Tag Archives: Paul Cheung

News, Politics, Government

TV station reports bogus Asiana crash pilot names

Leave a comment

A San Francisco Bay Area TV station has apologized after reporting bogus names of the four pilots aboard Asiana Airlines flight 214 that were a play on Asian names.

KTVU-TV co-anchor Tori Campbell read the racially offensive names on the air Friday. The report was accompanied by a graphic with the phony names listed alongside a photo of the burned out plane.

After a break, Campbell apologized for the error. She said a National Transportation Safety Board official confirmed the names to the station.

Video of the report spread across the Internet Friday.

Paul Cheung, president of the Asian American Journalists Association, released a statement saying KTVU’s reporting of the names was “not only wrong, but grossly offensive.” The phony names caricatured Asian names, said Cheung, who also is interactive and graphics editor for The Associated Press.

In a statement on its website, KTVU said it had made a mistake by not phonetically sounding out the names.

“We heard this person verify the information without questioning who they were and then rushed the names on our noon newscast,” the station said.

The NTSB also apologized and said a summer intern “acted outside the scope of his authority” when he erroneously confirmed the names of the flight crew.

“Appropriate actions will be taken to ensure that such a serious error is not repeated,” the NTSB said in a statement.

Neither the station nor the NTSB commented on where the names originated.

Flight 214 crashed Saturday at San Francisco International Airport, killing three and injuring dozens.

…read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News

Everything Under the Sun

Newspaper stands behind 'fry Rice' poster supporting local Vermont team

Leave a comment

A Vermont newspaper defended itself Saturday against accusations of racism over a poster it published in support of a local sports team that read “fry Rice” in type associated with Chinese calligraphy, saying it meant no offense and simply wanted to play on words.

The back-page poster, printed in Thursday’s editions, was intended to support St. Johnsbury Academy‘s basketball team in its game against Rice Memorial High School in South Burlington, the Caledonian Record wrote in an unsigned editorial.

“We sought a simple play on words in support of an extraordinary group of local student athletes. Indulging our critics for a moment, the outcry reminds us that racial and ethnic stereotypes can offend — regardless of intent,” the editorial said.

The editorial acknowledged that the poster’s wordplay, punctuated by the chosen font, “evoked a particular ethnic cuisine” but did not constitute racism.

“We don’t concede, however, that the use of imagery with any racial, ethnic or religious inference is to inherently debase that race/ethnicity/religion,” the paper said.

“A fair accusation of racism would at least pre-require the reference to actually be demeaning or degrading,” the editorial said. “Simply invoking ethnic customs (food, dress, design) doesn’t do that, nor does it suggest any kind of characteristic about the culture, its people or a history of oppression by the majority.

But the editorial missed the point, said the president of the Asian American Journalists Association, who had criticized the poster after it was published.

“I’m not criticizing the Caledonian Record for rooting for their home team,” said Paul Cheung, the association’s president. While Cheung does not believe the newspaper’s intention was to be racist, it showed “a lapse of judgment and poor taste.”

“It evoked a racial undertone and a negative stereotype,” said Cheung, who is also interactive and graphics editor for The Associated Press.

St. Johnsbury Academy ended up losing the game to Rice Memorial.

A private school, St. Johnsbury Academy serves local students and also has boarding students from across the world, including Asia. Academy Headmaster Tom Lovett said Friday that none of the school’s Asian students were offended by the poster.

“Overall, our students often see such things as a way to celebrate their culture, not demean it. And in this case, we chose to follow our students’ lead and look at the Caledonian’s intent, not taking offense where none was intended,” Lovett said.

…read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News

News, Politics, Government

Vermont newspaper defends 'fry Rice' poster supporting local team

Leave a comment

A Vermont newspaper defended itself Saturday against accusations of racism over a poster it published in support of a local sports team that read “fry Rice” in type associated with Chinese calligraphy, saying it meant no offense and simply wanted to play on words.

The back-page poster, printed in Thursday’s editions, was intended to support St. Johnsbury Academy‘s basketball team in its game against Rice Memorial High School in South Burlington, the Caledonian Record wrote in an unsigned editorial.

“We sought a simple play on words in support of an extraordinary group of local student athletes. Indulging our critics for a moment, the outcry reminds us that racial and ethnic stereotypes can offend — regardless of intent,” the editorial said.

The editorial acknowledged that the poster’s wordplay, punctuated by the chosen font, “evoked a particular ethnic cuisine” but did not constitute racism.

“We don’t concede, however, that the use of imagery with any racial, ethnic or religious inference is to inherently debase that race/ethnicity/religion,” the paper said.

“A fair accusation of racism would at least pre-require the reference to actually be demeaning or degrading,” the editorial said. “Simply invoking ethnic customs (food, dress, design) doesn’t do that, nor does it suggest any kind of characteristic about the culture, its people or a history of oppression by the majority.

But the editorial missed the point, said the president of the Asian American Journalists Association, who had criticized the poster after it was published.

“I’m not criticizing the Caledonian Record for rooting for their home team,” said Paul Cheung, the association’s president. While Cheung does not believe the newspaper’s intention was to be racist, it showed “a lapse of judgment and poor taste.”

“It evoked a racial undertone and a negative stereotype,” said Cheung, who is also interactive and graphics editor for The Associated Press.

St. Johnsbury Academy ended up losing the game to Rice Memorial.

A private school, St. Johnsbury Academy serves local students and also has boarding students from across the world, including Asia. Academy Headmaster Tom Lovett said Friday that none of the school’s Asian students were offended by the poster.

“Overall, our students often see such things as a way to celebrate their culture, not demean it. And in this case, we chose to follow our students’ lead and look at the Caledonian’s intent, not taking offense where none was intended,” Lovett said.

…read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News

News, Politics, Government

Vt. newspaper criticized by Asian American group

Leave a comment

A Vermont newspaper is being criticized by the Asian American Journalists Association for publishing a poster using a print type associated with Chinese calligraphy for the words “fry Rice” to urge a local school to beat its opponent — Rice Memorial High School — in a state championship game.

Association president Paul Cheung said in a letter to the publisher of the Caledonian Record in St. Johnsbury that the slogan by itself might be considered clever, but was offensive when written in that particular typeface.

“It became offensive when published in a typeface mimicking Chinese calligraphy,” the letter said. “We’ll assume that your use of that typeface was not meant to offend. But we’ll also assume that if that is the case, the Caledonian Record will publicly acknowledge its lapses in taste and judgment.”

Caledonian Record Publisher Todd Smith said he would address the issue in an editorial Saturday.

St. Johnsbury Academy‘s high school basketball team played Rice Memorial, of South Burlington, for the championship Thursday. Rice Memorial won 48-40 in overtime.

The newspaper ran the poster on the back page of Thursday front section. The top of the page read: “Go ‘Toppers,” referring to the school’s Hilltoppers nickname. Across the bottom of the page were the words “fry Rice” in the style meant to resemble Chinese calligraphy.

St. Johnsbury Academy, a private school, serves local students and also has boarding students from across the world, including Asia. Academy Headmaster Tom Lovett said Friday the school had nothing to do with the poster, its design or its publication.

“We appreciate the Caledonian-Record’s support of our teams, and we know for a fact that its intention was to support our boys in their championship run by using a clever play on the name of our opponent,” Lovett said.

He said none of the school’s Asian students were offended by the poster.

“Overall, our students often see such things as a way to celebrate their culture, not demean it. And in this case, we chose to follow our students’ lead and look at the Caledonian’s intent, not taking offense where none was intended,” Lovett said.

Once Academy officials saw the posters at the game, they did their best to …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News