Fox's Cameron: “We cannot verify” claim Fox's Palin made on Fox News Sunday

From the October 31 edition of Fox News' Happening Now:

Video file

CAMERON: This is a really remarkable story, and it's almost typical of what happens in the final few days of the campaign. Frankly, we're not exactly sure what the authenticity of this is and exactly what's at stake. But Sarah Palin, the Alaska former governor ... former vice presidential candidate, and somebody who has put a tremendous amount of effort in for Joe Miller in this US. Senate race up there and who has complained about the Anchorage and the Alaska media and what she refers to as the “lame stream media” too often trying to undo her when she was governor of Alaska and tamper with American electoral politics, weighed in on Fox News Sunday this morning. Let's start with Sarah Palin's take on this voicemail story.

PALIN: I am saying and we have it on tape that CBS reporters in the affiliate up there in Alaska on paper saying let's find a child molester in the crowd as a supporter for Joe Miller. Let's blast that. Let's concoct a Ron Paul moment there, let's find any kind of chaos so that we can tweet an alert saying “ooh, there is chaos, Joe Miller got punched or ...” That's sick. Those are corrupt bastards, Chris. That's what is wrong with the media today when they have their chosen one.

CAMERON: Very, very tough stuff from Sarah Palin. Again, this not coming from a political campaign but allegedly attributed to KTVA, the CBS affiliate in Anchorage, Alaska. We cannot verify that yet. I've called out to the station and I talked to one staffer. The staffer said that first, it was too early in the morning. It's 8:00 there now but it was about an hour ago that I spoke to them and the staffer said its too early in the morning. I said well listen, I was up late last night on Halloween. I'm not going to comment and gave me a number for the general manager. But we haven't gotten through for a reaction or comment. The allegation is that a TV reporter called up Randy DeSoto, who is the spokesman for the Miller campaign, left a message and then failed to hang up the cell phone and as a consequence, Randy DeSoto, the Miller campaign spokesperson's phone recorded a subsequent conversation that wasn't supposed to be recorded. Listen to this.

[...]

CAMERON: What we've been told is that upon listening to that, the Miller campaign actually called back KTVA and asked about it and received in response of a text message from one of the staffers who acknowledged that that was a mistake and that the cell phone didn't hang up. We have not been able to confirm it nor have we been able to listen to the entirety of the message before the conversation that wasn't supposed to be recorded. Again, this is not coming as far as we can tell from any particular campaign. This would appear to be reporters discussing a way of covering the story, noodling ideas and suggesting evidently apparently that they would go through the list of the guests or attendees at a Miller event, cross reference that hoping that a member of the public, a walk-in to listen to a political event might have in fact had a record as a sexual offender or a sexual predator.

Previously:

Media Matters' Brock Challenges Palin To Release Tapes