Posted on 11/02/2010 7:10:39 PM PDT by tobyhill
A pair of producers involved in the "Phonegate" scandal in Alaska have been fired.
The former employees of the CBS affiliate in Anchorage left an accidental voicemail for an aide to GOP Senate candidate Joe Miller, in which they joked about the possibility of reporting on the appearance of sex offenders at a Miller rally.
KTVA's General Manager released this statement on the station's web site:
"KTVA today released findings of its internal assessment of allegations that the "news director for CBS Anchorage affiliate KTVA, along with assignment editor Nick McDermott, and other reporters, openly discussed creating, if not fabricating, two stories about Republican nominee for U.S. Senate, Joe Miller," as alleged by the Miller campaign. KTVA states that its review included multiple staff interviews, a review of that day's actual news coverage and a forensic transcript of the recorded audio conversation.
General Manager Jerry Bever stated, "As we worked through this fact-finding process we noted that actual story assignments for that day had already been decided before the recorded conversation took place. At no time did any of the elements associated with the recorded comments become part of any coverage or broadcast. The recorded conversation in question specifically involved how that evening's Miller rally might be promoted and the ensuing dialogue went down hill from there. These particular comments were not in line with KTVA standards."
Read more: http://politics.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/11/02/producers-involved-alaska-phonegate-fired#ixzz14BFXr738
(Excerpt) Read more at politics.blogs.foxnews.com ...
Bump .....
I filed a complaint with the FCC, and sent a copy to KTVA's general manager. I suspect that I wasn't the only one.
That statement does seem to accurately reflect what was captured. Newsroom banter often “goes downhill”...and often with more conservative personalities being the target of the worst commentary.
They’ll probably get sympathetic treatment on MSNBC.
So, please someone, please post the reporters names. I would like to archive them in my Dan Rather file so I am never sucked in by fraudsters again. Thank you.
I can tell you they got a least one call from New Mexico!
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