Former Fox59 News Director Under Fire For Korean Airliner Name Flap

The news director of the Oakland TV station which aired fake, racist-sounding names of crew members of the Asiana airliner that crashed at San Francisco International Airport until recently served as news director of Fox59 News in Indianapolis. Lee Rosenthal is now under fire as the finger-pointing begins, and some speculate his job could be on the line. According to media observer Rich Lieberman, Rosenthal has lost the trust of his news team.

KTVU news director, Lee Rosenthal, has lost the trust of a good many of the newsroom, according to insiders at the Oakland Fox affiliate. Growing credibility issues have arisen over the Korean Airliner 'Namegate' imbroglio that has put the station through a difficult week. It doesn't help Rosenthal that his fingerprints were all over the now infamous press release boasting of KTVU's coverage of the crash a mere two days after the tragedy.

Moreover, the 33 year-old Rosenthal's fist-pumping never went over well inside the newsroom and this was well before the fake names la affair with Tori Campbell. Rosenthal might escape this major blunder that has forever tainted KTVU's gold-standard image and reputation but Cox Media, leading a low-key internal investigation of the matter, may not be so forgiving. As a leading station insider told me, "in the end, someone has to go." Indeed, and Rosenthal might have company. Stay tuned