Well this is certainly both hilarious and troubling. Troubling because this is obviously racism in action, hilarious because the people at KTVU news casters clearly cannot do their jobs — and also troubling for the same reason.
Today during the noon newscast for KVTU a list of fake names, all thinly veiled English phrases that would be jokes about the crash of Asiana Airlines 214 that has claimed three lives, was read live on air as a confirmed list of the names of the pilots.
Noon news anchor Tori Campbell apologised for the gaffe after a break, but it remains a mystery why nobody realised that the list was not correct and obviously racist. This is the level of incompetence one might expect from Ron Burgundy, not reality.
This kind of schoolyard racism isn’t new, especially in regards to Asian names. You might remember when Rosie O’Donnell famously impersonated Chinese on The View, or when Miley Cyrus made a “goofy” face that is all to familiar to Asian kids who have been bullied because of the shape of their eyes.
The responsibility of our newscasters to fact check the stories they report is important, but in this case apparently not as important as being the first to report something — note that she pumps the “we got it first” cred for her station two times.
Perhaps better fact checking for major news organisations and less of an emphasis on reporting it first — regardless of how accurate it — would do well for American news.
