Alaska Politics Blog : The interview that won't die

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Contributors

Sean Cockerham

Sean Cockerham writes about Alaska state politics. He's worked for the ADN in Anchorage and Juneau, covered the legislature for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, and covered Washington state politics for the Tacoma News Tribune. E-mail Sean at scockerham@adn.com

Kyle Hopkins

Kyle Hopkins covers rural affairs, general assignments and politics for the ADN. He covered the 2006 campaign for governor, has blogged extensively about Alaska politics, covered Anchorage city government and was a reporter based in the Mat-Su. He grew up in Southeast Alaska and previously wrote for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner and Anchorage Press. E-mail Kyle at khopkins@adn.com and also find him on our rural Alaska blog, The Village.

David Hulen

David Hulen, the ADN's state and local news editor, is responsible for political coverage. He has been an editor and reporter at the ADN for more than 20 years. E-mail David at dhulen@adn.com

Features

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Alaska political corruption

When the FBI raided state legislature offices in Aug. 2006, it publicly launched an investigation that ultimately reached the highest levels of Alaska politics, and continues to this day.

The interview that won't die

Posted by Alaska_Politics

Anchorage Daily News

Posted: November 25, 2008 - 2:21 pm

From Sean Cockerham in Anchorage --

Sarah Palin's turkey interview has become - as the political blog Wonkette put it -- an "oddly endurant" story.

That guy who was killing the turkeys in the background of Palin's interview, Brian Tomes, is on the TV show Inside Edition today, saying he was just doing his job and "things happen."

The YouTube clip is now up to 2.5 million hits.

Palin says she was unaware the slaughter was going on behind her during the interview. KTUU's chief photographer, Scott Jensen, shot the footage. He thought Palin was fine with the imagery.

Jensen said Palin chose the spot and he asked if the background was OK.

"From my best recollection I said to her, 'Governor, are you aware of what's going on behind you? Is this background OK with you?' I didn't specifically tell her 'turkeys are being killed,' " Jensen told me. "This is why I feel it's within the realm of possibility that she really didn't know."

There's dispute over exactly when the turkey killing began. Jensen said he thought it obvious what was going on and recalls workers processing turkeys before the interview started. The governor's office maintains it didn't happen until later.

Jensen said Kris Perry, the governor's friend and head of her Anchorage office, nudged him during the interview and said something about how she couldn't believe he was recording the scene. Afterward she asked him to edit out the background.

Jensen said he made no promises and feels that, as a journalist, it's not his job to sanitize the scene for the governor's office. He agrees with KTUU's decision to pull the shot from its broadcasts after the 5 p.m. broadcast, though, saying it didn't fit with the context of the story, which was a feature on Palin pardoning a turkey before Thanksgiving.

UPDATE -- If there's actually anyone out there who hasn't seen this interview footage, check it out here. The unedited KTUU interview is the second video as you scroll down the post.