(CNN) — The intern for the National Transportation Safety Board who erroneously confirmed “inaccurate and offensive” false names of the Asiana Flight 214 pilots is no longer with the agency, according to a government official with knowledge of the situation.
Meanwhile, Asiana Airlines says it will proceed with its planned lawsuit against an Oakland, Calif., television station, but it’s not going to pursue legal action against the NTSB.
Over the weekend, the Korean airline had said it would sue both entities after an intern at the NTSB mistakenly confirmed “inaccurate and offensive” names as those of the pilots of Flight 214, which crash-landed nine days ago at San Francisco International Airport.
The bogus names that phonetically spelled out phrases such as “Something Wrong” and “We Too Low” were read during KTVU’s noon broadcast Friday. The airline called the report “demeaning” and said it was “reviewing possible legal action.”
On Monday morning, the airline seemed to have a partial change of heart, at least concerning the NTSB.
Airline spokesman Na Chul-hee said Asiana has retained a U.S. law firm to file a defamation claim against the TV station. But, he said, the company didn’t have plans to file a separate suit against the NTSB.
“After a legal review, the company decided to file a lawsuit against the network because it was their report that resulted in damaging the company’s image,” he said.
KTVU anchor Tori Campbell read the names Friday. The news station, a CNN affiliate, later apologized on air and on its website.
“Nothing is more important to us than having the highest level of accuracy and integrity, and we are reviewing our procedures to ensure this type of error does not happen again,” KTVU posted on its website.
The key to a defamation case is to determine whether what was said damages an entity’s reputation and causes injury, and what care was taken, if any, to prevent that, said Ken Paulson, president of the First Amendment Center and the dean of the College of Mass Communication at Middle Tennessee State University.
