KTVU has been on the forefront of the Asiana flight 214 crash.

KTVU Channel 2 News owned this breaking news story with a number of firsts!

- First on-air.
- First on-line.
- First with alerts to mobile devices.
- First on Twitter & Facebook.
- First with aerial shots from KTVU NewsChopper 2.
- First with a live reporter from the scene.
- First live interview with anyone connected to someone on the flight.

But today something went totally wrong when they used fake names of the flight crew on air.

Someone should have noticed that Wi Tu Lo, Ho Lee Fuk, and Bang Ding Ow were made up names. It is just as bad as a news organization using I C Weiner, Mike Hunt or Hal Jalikakik on air.

The NTSB actually had confirmed that these erroneous names were correct, but later on sent out an apology along with KTVU:

Update: The National Transportation Safety Board late Friday issued its own apology for “inaccurate and offensive names that were mistakenly confirmed” to KTVU Channel 2 as those of the pilots of Asiana flight 214, which crashed at San Francisco International Airport on Saturday.

The statement said that an NTSB summer intern, in response to the station’s inquiry, “acted outside the scope of his authority when he erroneously confirmed the names of the flight crew on the aircraft.”

However, in a subsequent phone interview with the SFGate’s Jeff Elder, NTSB spokeswomanKelly Nantel made clear that the names “originated at the media outlet” and that the intern — unaware of the offensive names — was “acting in good faith and trying to be helpful” by confirming names he didn’t know.

“The NTSB does not release or confirm the names of crew members or people involved in transportation accidents to the media,” Nantel said.