San Francisco Fox affiliate KTVU has fired three producers involved with reporting fake names of the Asiana Airlines flight 214 pilots.
Investigative producer Roland DeWolk, special projects producer Cristina Gastelu and producer Brad Belstock — who tweeted “oh shit!” immediately after the names were read on the air — have been fired, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. The employees’ names were first reported by San Francisco media blogger Rich Lieberman.
The Chronicle reports a fourth producer on the noon newscast, Elvin Sledge, is leaving the station for health reasons.
Anchor Tori Campbell read the fake names, which included Sum Ting Wong, Ho Lee Fuk and Bang Ding Ow, on the noon newscast July 12. The station apologized later in the newscast and released a written apology later that evening, saying the names were confirmed by the NTSB. The NTSB said a summer intern had “acted outside the scope of his authority” and confirmed the names.
Earlier this week, KTVU filed copyright claims to remove video of the gaffe from YouTube. General manager Tom Raponi told TVSpy that the mistake was insensitive and offensive and “continuing to show the video is also insensitive and offensive.” Social media journalist Matthew Keys filed counterclaims with YouTube on fair use grounds; some of the videos have since been restored.
KTVU did not immediately respond to TVSpy’s request for comment.
>Update: “It is KTVU’s policy to not comment on any personnel issues,” general manager Tom Raponi told TVSpy in an email.