Who knew that reporters went into the field strategizing on how to cover the story when the inevitable pedophile emerges as a member of the campaign? Yeah, reporters are a cynical, jokey bunch, but KTVA still can’t explain away remarks caught on tape (you truly do have to live in an igloo to have missed this, but here is the run down) by reporters going to cover a Joe Miller rally.
The station says that the reporters were just preparing for any eventuality, not plotting to get the volunteer list and look for pedophiles, but it sounds to me that a somewhat more plausible explanation would have been that they were making sardonic jokes against a campaign they don’t like. The problem with this explanation is that it would also reveal bias.
Ben Smith of Politico has the affiliate’s press release:
“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.”
Like the garbled snippets, this speaks for itself.