When a politician attacked a journalist on election eve in Montana May 24, stations across the country played the audio recording the reporter made while he was being "body-slammed," choked, and punched. But at least one station, NBC Montana affiliate KECI, refused to play the recording. Instead, the station, with a parent company recently bought by the conservative Sinclair Broadcast Group, released this statement: "NBC Montana takes pride in reporting only verifiable facts from independent reliable sources, officials and documents, regardless of what is reported by other media outlets. The only verifiable facts are what is being stated by the Gallatin County sheriff at this time." But Fox reporters in the room during the attack confirmed the journalist's account and explained the context of the audio recording. The audio recording, at that point in the story, was a verifiable fact. Tamy Wagner, KECI vice president and general manager, disagrees, telling the Huffington Post in an email that the station, “did not have specific instructions or any instruction from Sinclair,” in its handing of the story. “We do not put unverified information and audio tapes on the air in any case, political figure or not,” Wagner said.