KTVU trying to erase its racially offensive news report from Web

"At this point, continuing to show the video is also insensitive and offensive," said the station's vice president

Published July 23, 2013 4:40PM (EDT)

KTVU, the San Francisco area news station that erroneously reported fake, racially offensive names of the pilots who crash-landed Asiana flight 214 two weeks ago, is now attempting to remove the embarrassing footage from the Internet.

KTVU has invoked the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to remove the video, in which news anchor Tori Campbell reads the "confirmed" pilots' names as "Sum Ting Wong," "Wi Tu Lo," "Ho Lee Fuk," and "Bang Ding Ow," from YouTube.

Of the quiet effort, Tom Raponi, the station’s general manager and vice president, told Mediabistro: “The accidental mistake we made was insensitive and offensive. By now, most people have seen it. At this point, continuing to show the video is also insensitive and offensive, especially to the many in our Asian community who were offended. Consistent with our apology, we are carrying through on our responsibility to minimize the thoughtless repetition of the video by others."

Asiana airlines has opted not to sue the network over the snafu. Meanwhile, NTSB has blamed a summer intern for providing the false names to the station, who has since been dismissed.

h/t Gawker


By Prachi Gupta

Prachi Gupta is an Assistant News Editor for Salon, focusing on pop culture. Follow her on Twitter at @prachigu or email her at pgupta@salon.com.

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Asiana Flight 214 Ktvu Ntsb Pranks Racism