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When News Wants To Be First Without Checking

This is typical of a media that merely takes what it is given by whomever it gets it from, and broadcasts it, without subjecting it to critical, impartial thought and analysis. They had it coming. And don't believe for a moment a "summer intern" working at the NTSB gave the station the names. NTSB provided at least two crew names (NOT two of these four) some time ago, which these people either never got or apparently forgot. This was either a practical joke that succeeded beyond the joker's wildest dreams, or something else. What happened has to be one of the following:

1) a prank caller rang the station, sounded official, provided the names and they got through the newsroom and onto the anchorwoman's teleprompter without one iota of critical thought being given to them during that process. Why on earth would an intern jeopardize their internship by doing this from a (presumably) identifiable number, via CallerID, which the newsroom probably has? They fell for a modern version of the old "Prince Albert in the can" joke.

2) Someone at the station has it in for this anchorwoman, wanting to make her look ridiculous.

Years ago in Detroit there was a local TV station with two well-known personalities co-hosting the evening news broadcast, one male, one female. Both were of a rather short stature. There was such intense on-screen competition between them they took to sitting on stacks of telephone books to try to be taller than each other - no kidding - confirmed by studio staff. I suspect this incident was a variation of that theme.:mixedsmi:
 
Wi Tu LO, Sum Ting Wong, Ho Lee Fuk, Bang Ding Ow?
Oh man I am still wiping the tears of laughter from my eyes as I type this.
Not only typical of todays media but priceless.
 
That's why it's best to rely upon video interviews with the actual people working for these agencies. When you get to see and hear their own words, then it carries weight. This mishap has been different from others because for whatever reason, the NTSB has put their spokesman on the interview circuit and she's been providing information quickly.

Ken
 
Then you have this Chicago Sun-Times headline. Hmm... Asian airline, Korean flight crew, two Chinese girls killed. Maybe not a good idea to use a headline that sounds like you're making fun of Asians' English pronunciation. :icon_lol:

View attachment 90164
 
This is priceless and shines floodlights on what is wrong with news 24/7 and the need to be first at any cost.

Back in the day, when I did a stint on broadcast radio, the rule was that you read aloud BEFORE going on air everything coming over the AP and UPI teletype, but especially people's names. Thus was I able to avoid reporting that Gov. Rockefeller had that day denied pubic welfare... I chose to believe it was an honest typo, but...

It's reminiscent of Dan Rather's reporting that Reagan had died of his gunshot wounds, and piously asked that we, the viewers, bow our heads.

When the truth came out moments later, Rather and his cohort blamed a low level employee of the White House staff rather than manning up and taking responsibility for a truly egregious error.
 
"Racist name?" Oh for the love of Pete they were not "racist" by any stretch of the imagination. Inappropriate puns based on oriental sounding words for sure and certain, but hardly racist.

It's no different that the book Tracks in the Sand by Won Hung Lo, or Yellow River by I.P. Freely. That station just got "Punked." :icon_lol:

Best comment was that the intern's name was probably Sum Dum Fook...
 
This is priceless! I absolutely abhor the news media in this country, I refuse to watch ABC's "Good Morning America" because they turned it into a damn variety show....all I want is concise, up to date and accurate news stories, not a bloody concert in the park or some guy trying to show how to cook something. The ABC anchor David Muir was at the crash site and actually had the gall to ask one of the first responders if he could describe the look of "despair" on the faces of the survivors....What kind of question is that to ask someone who just walked away from a plane crash....total assh**es.....just my opinion of American journalism these days.:icon_eek:
 
After I made my post yesterday, I learned that Friday a third young girl died from her injuries in the crash.

I understand the humor, and I'm certainly not pointing fingers at anyone here. But, to think of people calling up a media station and using such names when people are still fighting for life (and in one case dying) I really wish people wouldn't do such stuff.

There's a part of me that wishes those who staged this prank would get put before a judge facing a civil action. I can't think of any civil law they broke but only because there's no law that requires human decency. Still, I wonder if this isn't also an example of the times changing and not for the better.

As far as the bogus names being racist -- perhaps not racist but certainly insensitive but I think primarily out of disrespect for the dead. And to add a second point, despite my criticism of the four pilots, the truth is that none of those four men went to work that day thinking of doing something that would kill people. Yet, for the rest of their lives, they have to live with the knowledge that their actions have caused the deaths of three young girls. I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemies. I feel a lot of sympathy for them. Perhaps people who don't have to face that kind of pressure ought to be more respectful and restrained and not use such a situation to act like clowns for cheap laughs.

Ken
 
aircav1970 said:
This is priceless! I absolutely abhor the news media in this country, I refuse to watch ABC's "Good Morning America" because they turned it into a damn variety show....all I want is concise, up to date and accurate news stories, not a bloody concert in the park or some guy trying to show how to cook something. The ABC anchor David Muir was at the crash site and actually had the gall to ask one of the first responders if he could describe the look of "despair" on the faces of the survivors....What kind of question is that to ask someone who just walked away from a plane crash....total assh**es.....just my opinion of American journalism these days.:icon_eek:
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Excellent point. And that's why it's pretty much impossible to truly work up any actual sympathy for anything that happens to a member of the media.

Ken
 
Skyhawk_310R said:
Excellent point. And that's why it's pretty much impossible to truly work up any actual sympathy for anything that happens to a member of the media.

Ken
Click to expand...


Concur wholeheartedly. Please add to the earlier quote, "without interpretation." I don't need any talking head to tell me what this "news" probably means. I am quite capable of following events in a story worth my attention, and can draw my own conclusions, thank you.

You never get the entire story, ever, from the media. You're only getting what the editor says you can get. The entire story would take too much air time - unless we got rid of the concerts in the park or the cooking demonstrations (oh, and let's not forget the inane small talk between the talking heads), and spent more time on a recitation of events, which would be a more profitable use of that air time. Many people in this country have been "dumbed down," though, and might have trouble following details in a story.

It wouldn't surprise me if this NTSB "admission" was ginned up by the media as well. It's not beyond the realm of possibility for an intern to come up with a practical joke like this, but it is highly unlikely. The intern just screwed their chances of finding post-graduation employment with the NTSB. If it did happen, then maybe the NTSB needs to review their selection criteria for summer interns - or tell whoever picks them to get a little tougher with the selection process.
 
Those idiots in that newsroom should ALL be fired for that. Anyone with a speck of a brain should have been able to look at those names and recognized what they said. What a bunch of idiots! Too many people need jobs who could do a better job than those unaware idiots.

Don
 
One cannot point a finger at Fox and single them out for poor reporting standards, awful and blatantly biased as they are. Every other news outlet equally has their agenda and failings. There was a time that the BBC was considered the paragon of unbiased and professional news reporting, however recent events have shown those days are gone, and their left wing liberal bias just as embarrassing as e.g. Bill O'Reilly. But bias aside, it is really standards that have dropped in the race to satisfy their target audiences. Journalism in the true sense of the word has suffered terribly in favour of 'reporting'. All these companies, newspapers included, buy in stories rather than do the ground work themselves. Inevitably standards have to fall. It's entropy.
As a consuming public we have to become more skeptical and highlight these failings when they occur. Otherwise we get what we deserve.
The likes of H.l. Mencken & Walter Cronkite must be spinning in their graves.
Almost a rant :)
 
I almost think that this was done purposely to expose just how bad the media is these days. Think about it... they wanted everyone to see that the news is about ratings these days, and that facts are secondary. This wholeheartedly proves that point.
 
Naismith said:
One cannot point a finger at Fox and single them out for poor reporting standards, awful and blatantly biased as they are. Every other news outlet equally has their agenda and failings. There was a time that the BBC was considered the paragon of unbiased and professional news reporting, however recent events have shown those days are gone, and their left wing liberal bias just as embarrassing as e.g. Bill O'Reilly. But bias aside, it is really standards that have dropped in the race to satisfy their target audiences. Journalism in the true sense of the word has suffered terribly in favour of 'reporting'. All these companies, newspapers included, buy in stories rather than do the ground work themselves. Inevitably standards have to fall. It's entropy.
As a consuming public we have to become more skeptical and highlight these failings when they occur. Otherwise we get what we deserve.
The likes of H.l. Mencken & Walter Cronkite must be spinning in their graves.
Almost a rant :)
Click to expand...

Quite correct, sir. All of them have their own agendas and biases, and are not immune to slanting facts to align with those. Say what you will about FOX, it was NBC which edited the George Zimmerman/911 tapes so blatantly. To NBC's credit, heads rolled.

The days of Edward R Murrow and those you mentioned are long gone in favor of insane blithering around the news. I'm a conservative (not Tparty) sort, but I listen a good bit to npr to balance out FOX in the probably forlorn hope that somehow I reach the middle where some truth lies.

Sigh. There are elements of "The Good Old Days" that I miss.
 
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