3 fired over fake pilot names gaffe

KTVU has fired three veteran producers over the now famous gaffe in which anchor Tori Campbell read fake names for the four pilots in the Asiana Airlines crash. They are:

• Roland DeWolk, investigative producer; 

• Cristina Gastelu, special projects producer; 

• Brad Belstock, producer who was not part of the gaffe but lost his job for tweeting immediately afterward "Oh Shit"

In addition, Elvin Sledge, a veteran producer who works on the noon news and was on duty the day of the gaffe, has told management he is retiring.

Media blogger Rich Liberman, who first reported the firings Wednesday, said he was told that an attorney from KTVU's owner, Cox Media in Atlanta, came to Oakland to conduct the internal investigation that led to the firings.

Matier & Ross report today that the fake names — which had been posted on the Internet for at least two days before the gaffe — came to the station via email from an expert source who had provided information to the station in the past.