The Dolphins Make Me Cry.com - Forums

I don't usually think this kind of stuff is funny but this cracked me up. How does something like this make it to air? A news station reported the names of Asiana Flight 214's flight crew as Captain Sum Ting Wong, Wi Tu Low, Ho Lee Fuk, and Band Ding Ow. Wow .. just wow!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=qW8DM9fd0NM

I can't believe the announcer could read those names aloud without either cracking up or realizing it was a prank.

I feel bad for the poor studio guy who played the joke...because if they figure out who did it, I can only assume his ass will be summarily dismissed.

Oh my god that's the funniest thing I've seen in a while.  Wow.  I just spit orange juice all over my monitor!

Seriously?  They read that on the air?  WOW!!!  Brilliant.

HOLY MARY MOTHER OF GOD!!!!!   I laughed so hard my sides are still hurting an hour later!!!

FOR THE LAST TIME... WHATEVER YOU TYPE INTO THAT TELEPROMPTER, BURGUNDY WILL READ!!!!

NTSB verified that an employee mistakenly approved those names.

As someone who works in TV, it's almost impossible for something like this to hit air.  There are SO MANY people who this has to go thru.  Most at fault is the graphics operator who typed out the panel - how do you not realize this??

Asiana Airlines have announced they are suing the TV station.  They have hired the law firm of Dewey, Cheathem, and Howe to represent them.

Hey Tony ... I realize you don't know specifics of this case but in general how did this info get from person A to all the way to person B reading it on the teleprompter?

If there hadn't been three fatalities, I would think it was funny. 

But as there were three deaths, I think this was done in poor taste. 

As separate instances, I think this is hilarious.  Doesn't mean I'm laughing at people dying in a plane crash.  Surely you can separate the two.

I get that. 

I know you aren't laughing at the people who died.

But I do think it was irresponsible of whoever at NTBS or this particular TV station who decided to do this.  And would be shocked if they don't get fired over it.   

I am sure they are already fired.  And deservedly so.

Last I heard, they still haven't figured out exactly who initiated it, only that an intern at NTBS confirmed it in error. 

The TV station is KTVU (Fox 2, San Francisco).
They called the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) to verify the names of the crew.  An intern at NTSB confirmed them.

What is the TV station supposed to do at that point?  Not report the names because they are too ridiculous, even though the NTSB has confirmed they are legit?  That would be even worse than what happened.

Well somebody (and it sounds like it was someone a the TV station) invented the false names. 

The lawyer from Asiana Airlines is Mi Soo Yu.

Well, someone at the TV station got wind that those were the names...either by email or phone call.  The person taking that information (production assistant [PA]) in is first in the chain.  Then they verified that with the NTSB office (how they verified that is another story).  Then, the PA tells the producer "hey I have the pilot names".  Producer either failed to ask what they were, or failed to realize they were fake names.....producer is #2.

Then, the producer tells the graphics people to make the fullscreen graphic panel.  Assume at a local new station, only one person is doing the graphics, but in a larger broadcast like SanFran it could be 2 or 3.  Someone in graphics had to type that panel, and they, along with the PA who wrote the names down in the first place, are the most at fault here.  It is not the graphic op's job to QC for content accuracy, but goddamn, how do you not realize those names are fake while you are typing the panel out and loading it into the graphics machine?  #3 (maybe more here at this step).

Next up we have the final step before it goes down to the studio and live to the air.  The 2 people running the show are the director and technical director (TD).  There are 2 huge screens RIGHT IN FRONT OF THEM that show what is currently on-air, and what the next source will be (in this case the next source is the pilot name fullscreen).   The panel where they talked about the girl who got hit by the fire truck was the preceding source and it was on-air for 15 seconds, meaning the easy-to-read pilot name fullscreen was staring them in the face for 15 seconds (an eternity in TV time) in the preview monitor before going live over the air.  The director tells the TD what sources to take.  #4 & 5.

Once it hits air, I believe the anchor is reading the names straight off the monitor in the desk, not a paper script.  This event was breaking news, so likely everything was thrown together really quick and the producer just told the anchor "just read the names straight off the panel".   I assume in this case, the anchor had no previous warning and was reading this on the fly.  If they had a paper script in front of them, it is more likely they would have also caught the error because they like to glance over stuff like that real quick for pronunciation purposes.  I truly believe the anchor had no heads up and because these were Asian names, didn't realize it as she was reading it.  She got really burned by the rest of her crew and I would feel sorry for her if she didn't read the names with such hilarious conviction.   #6

As you can see, no less than 6 people should have caught this.  At a larger station like KUTV, I'd wager almost 10 people should have caught this.

I am wondering if, like you said, it was a rush job and some of the 6 people just rubber-stamp approved it without looking at it, trusting that the PA was smart enough to catch it on his/her own.

[urlhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0YwRI_OlXg][/url]

That would have been funny for a crash like this, where everybody survived.

And now they'll all get in legal trouble when the Chinese version of Gloria Alred shows up, the formidable Mi Soo Yu...

Three people were fired over this prank.

In all honesty I think that's a bit too extreme.  A suspension definitely would have been in order, but to take somebody's job away from them is too much punishment

^^ Disagree. It shows that they can't do their job seriously and in journalism, if you don't have credibility you have nothing.  If you can't be serious about a news story about a plane crash, and instead send "racist" jokes to go live on air, you should be fired.  Its not the time for jokes. 

If it was an honest mistake, I agree.  There was nothing honest about this.  Someone was being a clown.

To me, the fact that the NTSB signed off on it (and has already admitted as much) absolved everyone at the station.

Again, what is the station supposed to do if the NTSB says the names are legit?  Simply refuse to run foreign names if they sound too absurd to be true, even after official gov't sources confirm them?

If that is true I might be inclined to let them off with some lesser punishment but there really is no excuse for not running this by your bosses.  We aren't talking about one or even two crazy names. In fact even if it were their real names why be insensitive and post them without some type of warning to go with it. This was much closer to a SNL skit than actual news.

For the politically correct crowd this has to be a 100 on the 1-10 scale of insensitivity.

I don't understand why (or how) you would post a warning if those were real names.

"Please be forewarned, these strange-sounding foreign names are extremely silly by Western standards.  You may want to laugh."

...?

Someone at the station made up the names. THAT person ought to be fired.