Trayvon Martin Update: NBC Producer Out But Unnamed

NBC Producer Out But Unnamed

The NY Tmes breaks its Trayvon Martin silence long enough to report at one of their blogs that an unnamed NBC producer has been fired as a result of the doctored Zimmerman "He looks black" report.

The people with direct knowledge of the firing characterized the misleading edit as a mistake, not a purposeful act.

Per their legal advice, presumably. Well, Mr. Zimmerman can take some satisfaction in learning that NBC is now back to supporting "innocent until proven guilty". As for the Times, their first bylined report on this NBC debacle is "Good-bye". Anyone naive enough to rely on the Times for their news probably enjoys the fact that the biggest puzzles start on the front page, not with the crossword. And of course, we can easily rustle up devoted Times readers who sincerely believe in an unbiased media. Ignorance is bliss.

Possible name claimed here:

http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2012/04/06/wh ... epage=true

Trayvon Martin call was "mistake, not deliberate": NBC

(Reuters) - NBC News' decision to air an edited call from George Zimmerman to police in the moments before he shot Trayvon Martin was "a mistake and not a deliberate act to misrepresent the phone call," according to the president of the network's news division.

The edit in question, which aired on the network's flagship "Today" morning show last week, made it appear that Zimmerman told police that Martin was black without being prompted, when, in fact, the full tape reveals that the neighborhood watch captain only did so when responding to a question posed by a dispatcher.
...

Capus confirmed a previous Reuters report that an internal network investigation had determined that a producer made the editing error, and that the network's editorial controls - including senior broadcast producer oversight, script editors and often legal and standards department reviews of sensitive material to be broadcast - simply missed the selective editing of the phone call.
...

As part of the investigation, the producer who edited the call was questioned extensively about motivation, and it was determined that the person had cut the video clip down to meet a maximum time requirement for the length of the segment - a common pressure in morning television - and inadvertently edited the call in a way that proved misleading. ...

Purely an inadvertent mistake, you understand, -- right?

I await the hour until NBC 'edits', (for time constraints, natch) O'Bammy's next speech: "I am a Marxist-Leninist. And I will do everything in my power to destroy the United States, economically, militarily, and diplomatically ..."





(H/T to PJ Media)

Latest rumor is that no one has been fired. The unnamed producer in Miami is merely a cover story.

Latest rumor is that no one has been fired. The unnamed producer in Miami is merely a cover story.

They're between a rock and a hard place with this situation. If they don't name the guy, then it's just a cover story. If they do name him, someone will gun him down on the street.

Latest rumor is that no one has been fired. The unnamed producer in Miami is merely a cover story.

They're between a rock and a hard place with this situation. If they don't name the guy, then it's just a cover story. If they do name him, someone will gun him down on the street.

Really? I know NBC-Miami is competitive, but ...

The Big Double Standard

Some of you may be bothered by the fact that NBC News lied and is now lying about its lies in the George Zimmerman/Trayvon Martin case. As Breitbart.com reported while all the mainstream outlets except the Washington Post looked the other way, NBC News edited a tape of Zimmerman’s 911 call to make Zimmerman sound like a racist. A full description of the scurrilous edit is at the link.

When they were caught in their dishonesty, NBC News temporized. When they could no longer temporize, they scapegoated a single unnamed producer, firing him late on the Friday before Easter/Passover weekend so no one would notice. Then NBC News President Steve Capus released a statement to Reuters saying the deliberate editing of the tape to misrepresent the phone call was “a mistake and not a deliberate act to misrepresent the phone call.”

Some of you may read that statement and say to yourself, “Golly, Klavan on the Culture! How can Mr. Capus keep the word News in his title and not curl up in a ball of shame while tearing at his own flesh with his fingernails and begging God to forgive him for having sunk to depths of disingenuousness unimaginable to any real news person?” And some others of you may scratch your head and wonder, “Gee! How come Andrew Breitbart was accused of dishonesty and racism when he posted edited videos of Shirley Sherrod, even though he attached a post explaining the edited context?” After which, you might add, “Crikey! Didn’t Breitbart respond to the accusations by making every piece of material in the Sherrod case readily available online?” And you might go on to remark, “Holy Moly, whatever a Moly is! Isn’t it kind of unfair that when NBC News actually has been dishonest and racist — and when they’ve responded to being caught in their dishonest racism by being even more dishonest — the news media doesn’t accuse them of anything at all but merely puts their collective fingers in their collective ears and whistles Dixie?”

Latest rumor is that no one has been fired. The unnamed producer in Miami is merely a cover story.

Well somebody has to make some room under the bus ...

WTVJ Fires Reporter Jeff Burnside for Allegedly Editing Trayvon Martin 911 Tape

You won’t hear it anywhere else but here – insiders have told us WTVJ reporter Jeff Burnside was fired last Friday for allegedly editing the Trayvon Martin 911 tape, the same tape NBC aired on ‘Today’ in early April. Allegedly, his firing wasn’t announced internally and so far there is no information whether NBC made a conclusion if the edit was misleading on purpose or if it was an oversight.

The 911 tape from the night of Trayvon Martin’s shooting, as initially aired by NBC, eliminated a question from the 911 dispatcher to George Zimmerman about whether Trayvon was black, white or Hispanic.

What NBC aired was George Zimmerman saying ”This guy looks like he’s up to no good. He looks black.” ...

inciting hate-crimes and/or race-riots is illegal, isn't it?
deliberately breaking the public trust (in this case: licensed use of OUR air-waves) to spread deliberate and malicious misinformation is illegal, isn't it?

I want someone responsible for this to be strung up by the balls.

inciting hate-crimes and/or race-riots is illegal, isn't it?
deliberately breaking the public trust (in this case: licensed use of OUR air-waves) to spread deliberate and malicious misinformation is illegal, isn't it?

I want someone responsible for this to be strung up by the balls.

So they fired someone? Unnamed?

I have a little something I'd like to sell:

I've said it before, and will say it again: NBC News should lose its broadcasting license over this.

how does one bring suit over something like this?
how does one get the FCC to jump when a violation of this kind takes place?

Latest rumor is that no one has been fired. The unnamed producer in Miami is merely a cover story.

Well somebody has to make some room under the bus ...

WTVJ Fires Reporter Jeff Burnside for Allegedly Editing Trayvon Martin 911 Tape

You won’t hear it anywhere else but here – insiders have told us WTVJ reporter Jeff Burnside was fired last Friday for allegedly editing the Trayvon Martin 911 tape, the same tape NBC aired on ‘Today’ in early April. Allegedly, his firing wasn’t announced internally and so far there is no information whether NBC made a conclusion if the edit was misleading on purpose or if it was an oversight.

The 911 tape from the night of Trayvon Martin’s shooting, as initially aired by NBC, eliminated a question from the 911 dispatcher to George Zimmerman about whether Trayvon was black, white or Hispanic.

What NBC aired was George Zimmerman saying ”This guy looks like he’s up to no good. He looks black.” ...

I hadn't realized it, but WTVJ is the same affiliate where NBC banished Michele Gillen, the reporter involved in the exploding GM truck episode in '92:

Correspondent Michele Gillen, who reported the story on GM pickups, was demoted. "Michele Gillen is different," said an NBC statement about the firings. "Gillen raised concerns over problems related to the taped demonstration. The only question is to what extent."

She will leave "Dateline" and the network news operation to go to Miami as an anchorwoman at NBC's WTVJ-TV "as soon as she can relocate," according to NBC. She had been set to co-anchor another NBC newsmagazine to debut this summer, "Prime Story."

http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1993-03-23/features/1993082146_1_dateline-nbc-news-president-gm-pickup

NBC ought to consider another WitSec dumping ground...Albuquerque comes to mind...

Gillen later moved on to SeeBS, so it's nothing more than coincidence, but I find it interesting.