Oregon Media Insiders

I work for another station. There are lots of reporters who had the night off on a primary. A general election would be a different issue. I'm going to assume that since Ms. Song is the weekend anchor for KATU and reports during the week that Monday-Tuesday are probably her normal days off.

As for Willamette "All Asians Look Alike" Weak... they owe Ms. Song an apology.

Willamette Week is a joke, despite what the porno ad lovers and perverts tell you. No news standards at all, no journalistic integrity, which is why they'll just ignore the mistake. I don't know if Aaron Mesh is racist or lazy --- maybe both --- but that's a ridiculous mistake. Forget spelling the name right, if it's your job to cover the media and take pot shots at all the bigger news entities in the region the least you could do is correctly identify the person you're taking a cheap shot at. Dumb.

The irony here is that you have a (maybe racist) green reporter who is working part time and is really inexperienced and working for a publication that pays nothing who is mistakenly... calling out Anna Song, who has a pile of Associated Press awards and a Murrow and is respected by her peers. Good going, WW.

anna song is hot

Looks like Mesh took the "who's the asian reporter" graf down without mentioning the edit or error. Ethics much?

Did you notice this part of the article has been removed, but somehow the date/time stamp did not change to reflect an updated story. Also no apology.

I must say I was pleasantly surprised by the coverage last night all around. KGW playing up that with Adams election, Portland will be the largest city to elect an openly gay mayor, the Beaverton mayor's race and Nike's involvement, the Erickson-Mannix blood fued (Mannix already declared Schrader the winner in November), and the depth of knowledge of the issues. Even Fox12 led with the election at 10 p.m. A lot of great stories, just wish there was more of this kind of coverage leading up to Tuesday. I didn't see an interview with John Kroger or Macpherson anywhere, where were they?

...how well the Family Guy "Asian reporter Tricia Takanawa" gags go over in this town?

Here is our apology, which also is in the comments section of the WWire post:

We have removed the error referred to in this comment from "the desk" and have extended apologies to Ms. Song and Ms. Tan for our embarrassing mistake. We do regret the error.

Sincerely,

Hank Stern

Managing news editor

Willamette Week

Was Anna at the movies with a certain bald someone?

I extended my apologies through news director Don Pratt and was advised by him that was the best route.
Sincerely,

Hank

I deeply regret misidentifying the KATU reporter covering Jeff Merkley's victory party in last night's media roundup. I knew it was Thanh Tan, not Anna Song, and in double-checking identifications I somehow managed to switch names around in my head. It was an egregiously sloppy mistake, and I apologize for any offense it may have caused and to Ms. Song and Ms. Tan, who work hard and well, and deserve better.

Hank: One of your reporters directly and irresponsibly insulted and defamed a reporter (damaging her professional reputation) and you chose to call her boss and not her? Pretty lame. Sack up and apologize to Song and Tan. What was the apology for anyway? Believing all asians look the same?

I agree, pick up your phone WW and call 503-231-4264 and ask the assignment desk for Anna or Thanh. If they take your call, apologize. Then you should run an apology and correction in next weeks print edition. What I love about this flap is the fact that an article conceived to poke fun at broadcast news has instead turned the spotlight on the reporter who wrote the story for failing basic journalism, and integrity. Oops! Complicating matters is the fact that KATU and WW are "news partners", I suspect both managers wish this would just go away. Classic.

it was a mistake,not a crime. not that WW hasn't jumped all over folks for similar errors,but I sense a tad too much joy in all this indignation. we can treat each other a little more kindly, can't we?
if you really must return fire, call Aaron up and address him as "Sweetie."

A thousand thanks to Thanh Tan. She should meet my aunt Ethyl Thayer at Thanksgiving.

to me. Has anyone considered that it was just a stupid mistake? Everyone jumps on the "racist" bandwagon immediately. What if, for example, the WW writer confused two average looking white guys. Maybe Mark Ross and Mark Glyzweski over at KPTV. No one would be thinking about race in that case.

Please knock it off unless you can get into the writer's head and find out what he was thinking!

It was a dumb mistake and we've all made them. To have it come in the middle of a finger-wag, though, was too much to leave alone.

-----
Lynn Siprelle * Fairy Blogmother

It's no rumor!!! Kyle Iboshi and Joel Iguana are the same person.. notice you NEVER see them together?

it's iwanaga, bitches.

WW slings a lot of crap at those who cover the news in this market. Their motives are pretty tacky and transparent. That Hank didn't have the guts to reach directly to those involved isn't surprising. WW and KATU are news partners. How bad does WW look today? Bad. Bad. Bad. Another terrible black mark on WW's record.

This was a dumb, idiotic mistake... one that could have been rectified with a simple double-check.

GETTING THE NAME RIGHT IS THE FUNDAMENTAL RULE IN JOURNALISM.

I'm not the least bit surprised some part-time writer at a free publication screwed up. You get what you pay for.

Thankfully nobody cares to read WW.

This would have all gone away if Hank had done this:

1. Dial 503-231-4264

2. Ask for Anna/Thanh (this would require two calls - repeating step one)

3. "Anna (or Thanh), this is Hank Stern. We screwed up. I apologize."

End of story. Ride into sunset. Fade to black.

It ain't that hard, buckaroos.