michaelnewbern.com

KTVU in Oakland, California reported the identity of the pilots of Asiana flight 214. The report has been a source of embarrassment for the station. Watch.

The station has since issued an apology.

We can go on and on about how they should’ve double checked. They “never read the names out loud, phonetically sounding them out.” They were in such a hurry to be the first ones to report the news that they didn’t apply a common sense test to the list names.

But that would underscore the real source of the problem and the alarm we should all have over it, the National Transportation Safety Board.

The NTSB issued an apology later in the day claiming the names came from an intern who “acted outside the scope of his authority.”The stars are lining up to point to a sophomoric joke gone wrong. Be careful not to let that overshadow the glaring fact that a government agency got it wrong. An otherwise trustworthy source of information is now the source of humiliation and embarrassment.

This blunder does beg a question.

How can we trust a government who will punk a news outlet with our personal safety? How can we trust this same government to perform background checks on all gun sales? If they can’t keep a prankster from publicly embarrassing themselves and an entire station, how can they guarantee they won’t deny Melissa Marshall from buying a gun when just learned her estranged husband is targeting her effectively blocking her successful self-defense?