The local station which live streamed the Palin speech has issued a complete statement regarding their review of the unprofessional and insulting comments made by technicians and others in the media room after the event. These remarks were picked up by Fox40’s live mic and live-streamed to the world. As you can tell by my original post, I’ve come to my conclusion about the source of those remarks. Fox40 has reviewed the same material and comes to a different conclusion. After the jump I’ve linked and posted their full statement.

Bottom line–Fox40 insists it wasn’t them. None of the reporters, technicians or anyone else in that media room were associated with Fox40. There is no apology and they do not identify those making the comments.

As I noted in my previous post, is it possible a university techie was manning that camera? Yes. But it looks like we have to come to own conclusion about to whom that techie was apologizing regarding the Fox40 feed going down. Again, is it possible it was a random reporter or producer not associated with Fox40? I suppose it is, unlikely, but possible. I believe Fox40 believe it wasn’t them. What I hear and see tells me otherwise.

I must also say I appreciate Brandon Mercer’s speed in responding, first on Twitter, then in an email to me. Ultimately, this is as concluded as it can be considering the circumstances. Whomever made the comments, I am sure, is aware of the response, and that also is important.

So, at this stage come to your own conclusion. Although there will be no apology I do think an important message has been sent to all parties–there are no more Free Shots at Sarah Palin. Not any more. And I think it’s also fair to say that this will be the last hot mic Fox40 ever allows.

A number of people have covered this. Here’s a few:

Ed Driscoll: Fox40 Covers Sarah Palin at Cal State, Forgets ‘All Mics are Hot’ Rule

Morrissey at Hot Air: Video: Palin speaks at CSU Stanislaus

Sister Toldjah: Fox40, Multiple journo-dudes slam Palin after CA speech (UPDATE 8: FOX40 RESPONDS TO ST)

The Raw Story: Fox affiliate unapologetic after mistakenly broadcasting reporters trashing Palin

Here is the *almost* complete video, which has the complete Palin speech (and the Fox40 camera being moved about by a technician when the feed drops during the speech), but does not include the complete Fox40 Feed, as it misses many of the hot mic comments after the fact. One of the relevant parts of the video is at 5:25 where the Fox40 feed drops where it seems to me someone is manning that camera and handling the Fox40 feed directly. (HT TheRightScoop)

Here is a separate video of the end of the Fox40 internet feed with the full comments at the end:

Fox40’s statement on the matter:

Statement Regarding Comments Overheard On FOX40.com Stream Following Sarah Palin Speech

By Matthew Keys & Brandon Mercer FOX40 News Online Media Producer & News Director

June 25, 2010
SACRAMENTO – 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, other reporters in the media overflow room were heard on our microphone, due to the unusual circumstances of how we managed to bring the live feed.

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 several hundred feet from where Sarah Palin was speaking. They would not allow us to get a direct feed of audio, so we had to hold a mic up to their speakers. Our choice was to not carry a speech of local and national importance due to the low-quality video and audio options, or to provide a signal by any means necessary. It was with the public interest in mind that we opted for the latter.

While our cameras pointed at the CSU screen, showing the CSU camera, several reporters for other stations walked in front of our camera. Also, again, since CSU did not offer us a direct audio feed, we had to put a microphone in front of their sound system. Other reporters were overheard on that, despite several warnings that we had a hot mic, and several thousand people watching.

Following Sarah Palin’s address from CSU Stanislaus, several reporters were again heard making comments about the speech that some viewers considered inappropriate and unprofessional.

The comments overheard were made by reporters assembled from other newspaper and television outlets, and at no time was the voice of our photographer or our reporter 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. She was across a courtyard, inside the actual event with Governor Palin. The voices heard delivering commentary after the speech were male.

Our photographer was also not in the room at the end of the speech. There was no cell phone service in the room, so he had to temporarily leave his camera on a tripod to walk outside and call our news director to ask how long to leave the feed up.

Also, during an earlier problem in the feed, you may have seen CSU techs trying to restart a projector that was providing the TV feed for our live feed, and for the rest of the media in the overflow room. They also do not work for us. Their camera inside, and their projector were out of our control. We merely chose to livestream what they were showing the media.

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 behalf of their organizations. Perhaps this is an opportunity to see what other media says when they don’t realize their near an open mic, so you can make informed decisions about which station’s reporters you want to tune in to each night.

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 [email protected], our acting general manager Mike Armstrong can be reached at [email protected] and I can be reached at [email protected].

This section is for comments from tammybruce.com's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that Tammy agrees with or endorses any particular comment just because she lets it stand.
8 Comments | Leave a comment
  1. […] involved. Do I believe them? I don’t know. As I said, until the guilty parties come forward. Tammy Bruce posted her reflections the day after. Also, check out Sissy Willis about the new media doing the work the […]

  2. Neox99 says:

    Tammy – Good job as usual.

    Amen! A M E N your comment ” . . . “there are no more Free Shots at Sarah Palin. Not any more.”

    Almost a year ago I received an email from her (before I had ever met her) she had forwarded to be from one of her uncles I know that had stated ‘. . . no one had better dare to say anything bad about you when Jim is around . . .’
    You betcha. My energy level in defending her today has grown exponentially since then. NO MAS related to bad-mouthing SP!

  3. Neox99 says:

    Regarding the Keys/Mercer statement:

    It was still their mic that was hot. It may not have been their employees making the comments but it was their responsibility to have cut the mic when the speech ended!

  4. […] Tammy Bruce writes: The local station which live streamed the Palin speech has issued a complete statement […]

  5. DSherrill says:

    Maybe I’m just being too simplistic, but if I were in charge of a TV station, and such a tasteless exchange, regardless of whether or not the participants were my employees or just contract labor, went out over my airwaves or over the internet via my live video feed, I would feel responsible and would apologize to the viewers and to whomever was being disparaged via that hot mic.

    This might be apples and oranges, but when Janet Jackson had her little “wardrobe malfunction” during the super bowl halftime show, CBS caught the most heat for it and apologized to their audience. Again, I just see the broadcaster as being as responsible as the perps in a situation like this. The perps certainly deserve whatever grief they receive, and should likewise apologize, but the broadcaster shouldn’t be allowed to disavow any responsibility.

    As Dennis Miller says, that’s my opinion, but I could be wrong.

  6. LJZumpano says:

    Lots of teachable moments here. One, hadn’t planned on tuning into the Palin speech, in fact I had forgotten about the “Bendy-Straw” Address she was asked to make until late in the day on Friday Added to that is the East/West coast time factor and it wasn’t a high priority. Then Tammy started tweeting about doing a pod cast, and other TAMS and Palin fans started getting into the groove and it was hard not to get caught up in the excitement.
    I, jaded person that I am, was truly impressed with the way the entire speech was tweeted out to the twitter -verse. Bad video and audio only forced you to focus even more on the content of Sarah’s speech. You really had to pay attention, and if you did, you were rewarded with a smorgasbord of reasons why Americans are exceptional. Those familiar with American history and civics, saw their beliefs reinforced, those still learning about the concept were given clear examples of why there is no other country like America and why Americans would find it difficult if they were forced to live somewhere else. Really, for all the people who would like to become Americans, how many Americans long for the opportunity to be citizens of any other nation?
    Twitter has been overloaded all week, the blame seems to be because of the interest in the World Cup, but it was very frustrating dealing with only partial access and slow refresh rates. Still, the entire speech went out and was retweeted within minutes, if not faster. The one time that seconds and not minutes were needed came via Tammy’s pod cast, which no one could hear, when she tried to confirm a phone number. By the time she sent the message, it was received and the confirming phone call could be made and acknowledged via Twitter, it seemed like hours. Listening to the pod cast, I laughed as I remembered the process, and realized while it took only minutes, radio dead time is not allowed and seconds were ticking for her. In the end, the station did get lots of phone calls, even as far away as New York and I am sure that inspite of their statement, they were slightly amazed that their audience was not hesitant about voicing the displeasure we had at the sloppy production. Their statement is plausible, if not satisfying, so I’ll not harp on it.
    More important is the fact that they were a small local station which had to agree to terms a larger outlet would not have tolerated, and because they did, we got our Sarah fix. One must assume they felt there was an audience out there or they would not have bothered, but I don’t think they expected a nationwide audience to be tuning in. They apparently didn’t even bother to have their own reporters on the spot for commentary. Lesson to the media: when Sarah speaks, people tune in. You don’t have to like her to understand that she is a draw and you are going to want to impress the folks with your ability to put on a professional production. Sarah always looks good, you have to work at it. The same advice for schools and other venues which are fortunate enough to have her as a speaker. If she asks for a bottle of water and a bendy straw, before you mock her consider that she is determining whether or not you are capable of paying attention to the small, but crucial details, like having a functioning audio system on hand. Years ago I recall a rock group who insisted a big bowl of M&Ms be placed in their dressing room, but all the green ones had to be removed. When asked about this ridiculous request they explained that there were many small but important details that were required for their performance. They couldn’t possibly check every one of them, but if the people responsible couldn’t handle the M&M test, they were afraid of what more important task had been left undone. The school wanted Sarah because they knew she would bring in the money. They should have been better prepared for her appearance.
    Lesson to the political world. You can not ignore Sarah. You can not stop her. When was the last time folks scampered to listen to Bill Clinton make a high priced speech at a conference or school? We know that Billy Jeff can turn it on and be inspiring, and draw a good crowd, but how many folks who are not directly tied to the event are going to bother to find a local outlet which might be live streaming it on the internet? How many will track down and call and complain to the station if snarky remarks are made after he finishes. I can’t think of anyone but Sarah who has that kind of following. Jake Tapper can snicker and tweet Sarah to come on his show, to expand her audience beyond Twitter and Facebook, but he knows it is his audience he is attempting increase through the invitation.
    Hope her family likes Lemon Merginue pie, because she has gotten more than her fair share of lemons and she makes them into fabulous pies. Her good humor is one of her best qualities and she has learned how to turn a negative into a positive. That requires real skill and understanding of self.
    Integrating newer technologies to those available in the past will be a real challenge in the coming elections. Nothing works better than door to door campaigning, greeting each voter individually, but where mass mailings, TV/Radio campaigns and rallies once were sought to compensate for the inability to do that, we now have new forums, like Twitter and Facebook. The Scott Brown campaign made effective use of technology to reach out across the country. Sarah understands how to use these new tools and is embracing this unmapped journey into the 2012 elections.
    We are all learning and a small college looking to raise big money showed us that no event need be insignificant. The ripples from that speech will continue to spread. Folks who dismissed twitter and facebook and the internet will be drawn to these new media as we share our experience with them. Candidates of good character will feel emboldened to run for public office when they realize that we have their backs. With people like Tammy and Sarah, we can all pool our talents, whatever they may be, and work together because that is what exceptional people do. And as Sarah said, Americans are exceptional, and we are Americans.

  7. DianeRoberts says:

    Would we expect anyone connected with the left and their lying leader to speak the truth? No,
    of course not. They are pathological, extremely paranoid and obviously programmed to think like a treasonous robot. They are incapable of understanding truth.

    They are not ‘free thinking individuals who have minds of their own.’ And, they can slam Palin until the cows come home.

    When the G.O.P. nominates Our Beloved Sarah for the Presidential race, she will win.

    And, President Palin will be an outstanding leader!

    American Patriots know the truth! And, Obama and his Anti-American agenda will fail. And, their lying a@@es WILL BE voted out. 🙂

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