Crowning one Whiner of the Week winner for Whiner of the Year was a challenge. In the end there could not just be one. Two groups so excelled in their incompetence, poor decision-making, and insensitivity that we had not choice but to allow them to share the honor.
KTVU-TV and Logan International Airport, you are our co-Whiners of the Year.
You may remember, KTVU-TV totally botched the reporting of the names the pilots who were in the cockpit of Asiana flight 214. This was the flight that crashed upon landing in San Francisco. The names of the pilots were read as, ?Sum Ting Wong, Wi Tu Lo, Ho Lee Fuk, and Bang Ding Ow.? As history now knows, these names were not the real names.
While KTVU-TV apologized for the mistake, there was mention of the poor information being the product of a bad intern. Good move. When something goes wrong, blame an intern.
A few months later, someone at Logan International Airport thought it would a good idea to hold a fire training exercise, on a runway, on the anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks.
This exercise, put on by the Massachusetts Port Authority, which owns and operates the airport, featured smoke and flames. These are two things that you never want to see at an airport, especially on 9/11. And also especially after the Boston Marathon terrorist attack.
Apparently the Port Authority felt that any anxiety produced by the pyrotechnics could be extinguished by mentioning the drills on social media sites. This was the announcement: ?The Fire Department will be training this morning. Smoke on the airfield is part of the training.?
Such a low key approach to such a visible exercise, in an area that is understandably on edge, sets the bar very high for inconsiderate behavior.
In looking back at our winners, both situations could have been easily prevented. In 2014, we’ll continue to police the planet…
