Idaho Public Television is pushing back against a legislator’s claims of tampering with the audio stream of Thursday’s school indoctrination task force meeting.
“There was nothing that happened behind the scenes to deliberately sabotage the meeting,” Jeff Tucker, Idaho Public TV’s director of content, wrote in a letter Friday to Rep. Priscilla Giddings, R-White Bird. “Our reputation depends on our level of service and we do all we can for everyone using the service.”
Giddings, the co-chair of Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin’s indoctrination task force, twice complained of audio tampering.
When audio glitches forced the committee to go on a brief recess a few minutes into the meeting, Giddings claimed, without providing evidence, that Idaho Public TV had sabotaged the audio feed.
Later in the meeting, Giddings said the audio had cut out in the middle of a presentation from task force member Isaac Moffett. Giddings again provided no evidence.
In his letter, Tucker said Idaho In Session, Idaho Public TV’s Statehouse streaming service, has no control over audio in Capitol meeting rooms.
“This is on purpose for cases of executive sessions, non-public meetings, etc.,” Tucker wrote. “We weren’t given and do not want control of audio from the room for these reasons.”
Tucker suggested that the earlier audio glitches might have occurred because Gididngs or McGeachin turned off the audio in the Statehouse’s Lincoln Auditorium. “When you both left the wall audio control the loop music started which means the room audio to (Idaho In Session) was turned off.”
Tucker said he reviewed the archive of Moffett’s presentation and could find no glitches.
Giddings has been at odds with Idaho Public TV in the past. Giddings has sought to defund the network, decrying what she considers leftist on-air programming.
The task force held its second meeting Thursday, to discuss claims of indoctrination in K-12 classrooms. It will meet July 22 to discuss higher education issues.
Disclosure: Kevin Richert is a frequent guest on Idaho Public Television’s “Idaho Reports,” and he has received stipends from Idaho Public Television for this work.
