Way OT - Oakland (CA) Local News trolled hard

Submitted by Butterfield on

This is just one of those stories/clips that is hard not to pass on.  After receiving the confirmation from the NTSB, an Oakland (CA) news station reported names of the pilots of the Asiana Airlines crash.  Only problem - the names were made up and the confirmation, which came from an NTSB, should never have come.  The airline has now moved forward with legal action against the news station for passing the false information along. 

News story:   http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/15/travel/asiana-offensive-names/index.html?hpt=hp_c3

Newscast clip:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vm5JGX2or-s

Is it racist - yes, I think it is. 

But so was Robert Deniro's (in my opinion) hillarious SNL skit where he, as an employee of the Homeland Security Department, recited a list of suspected terrorist names: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XMr3QO2Sbc 

Gameboy

July 16th, 2013 at 2:13 AM ^

I am very disappointed that the mods are letting this go. There are many Korean American contributors to this site like BlueSeoul and others, and this is something not very comfortable for us to read. I guess time for me to pack up until the football season starts...

justingoblue

July 16th, 2013 at 1:16 PM ^

Neither of us are exactly fans of it being posted on the board because it's just a board explosion waiting to happen. Speaking only for myself and not for LSA or as a moderator, count me in the camp that says this is news/people are laughing because the station was so inept, not because someone made puns on Asian sounding names.

Snapping back to mod speak, this would have been taken down in about ten seconds if it was just a list of the names and nothing else. MGoBlog and the board in general both have a long history of mocking traditional media and I see this as an extension, although the subject matter makes it borderline for the site.

xxxxNateDaGreat

July 16th, 2013 at 1:47 PM ^

I agree with you on that. I personally feel like the joke here was more about the station's lack of fact checking and how oblivious they are than "hurr durr Asian names are funny and ripe for parody" but if enough members of MGoBlog's asian community feel it is offensive than we should listen. I could care less whether whitey thinks this is racist or not.

On the other hand, this was a tragedy where people did die and the board is already dissolving into a flamewar...

Wolverine Devotee

July 15th, 2013 at 9:07 PM ^

I do my updates to a roster template made by Gamingtailgate.

My roster is offline use only or else it will get completely screwed up for some reason. 

I edit all the details of Michigan players like equipment, heights & weights, hometowns, ratings etc. 

And then if there is any attrition on B1G teams or any teams that I know about I'll make changes. I did about 10 updates last year due to the PSU situation. 

I have a new line of Michigan-themed Teambuilder teams on the way that should be coming out in a few weeks. I'll post those on here though. 

Lionsfan

July 15th, 2013 at 7:08 PM ^

What does racism have to do with anything? It was a prank/joke that only worked because people couldn't read something before it went live.

There's no racism

MEZman

July 15th, 2013 at 7:11 PM ^

Old news but I would like to congratulate that anchorwoman on becoming the real life Ron Burgandy... she'll read anything as long as it's on the teleprompter.

M-Dog

July 15th, 2013 at 7:17 PM ^

My inner 12 year old approves.

My outer 12+++ year old can't belive that somebody at the news station did not reason check this, despite what some intern at the NTSB said.  

Seriously, by the time you get to Ho Lee Fuk, you gotta think something's up.  Were they not paying attention during Middle School?

 

Creedence Tapes

July 15th, 2013 at 7:12 PM ^

I really don't see how this "mistake" was made. KTVU said they checked the names with the NTSB, and a "summer intern" confirmed they were the actual names. Definately a joke in poor taste following the airline disaster, and obviously racist, but how did KTVU get the names to begin with, and who decided to list them in the order they were listed. Hard to belive noone at the station noticed until it aired live...

BlueCE

July 15th, 2013 at 7:26 PM ^

Prankster sent in the names with the same letterhead as the NTSB.  Radio station called the NTSB to see if they had sent in some information to which the NTSB said yes.  They did not ask the NTSB to confirm the names.  And regardless, there had to be someone on that chain (editor, producer, writer, intern) who should've realized this was a prank.

wlvrine

July 16th, 2013 at 12:23 PM ^

Oh that last one is totally racist or bigoted.  Either that or those dudes are serious mormophobes! 

Dan Smith, BYU?   seriously?

What are they trying to say, that Joseph Smith is the patriarch and BYU is just one big happy family? 

gopoohgo

July 15th, 2013 at 8:30 PM ^

Funny like watermelon jokes,  bean jokes, white guys painted with black faces in stereotypic accents, sororities dressed up in panchos and signs saying 'gardener'...

What is funny for you may not be funny for others.

As a Korean-American, who has had to put up with this kind of sh*t multiple times growing up in SE Michigan during the height of the tension between the UAW and the Japanese automakers, I find this pretty offensive, regardless of wtf you think.

And FWIW I think this is wildly OT and delete fodder.

TheBlueBaller

July 16th, 2013 at 8:30 AM ^

The problem is you have to embrace individual opinions and the right to think and speak freely to understand it. I can laugh at jokes about others as well as jokes about myself and why is that? Because it's a joke. People need to lighten up and stop with the "he's bullying me" mentallity that the media has been cramming down our throats for the past decade.

1464

July 16th, 2013 at 8:35 AM ^

The blackface episode of Always Sunny was one of the funniest.  It's more about the delivery than the message.  If done right, jokes that apply to race can come off as very racially aware.  If done wrong, or with bad intentions, they are racist.

I don't think this is racist.  The butt of this joke was the TV station.  The butt of the Always Sunny gag about blackface were Mac and Charlie, not black people.

WolverBean

July 15th, 2013 at 7:28 PM ^

The airline is probably suing the tv station precisely because of what you just said: crashing an airplane is terrible for your reputation, and if that's the only thing in the news about the airline, they come out looking terrible (as they should!). But if there's also this lawsuit, and KTVU is clearly in the wrong, and the airline can actually pretend to be aggrieved here... well, it helps divert some of the media attention away from the crash itself. I'd argue KTVU actually did the airline a favor.