Alaska station says Breitbart Web site audio attack is bogus

[Tx4obama]

Source: Washington Post

Breitbart's Big Journalism site is making an incendiary accusation: That reporters at the Anchorage CBS affiliate KTVA were caught conspiring to damage Tea Party Senate candidate Joe Miller. Big Journalism posted a snippet of audio allegedly showing this: It features KTVA reporters talking among themselves while -- unbeknownst to them -- they were accidentally being recorded on the voicemail of Miller's campaign manager.

But it's unclear from the recording precisely what, if anything, was being plotted. And now the station is adamantly denying the charges, claiming the audio was clipped and taken out of the fuller context. KTVA general manager Jerry Bever sends over a statement claiming the "complete recording was about what others might be able to do to cause disruption within the Miller campaign."

If this is true, it wouldn't be the first time this has happened, as you may recall.

Big Journalism's audio was picked up on by Sarah Palin on Fox News this morning, and by the NRSC, which issued a statement claiming: "It should trouble all Americans that any member of the media would attempt to purposefully smear a nominee for the U.S. Senate."

Read more: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/plum-line/2010/10/alaska_station_denies_big_gove.html

---

Big Journalism = Andrew Breitbart

NOTE: A spokesperson from CBS emails out the following statement

KTVA News is owned by the Alaska Broadcasting Co., not CBS. No CBS staffers were involved and CBS has no knowledge of and no comment on these allegations.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/31/sarah-palin-joe-miller_n_776595.html

[Robb]

1. Big Journalism is neither big, nor journalism.

Discuss. :D

[nonoxy9]

2. Why would anybody trust a Breitbart production???

After his track record, when will someone sue his lyin' ass and shut him down?

[HooptieWagon]

12. Apparently, ABC does. Go figure. nt

[nonoxy9]

3. removed

[nonoxy9]

5. Dupe, removed by poster

[Andy823]

4. I was at my dad's this morning

He watches Fox so as usual it was on when I got there. I didn't hear Palin, but they were talking about "potential" voter fraud in some states. I think they are setting things up for not so great win by them on Tuesday, and working up their listeners to make them think the elections were stolen from them. As for Palin, well she is going to look pretty bad if her own hand picked teabagger, Miller, doesn't win in Alaska, and she to may be setting the stage so they can claim there was voter fraud. I really think he hate for Murkowski has a whole lot to do with this also, besides the idea of making people think the election was stolen from Miller!

One thing for sure, she is making the Alaskan republicans mad by accusing them of having a hand it this, and she is pissing of Karl Rove, another bad idea on her part! I have a feeling there will be a war within the republican party for at least the next two years, Palin and he morons on one side, and Rove and his neo-cons on the other! I also think there will be a lot of moderate republicans who are going to hate "BOTH" sides of this internal war, which may mean a whole lot of them not voting in 2012!

Palin may be making the wrong people mad at her if this all proves to be a pack of lies. If she gets Rove ticked of enough I wonder how long she will last on Fox? If there is a war in the party Fox will have to take a side, and I don't think Palin has enough "money" to get them to take her side, Rove on the other hand has the backing of a lot of rich republicans. If she gets dumped from Fox, what will she do? The other networks won't be so nice, especially with all the bad mouthing she has done towards them!

[Warpy]

7. I've been hearing those rumblings of mutiny on the far right

for a few weeks now. If most of the candidates Palin blessed with her endorsement lose, then the PTB in that party will do what they have to do in order to get rid of her and try to snap the rest of the baggers into line.

[jtuck004]

6. And it was the second time such a "hung call" happened in the

past few weeks. Dang convenient.

Upon reflection, anyone else experiencing an epidemic of calls that "don't fully hang up"?

[Hassin Bin Sober]

32. My high-school buddy lost his business in the divorce when he failed to hang up the cell phone.

He called his wife to tell her he was going out with friends - after he "hung up" he could be heard making motel plans with his 18 year old cashier sitting next to him in the car.

I'm neither married nor am I up to no good, but I press that "end" button about six times ever time I hang up the cell.

Must be Catholic guilt on my part.

[Flatulo]

8. The recording I heard, which may indeed have been taken out of context,

certainly appeared to me to be an attempt by a CBS affiliate to slime candidate Miller.

I cannot for the life of me imagine what else it could have been and I eagerly await a fuller explanation.

[Tx4obama]

9. The explanation IS in the article link posted in the OP above.

In the article it says:

But here's the response from Bever, the general manager of KTVA:

"It's unfortunate that this recording has happened. It's unfortunate because it does not accurately reflect the journalistic standards of our newsroom and the garbled context will no doubt leave more questions than answers. The Miller campaign's analysis of the recording is incorrect in many material ways ranging from personnel involved in the conversation, the interpretation of conversation snippets and the reported transcript of the perceived garbled conversation.

"While the recording is real, the allegations are untrue. The recording was the result of a cell phone not being hung up after a call was placed to Randy DeSoto, Joe Miller campaign spokesperson, Thursday afternoon to discuss Joe Miller's appearance on that evening's newscast. That phone call was placed near the end of a coverage planning meeting in our newsroom regarding that evening's Miller rally in downtown Anchorage. The group of KTVA news personnel was reviewing potential "what-if" scenarios, discussing the likelihood of events at the rally and how KTVA might logistically disseminate any breaking news.

"The perception that this garbled, out of context recording may leave is unfortunate, but to allege that our staff was discussing or planning to create or fabricate stories regarding candidate Miller is absurd. The complete conversation was about what others might be able to do to cause disruption within the Miller campaign, not what KTVA could do."

[Flatulo]

11. Yes, I read it. Sounds like damage control to me.

I for one do not for a moment believe that only RW'ers are capable of slime.

[sulphurdunn]

21. What difference does it make?

it has nothing to do with policy issues. If it's true it amounts to nothing more than people BSing among themselves. However, the sheer brazen hypocrisy of Palin and her political poltroons never fails to amuse.

[Flatulo]

25. It's all a big nothing, but let's not bullshit ourselves here. A few

staffers were clearly discussing how much fun it would be to fuck with Miller.

[jonthebru]

10. I was disappointed after the Obama election...

that the Democratic Party didn't put the Repubs away. Instead they tried to "reach across the aisle" for bipartisanship. That worked out well didn't it?. I, of course, in my naive greenhorn political expert mode didn't think at all about two things. First Nature abhors a vacuum, second the vacuum could be filled with something much worse.

Well, as I see it today the Grandiose Obstructionist Potty is going to fail as we know it, but it looks like the fill in will be a vicious right-wing potty that will continue to push for the USA to become a theocratic state.
One thing you can count on, the teabagger candidates will either get with the program of "bringing home the bacon" or fail at their reelection. A really sickening trend is the Repubthugs who campaigned and voted against the stimulus while working to bring the cash home for local projects. Frickin' slimy crooks.

Pau now,

[24601]

14. Really reaching across the aisle means having their leadership

over for private talks. This doesn't appear to have happened until the election started shaping up this way. Other than the cab fare from the hill, such talks don't require massive resources and the TV cameras don't need to be there. The best I can figure is that the President figured, or was badly advised, that he didn't need them. It's far easier to obstruct when you're not invited into the Oval Office.

[bongbong]

16. Secret info

So you defined what "bi-partianship" was, and then set up a nice strawman.

"If he didn't have secret meetings, it isn't bipartianship!"

And you know he had, or didn't have, secret meetings ... how?

LOL

[24601]

27. Nice strawman yourself - can you find Waldo and point out in my

post the word Secret? It's not the same thing as private.

I stand by my position that the President would be in a stronger position if he had the minority leaders over January 25th and then monthly.

[bongbong]

31. Oh sorry!

Sorry for using the word "secret" instead of "private". I'm sure the MONSTROUS difference in those two words completely negated everything in my post.

Continue telling us how Obama could be more "bipartisan". Might your next suggestion be something like, oh, I don't know, maybe "Obama should just do whatever the repigs want him to do!"?

LOL x 2

[24601]

36. No, my apology, the fact you imply the question makes it clear that

you and I will never see eye to eye on it. Let's leave it at that.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

33. You are a curious fella.

I seem to remember several meetings between the President and the re-pig-lickins. Among the meetings I remember was the famous meeting where he wiped the floor with the regressive assholes. Or does that one not count because cameras were present?

Regardless of how you frame it, do you REALLY think things would been any different if Obama had asked nice? If so, you haven't been paying attention. With all the problems facing this country, Mitch McConnel says the number one priority of the pigs will be to defeat President Obama.

The modern republican party is made up of pigs and bullies. So are most of their supporters.

[Tx4obama]

13. From Media Matters ---->

Before hosting Breitbart, ABC must investigate his most recent claims

Late last week, ABC News came under fire for allowing discredited conservative Andrew Breitbart to participate in their election night coverage. (ABC later announced he would only appear online.)

Now Breitbart's websites are accusing an Alaska CBS affiliate of gross journalistic misconduct by alleging the station's assignment editor and reporters were "conspiring to set up some type of smear of Joe Miller," the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate seat in Alaska. The allegations stem from a partial voicemail recording posted on the site.

KTVA, the station in question, is denying the charges, saying, "the allegations are untrue." General Manager Jerry Bever said, "The complete conversation was about what others might be able to do to cause disruption within the Miller campaign, not what KTVA could do."

Breitbart, as you'll recall, has become infamous for promoting deceptively edited videos mercilessly smearing Shirley Sherrod as a racist and falsely accusing ACORN of aiding in child prostitution nationwide. And even when not releasing deceptively edited tapes, Breitbart has a long history of flat-out lying. ....

Full article here: http://mediamatters.org/blog/201010310010

[Flatulo]

15. Here's the transcript....

FEMALE REPORTER: That’s up to you because you're the expert, but that’s what I would do...I’d wait until you see who showed up because that indicates we already know something...



FEMALE REPORTER: Child molesters...

MALE REPORTER: Oh yeah... can you repeat Joe Miller’s...uh... list of people, campaign workers, which one's the molester?

FEMALE VOICE: We know that out of all the people that will show up tonight, at least one of them will be a registered sex offender.

MALE REPORTER: You have to find that one person...

FEMALE REPORTER: And the one thing we can do is ....we won’t know....we won’t know but if there is any sort of chaos whatsoever we can put out a twitter/facebook alert: saying what the... ‘Hey Joe Miller punched at rally.’

FEMALE REPORTER: Kinda like Rand Paul...I like that.

[Tx4obama]

17. You did not note the inaudible sections...

Here's the transcript posted on Joe Miller's website:

FEMALE REPORTER: That’s up to you because you're the expert, but that’s what I would
do...I’d wait until you see who showed up because that indicates we already know
something...

*Laughter*

*INAUDIBLE*

FEMALE REPORTER: Child molesters...

MALE REPORTER: Oh yeah... can you repeat Joe Miller’s...uh... list of people, campaign
workers, which one's the molester?

*INAUDIBLE*

FEMALE VOICE: We know that out of all the people that will show up tonight, at least one of
them will be a registered sex offender.

*Laughter*

MALE REPORTER: You have to find that one person...

*INAUDIBLE*

FEMALE REPORTER: And the one thing we can do is ....we won’t know....we won’t know but
if there is any sort of chaos whatsoever we can put out a twitter/facebook alert: saying what
the... ‘Hey Joe Miller punched at rally.’

FEMALE REPORTER: Kinda like Rand Paul...I like that.

*Laughter*

FEMALE REPORTER: That’s a good one.

[Flatulo]

18. So which part of the audible portions do you think could possibly

be taken as anything other than planning for a slime attack?

I'm genuinely puzzled by the confusion over this. Is it really that remarkable that two people out of six-billion could be conspiring to make an opposition candidate look bad?

[COLGATE4]

20. No more remarkable than the idea that Brietbart could edit

a tape in order to advance his story line

[Flatulo]

23. Did not KTVA state that the recording is real, but taken out of context?

That language is pretty clear to me. The words were spoken. I see no wiggle room here. Two employees of the affiliate were bullshitting about how much fun it would be to fuck up Miller's shit.

If you can't see this, I'm afraid that you're really dialing up the cognizant dissonance.

"While the recording is real, the allegations are untrue. The recording was the result of a cell phone not being hung up after a call was placed to Randy DeSoto, Joe Miller campaign spokesperson, Thursday afternoon to discuss Joe Miller's appearance on that evening's newscast. That phone call was placed near the end of a coverage planning meeting in our newsroom regarding that evening's Miller rally in downtown Anchorage. The group of KTVA news personnel was reviewing potential "what-if" scenarios, discussing the likelihood of events at the rally and how KTVA might logistically disseminate any breaking news.

"The perception that this garbled, out of context recording may leave is unfortunate, but to allege that our staff was discussing or planning to create or fabricate stories regarding candidate Miller is absurd. The complete conversation was about what others might be able to do to cause disruption within the Miller campaign, not what KTVA could do."

[No Elephants]

30. Plan? Conspiracy? Sounds like they were being sarcastic, period.

Amazing that any Democrat would be so outraged over a couple co-workers snarking over Republicon Grifter Miller.

[24601]

35. TV Stations have opponents? They have competitors, but aren't

they the other stations?

Or were you suggesting a campaign infiltrated a TV station?

Edited to add last question.

[quakerboy]

24. It sounds to me like

they researched Miller staffers and found one who happens to be a registered sex offender. Is that true? And if that is true, why is that not the story here?

[Jackpine Radical]

28. I don't think so.

My take on the whole thing is that they're speculating about what a Lee Atwater-type might do, and how they would cover it. Atwater-type might find a sex offender (probably could find one); what do we do about it? (I.e. what do we have to do to cover it? And then they get into a little flight of fancy, like people will often do as they clown around. God, I would hate for my every private, joking comment to come out in public!

[anachro1]

19. Breitbart

almost looks naked without a Nazi uniform.
He's the poster"boy" for their causes.

[JackRiddler]

22. How many free passes does this motherfucker get?

[fascisthunter]

34. seems very powerful people are watching his back

because nothing seems to happen to this piece of filth.

[Tx4obama]

26. Fox reporter: No evidence of bias against Joe Miller from CBS affiliate

Excerpt:

Despite Sarah Palin's accusations on Fox News Sunday that Alaska CBS affiliate KTVA "conspired to make up stories about Joe Miller", Dan Springer who is in Alaska reporting for Fox News told Megyn Kelly that he and his staff looked at some of KTVA's recent reporting and they could not find any obvious signs of bias or hit pieces against Joe Miller. Any time Andrew Breitbart is involved in another hit piece on the media, I'm going to be skeptical given his track record.

Full article and video here: http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/fox-reporter-no-evidence-bias-against-miller

[No Elephants]

29. Palin-Mrs. Molehill.Alaska