In response to a Big Government story broken on October 30th, which exposed CBS affiliate KTVA employees conspiring as to how to potentially damage the campaign of Republican Senate candidate, Joe Miller, KTVA has announced the firing of two producers.
Local CBS affiliate KTVA announced Tuesday afternoon via press release (.doc) that two producers are no longer with the station as a result of an accidental voice recording which captured newsroom staff discussing coverage plans for Joe Miller rally last Thursday.
“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 downhill from there. These particular comments were not in line with KTVA standards,” states KTVA General Manager Jerry Bever in the press release.
That isn’t what KTVA’s Bever claimed when the story first broke. His response was characterized as both absurd and a lie by some, while outlets such as Politico and the Washington Post published it seemingly without question.
The complete conversation was about what others might be able to do to cause disruption within the Miller campaign, not what KTVA could do.
The Miller campaign stood its ground and Big Journalism dug in, as well. Now, as a result, we can add one more “W” to the good guy’s column on this election day, 2010.