FOX40 Statement RE: Comments Heard on Stream Following Sarah Palin Speech

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Some snarky and disparaging comments about Sarah Palin were heard on FOX40's live feed immediately after Gov. Palin concluded her speech at CSU Stanislaus Friday night. Two male voices were heard saying such things as:

“the dumbness is not just in the soundbites,”
“your gonna have a hard time making a story out of that”
“I will tell my conservative friends she is dumb”
“Just a series of quotes hung together”

Here's a statement from FOX40 (KTXL-TV) about those comments :

Thousands of people from California and around the world tuned in to FOX40.com to listen to a speech prepared by Sarah Palin Friday evening from the campus of California State University, Stanislaus. During that stream, several unfortunate events occurred that we hope to clear up through this statement.

First, FOX40 News was the only station streaming a live signal from CSU Stanislaus during Sarah Palin's presentation. Friday, we were told by officials organizing the speech that we were not permitted to beam a live signal direct from the dining hall where Sarah Palin was presenting; instead, we were offered the opportunity to aim a FOX40 camera at a projection screen inside a room for assembled media down the hall from where Sarah Palin was due to speak. We were cautioned by the organizers of the event that there was an ongoing audio situation. We were faced with two decisions -- to not carry a speech of local and national importance due to the low-quality methods we'd be forced to transmit, or to provide a signal by any means necessary. It was with the public interest in mind that we opted for the latter.

Second, following Sarah Palin's address from CSU Stanislaus, several reporters could be heard making comments about the speech that some viewers considered inappropriate and unprofessional. Day by day, television, newspaper and radio reporters are asked to cover stories involving mayhem and misery, and occasionally off-color comments slip out on-air and online. Honestly, it's happened on FOX40 News and on FOX40.com in the past during live presentations of news and events.

However, the comments overheard were made by reporters assembled from other newspaper and television outlets, and at no time was the voice of our photographer heard on the stream. It's very likely that those reporters and photographers were unaware, or simply forgot, that there was one television station with an open microphone broadcasting to the world. If you did not hear their comments, you can watch a portion of them here, captured by a viewer who was watching the FOX40.com live stream.

Additionally, it should be noted that FOX40 reporter Andria Borba was not in the room where our signal was broadcast, and the voices heard delivering color commentary at the end of Sarah Palin's speech were male.

Unfortunately, there's no way to immediately identify the photographers and reporters making commentary following Sarah Palin's speech, and it would be inappropriate for FOX40 News and FOX40.com to apologize on their behalf.

As always, our phone lines and e-mail inboxes are always open to comments and criticism. Our news director Brandon Mercer can be reached at Brandon.Mercer@FOX40.com, our acting general manager Mike Armstrong can be reached at Mike.Armstrong@FOX40.com and I can be reached at Matthew.Keys@FOX40.com.

Lest anyone doubt the leftist bent of the lamestream media, this is further evidence of it. Following closely on the heels of Weigelgate, this incident and the WaPo-Weigel farce clearly demonstrate that the media, whether it be national or local, can no longer pretend that there's any lack of bias. a recent Zogby Poll revealed that only eight (8) percent of Americans trust the traditional media. Is there any wonder why this is so?

- JP