalists Association, which has been critical of the station’s gaffe.