The station issued an apology for misidentifying the pilots involved in last week's crash. NTSB confirmed fake pilot names

The NTSB said late Friday that an intern had confirmed to a California news station the fake names of the pilots aboard the crashed Asiana flight in San Francisco, sparking an outcry in the national media and prompting an on-air apology from the station.

“The National Transportation Safety Board apologizes for inaccurate and offensive names that were mistakenly confirmed as those of the pilots of Asiana flight 214, which crashed at San Francisco International Airport on July 6,” the NTSB said in a statement released Friday night.


“Earlier today, in response to an inquiry from a media outlet, a summer intern acted outside the scope of his authority when he erroneously confirmed the names of the flight crew on the aircraft,” the agency said.

( PHOTOS: San Francisco plane crash)

KTVU, San Francisco’s Fox affiliate, broadcast the incorrect names of the pilots during its noon newscast on Friday, despite the fact that the names of the pilot and co-pilot, Lee Gang-guk and Lee Jeong-min, had already been released. The fake names were racially charged and phonetically offensive.

KTVU apologized during its 6 p.m. newscast.

“First of all, we never read the names out loud, phonetically sounding them out,” anchor Frank Somerville said, adding that the station also didn’t ask the position of the person within the NTSB giving them the ultimately erroneous information.

The station also issued an apology on its website Friday evening.

“We sincerely regret the error and took immediate action to apologize, both in the newscast where the mistake occurred, as well as on our website and social media sites,” Tom Raponi, the station’s vice president and general manager, said in a statement. A full explanation of how the station acquired the names is not yet available, although the station is now calling it a hoax.

Outrage was immediate across social media and among journalists, who were incredulous as to how the names could not have raised red flags before broadcast.

“We are hardly satisfied with the station’s statements, and its unwillingness to help us understand how the gaffe originated,” Paul Cheung, the president of the Asian American Journalists Association, and Bobby Calvan, the AAJA’s MediaWatch chair wrote in a statement Friday evening. “We urge KTVU to offer a better explanation,” they wrote.

Late Friday a young girl was named as the third victim of the crash.

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NTSB

Flight 214