Fox News’ motto is “fair and balanced,” but it may want to add “ignorant” and “racially insensitive” to that self-description, after one of its segments covering the South Korean ferry disaster showed footage of what was supposed to be relatives of the missing, but instead was of Asian people who are clearly not Korean.
The news segment is from April 19, a few days after the Sewol sank in waters off the coast of South Korea, and around the 1:40 mark, the reporter starts to talk about how the relatives of the missing believe that more people would have escaped had they been ordered to evacuate the sinking ship. The problem is the footage shown during this voiceover does not show the victims’ relatives, or even Koreans, but people presumably from another region of Asia.
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Though the segment is from several days ago, the video–with the erroneous footage–was still on Fox’s website, as of 7:15 p.m. today. Rick Phillips, a staff member from the Korean Cultural Center of Los Angeles, said he and the rest of the staff just heard about the segment today from a local Korean news reporter. Members of the community had contacted the Korean Cultural Center, as well as the Korean media, complaining about the issue, he said. He said he personally called the Fox station twice earlier this afternoon, emailed producers about the issue and also sent a letter on behalf of the Korean Consulate, but could not get a live person on the line. In the letter, Phillips said that he stated that the Korean Cultural Center did not believe the people in the footage—at that 1:40 mark when the reporter talks about ferry victims’ relatives—are Korean, nor do they believe that the footage was even taken in Korea. He said the Consulate has yet to hear a response. You can watch the Fox News video here. [ad#336]
