NBC Apologizes For Editing Zimmerman 911 Call

Hugh Pickens writes "The Washington Post reports that NBC has completed its investigation into the Today show's mishandling of the police dispatcher's conversation with George Zimmerman in the Trayvon Martin case with a finding of error, plus an apology. The apology addresses the show's failure to accurately abridge the conversation between Zimmerman and the dispatcher in this high-profile case. This is how the program portrayed a segment of that conversation: Zimmerman: 'This guy looks like he's up to no good. He looks black' Here what was actually said: Zimmerman: 'This guy looks like he's up to no good. Or he's on drugs or something. It's raining and he's just walking around, looking about.' Dispatcher: 'OK, and this guy — is he black, white or Hispanic?' Zimmerman: 'He looks black.' In an appearance on Fox News's Hannity, Brent Bozell, president of the conservative Media Research Center, called this omission on the part of Today an 'all-out falsehood' — not just a distortion or misrepresentation. 'On the good front, [NBC] acknowledges the mistake and apologizes to viewers for the bad editing. It's a forthright correction and spares us any excuses about the faulty portrayal. On the bad front, the statement is skimpy on the details on just how the mistake unfolded,' writes Erik Wemple. 'In light of all that's happened, Zimmerman may be a tough person for a news network to apologize to, but that's just the point: Apologies are hard.'"

Comments

Error My Ass

[Anonymous Coward]

Some stupid moron in the editing room or a producer did it on purpose. At least they didn't strap a bomb to him and blow him up like they did the cars.

Re:Error My Ass

[sycodon]

On the other hand, there is always a kernel of truth in their rantings.

To think that this very specific editing was an accident is a fools errand. Especially in light of NBCs previous, Ends Justifies the Means reporting tactics.

Re:Error My Ass

[Anonymous Coward]

he didn't start the fight.. according to him and corroborated by witnesses, he was walking back to his car when trayvon confronted him and attacked him. all the evidence points to trayvon being the aggressor.

also, everyone keeps calling trayvon an unarmed child, but when a 160+ pound man -- and a 17 year old is a man -- is sitting on top of you smashing your head into the pavement, that's deadly force and it's entirely appropriate to respond in kind.

also your name is entirely apropos.

Re:Error My Ass

[Artraze]

> Zimmerman is still a murderer, though.

I'm not going to defend the man, but don't you think it's just a _little_ ironic that you would state that with certainty in a story about how the "facts" we get can be so blatantly distorted? There are reasons for presumed innocence and a formal trial, and this is one of them.

Re:Error My Ass

[medcalf]

Zimmerman is admittedly a killer. It still is unclear whether he is a murderer.

Re:Error My Ass

[Anonymous Coward]

It's amazing that despite the fact that the media has intentionally and willfully distorted the facts surrounding this case there are still people who stand by their ill-informed decision to immediately convict the suspect.

The presumption of innocence is extremely important, and it's frightening that everyone is so quick to throw that concept out of the window. Even commenters here on Slashdot are doing it.

Re:Error My Ass

[TheCarp]

True though... seeing the whole quote doesn't help much in my mind. Walking around aimlessly? Really? thats why you called 911? Because a guy is walking around aimlessly?

Fuck... I would hate to have lived anywhere near this guy when I was younger and used to, from time to time, just go for an aimless walk through the city in the middle of the night. Even if he was high...so fucking what.

Ok hes may not be openly racist per se.... but he is clearly LOOKING to cause trouble for someone. Whatever happened, there is no doubt in my mind that he, at least, instigated it.

Re:Error My Ass

[crazyjj]

It's pretty clear NBC and many other media outlets constructed a narrative almost from the get-go of what happened, long before they even heard Zimmerman's side of the story. All the evidence was made to fit that narrative, a series of people who knew nothing about the case were paraded out to express outrage, and they basically found him guilty in the court of public opinion without even holding a trial. To get their ratings, they put this guy's life (and the lives of his family) in danger and threw gasoline on the fire of racial tension that already exists around these cases.

They should apologize for a LOT more than just a little selective editing of one tape.

Re:Error My Ass

[sycodon]

I seem to remember that there is a legal principal that states if you initiate a chain of events that results in harm to someone, then you can be held liable, criminally or civilly. Clearly, Zimmerman getting out of the car is what started this chain of events.

I won't say he's a murder or not...not my call...that's for a jury.

Re:Error My Ass

[ShanghaiBill]

also, everyone keeps calling trayvon an unarmed child, but when a 160+ pound man -- and a 17 year old is a man ...

People assume he is a child because of ... more media bias. Despite the fact that he was 17, nearly every media source used a five year old picture of him when he was twelve.

Re:Error My Ass

[Anonymous Coward]

From what I have heard, that area is know for a HIGH crime rate. Also, if you have ever seen people on Bath Salts, Meth, Etc. they tend to look disoriented, and unaware of their surroundings.

Re:Error My Ass

[atriusofbricia]

I agree. This is an inexcusable instance of media bias, a plain example of stripping context out of a story for spin.

Zimmerman is still a murderer, though. You don't get to claim self defense when you started the fight. If you hunt down and kill an unarmed child, you can expect to be tried for murder.

I'm compelled to point out that the idea that he started the fight, correct or not, came from the exact same media sources that just blatantly skewed a story in a rather extreme way for reasons not entirely known. As such, you may wish to consider before you declare someone is a murder based on the information put out by those exact same sources, no?

Re:Error My Ass

[Anonymous Coward]

By that logic, Martin initiated the events by walking back from the convenience store. Watching your property for strangers who might be out to steal from you and calling 911 from a discreet distance when someone who you do not recognize is wandering around at night around your home is not a provocation to a physical attack. Appearances are that Martin did physically attack Zimmerman and paid with his life. The fact that he was not armed which is being trotted out as proof that he was not a threat is irrelevant when someone is beating your head against the ground.

Re:Error My Ass

[atriusofbricia]

also, everyone keeps calling trayvon an unarmed child, but when a 160+ pound man -- and a 17 year old is a man ...

People assume he is a child because of ... more media bias. Despite the fact that he was 17, nearly every media source used a five year old picture of him when he was twelve.

Precisely. There is exactly dick for reliable information on this story. Practically everything that has been put out by the mainstream media, a phrase I'm reluctant to use, has been heavily spun in a particular direction ever since the story went national. It has been an extremely consistent, dare I say blatant, narrative that has been drilled in regardless of any facts or information available later. This picture thing is yet another example of it in addition to the subject of this thread.

Re:Error My Ass

[slew]

IANAL, but look up "intervening cause". Just because you start a chain of event, if there is any intervening cause that can be attributed to the harm, you are generally off the hook. Of course if you could have predicted the intervening cause, then maybe not.

In this case, the advanced intervening cause may be what the details of the altercation were. If this is the determination, then it is irrelevent if Zimmerman got out of his car or not, and only the details of the altercation.

Re:Error My Ass

[SomePgmr]

Controversy sells.

It's despicable, but the media has gleefully milked this story for far more than it's worth.

And it happens at the expense of us all, who sit here getting nasty with each other over conflicting stories, false information, unfounded accusations, etc. Objectively, we know very little of what we'd need to know to have good, rational opinions.

I think we're normally more reasonable than this, and we've been had. Again.

Re:Error My Ass

[Psion]

Bullshit. Presumption of innocence is a specialized case of rational, scientific thought. Until a claim is proven, it is irrational to make a decision about that claim.

Re:Error My Ass

[SillyHamster]

1.) Zimmerman gets out of car

2.) ???

3.) Trayvon knocks down Zimmerman and pummels him in the face

4.) Zimmerman shoots and kills Trayvon

I think what happened in (2) is a lot more important than (1) for deciding who initiated the chain of events.

If all Zimmerman did was to ask a question, there's no way that Trayvon was justified to do (3). If Zimmerman threatened Trayvon verbally/physically, then perhaps Trayvon was trying to act in self-defense. (If Trayvon did not initiate the violence, it seems that he should want to run away, but people can make bad choices in high stress situations)

Re:Error My Ass

[jxander]

Watching your property for strangers who might be out to steal from you and calling 911 from a discreet distance when someone who you do not recognize is wandering around at night around your home is not a provocation to a physical attack.

Good job failing to grasp the situation, or willfully misrepresenting the facts.

You don't happen to work for NBC do you?

No one finds fault with Zimmerman for the actions you mentioned. Calling 911, keeping an eye on someone... all fine and dandy. Harmless, if a bit paranoid. What people take umbrage with is Zimmerman leaving his vehicle and actively pursuing someone while armed.

Let that roll around in your head for a bit. Zimmerman grabbed his gun, jumped out of his car, and chased down a random stranger who was just walking down the street. Who, in that scenario, has the right to Stand Their Ground? Until hard evidence proves otherwise, my sympathies lie with the random stranger. Any damage inflicted upon the gun-toting aggressor (up to and including death) is justified self defense in my eyes, and any damage inflicted upon the random stranger is grounds for arrest.

Re:Error My Ass

[Belial6]

What we see here is two separate issues being lumped into one. On the one hand, you have the shooting. It doesn't sound good for Zimmerman, but then what I have heard about it came from the media. I don't have the facts at this time to make a decision about what happened. I also have not followed the story very closely.

On the other hand, you have the completely separate issue where NBC is performing racist reporting with the clear intent of inciting racial conflict. What NBC reports doesn't change the facts of the shooting. The shooting doesn't change the fact that NBC is a race baiting news organization.

Re:Error My Ass

[jxander]

You and me both. Calling the cops is the correct answer

But the real question then becomes what you would do after you called the cops. Would you wait for the cops to arrive? Or would you grab a gun, chase down a random stranger, and kill him?

Re:Error My Ass

[NeutronCowboy]

Where the hell do you get DNA from? And for someone who says "let the facts play out", you seem awfully sure that Zimmerman did indeed act in self-defense.

Here are the only things that are actually known at this point:
* Zimmerman identified someone walking in his neighborhood as enough of a risk to call 911.
* Zimmerman follows said person.
* Zimmerman and Martin get into an altercation.
* Zimmerman shoots Martin.
* EMT releases Zimmerman after an on-site inspection.
* Police does not investigate issue.

Here are the things that point at Martin being suspicious enough to get Zimmerman to make a 911 call and and follow Martin:
* He is young
* He is black
* He is wearing a hoodie
* He is walking in a gated community
* He is carrying a can.

Here's what the police and the DA didn't deem suspicious enough to investigate the matter further:
* Zimmerman shot Martin out in the open, on a semi-private road. The only witness is Zimmerman. There is reason to believe that Zimmerman might have instigated the confrontation.

Yes, please, let the police and the DA do their work - but for god's sake, they need to be doing their work. They're not. That's the real issue here, not whether Zimmerman is an overly aggressive cop-wannabe who thinks shooting black kids is the way to solve his crime problem.

Re:Error My Ass

[cpu6502]

>>>Zimmerman's race is irrelevant

Then why does Obama, MicrosoftNBC, Al Sharpton, and other keep calling him "white" if the race is irrelevant? Clearly they are distorting the facts. (He's hispanic not white. He's a minority.) Spike Lee even went so far as to publish the guy's address on twitter and instruct people to "attack that honkey" (slang for white person). Clearly the race IS relevant, else they'd not keep saying "white man" every fucking time.

Re:Error My Ass

[Mabhatter]

Except for the part where the police told Zimmerman to observe and not interfere. He had already called the cops for the kid being "suspicious" but doesn't seem to have stated ANY ACTUAL LAW that would justify the police driving over.

I still haven't heard any argument that the suspect THREATENED any person (protecting property does not count as self defense) PRIOR to Zimmerman confronting him... Again, after the police told him NOT to cause a confrontation. And it wasn't even "his" property, it was the STREET where the incident occurred.

this is the trouble with the "stand your ground" laws. They basically mean you can start a fight as long as the other person is mad enough, then you can shoot them. The kid was a minor, and no weapons were reported. The man had an SUV and a handgun... Calling a fistfight "self defense" is a stretch at best. But the law TAKES AWAY the prosecutors ability to ask. This would be murder in many states without that silly law...

Re:Error My Ass

[noh8rz3]

Actually, here's the chain of events:

1.) Zimmerman gets out of car

2.) no witnesses as to what happened

3.) Zimmerman shoots and kills Trayvon

that's the problem with the Shoot First law - you only have one story, from the shooter. Given this limitation, i'd say that (1) is the proximate coause.

Re:Error My Ass

[NeutronCowboy]

Except it has been reported by many eyewitnesses that he did not in fact chase him down, but was himself chased, and then beaten

Pics - I mean, link, or GTFO. The only person I've so far heard advancing this version of the events is Zimmerman.

Re:Error My Ass

[Anonymous Coward]

Zimmerman grabbed his gun, jumped out of his car

If he's like me and many other concealed carriers, the gun was already on his person, and if he got out of the car it automatically came with him, without his requiring another action.

The way you paint the picture makes it sound premeditated, and there's no real evidence that's the way it happened.

Re:Error My Ass

[saider]

I think you are making the assumption that because a community is gated that it is somehow immune from crime and the surrounding neighborhoods.

Re:Error My Ass

[hey!]

It's confirmation bias. When something horrible like this happens, we want a reassuring explanation, and when we settle on one we filter the information we receive and *re-transmit* to shore up that explanation. This applies to people whether they're liberal or conservative.

The thing about this phenomenon is that you don't need to *intend* to put your finger on the scales of truth to actually do it. Well meaning people twist the truth all the time.

Re:Error My Ass

[Attila Dimedici]

Except that the current evidence is that Zimmerman didn't "grab his gun", he was carrying it to begin with. He did not "chase down a random stranger who was just walking down the street". He followed a stranger randomly wandering down the street, in the rain, at an early morning hour, in a gated community that had had a rash of burglaries and at least one home invasion in the recent past (a community where Zimmerman knew most of the residents, but did not know this person). This is where it becomes speculation and/or ambiguous. Zimmerman claims that after the 911 dispatcher told him that they did not need him to follow Martin he returned to his vehicle to await the arrival of the police and that Martin confronted and then attacked him as he got back to his vehicle. There are witness accounts that support Zimmerman's account. However, I have not seen any reports on where Zimmerman was in relation to his vehicle when the police did arrive on the scene. That is the key question. If Zimmerman returned to his truck and Martin followed him there and attacked him, the nature of the situation is completely different than if Zimmerman was following Martin and Martin turned on him attacked him (Martin possibly thinking that he was in danger). I do not have enough information to know which scenario more closely fits the facts (although I am inclined to lean toward believing the former considering the extent to which various news organizations distorted the facts from the beginning. If the story could readily be made to look bad for Zimmerman from the actual facts, why distort the facts to make him look bad?).

Re:Error My Ass

[Deep Esophagus]

Then either the witnesses are lying or the source of the passive voice "it has been reported" is lying. People living nearbyheard cries through their open window prior to the gunshot, but did nto see anything. They believe, without any actual evidence, that it was Martin who was in distress. Martin's girlfriend can only provide hearsay evidence of what she claims she heard over the phone. Zimmerman's friend Joe Oliver can only report what Zimmerman told him -- more hearsay. One eyewitness said from the start it was too dark to tell who was assaulting whom, and the kid who originally said he saw Martin on top has recanted that statement, claiming he was pressured by the police to alter his report.

I don't know what to believe, but given Zimmerman's past history of unprovoked violence I'm not inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt. If nothing else comes of this, it's an excellent example of how that SYG law allows for insane vigilante warfare, making the streets more, not less, dangerous.

Re:Error My Ass

[malilo]

So... you're saying your racist? How exactly would that call go... I saw a black man, he must be guilty of something? Are you capable of self-examination here?

Re:Error My Ass

[Moheeheeko]

So if somone who looks jsut like the description of someone who robbed your neighbors house is now walking in your neighborhood, and appears to be casing houses, you would just let him walk on by, for fear of being called racist? Sure ok.

Re:Error My Ass

[gatkinso]

In pre-fat ass America, that size was considered on the thin side of normal.

Re:Error My Ass

[jxander]

All very possible, and I do not profess to know the exact details of what happened that night.

What I do know for sure is this: someone lost his life, with a LOT of questions surrounding the situation, and neither judge nor jury has been given a say in the matter. Evidence has never been presented, a case has not been made by either side in any courts, except the court of public opinion. His innocence was determined in backroom dealings between his father (a former Judge) and the local police, and his guilt has been determined my the mob with assistance from terrible sensationalist media skewing the facts.

That's my biggest issue here. We stand no chance of knowing what actually happened here until due process is carried out, and right now, it looks like that's not going to happen.

Re:who cares

[QuantumPion]

Zimmerman and his parents probably care that they were libeled on national TV in an attempt to rile a mob to literally murder them.

Give the People What They Want

[eldavojohn]

It's raining and he's just walking around, looking about.

Guilty guilty GUILTY! A thousand counts of guilty for ... um ... being bored in public? "I demanded he present his papers and pointed out that any self-respecting member of the proletariat would not lethargically meander about and instead optimize his steps in an effort to better serve his comrades."

And NBC? Why, they were giving you the best news money can buy. You wanted George Zimmerman to be super guilty, super racist and super scumbag and that's what they kindly provided you. Your eyeballs and mouse clicks lead NBC to place money over justice or facts (the true Capitalists that we all are). SO either stop watching them or just forgive them for entertaining you a little too well. A young man was killed by some power-tripping neighborhood watch? We can easily incite a race war with our reporting, you say? NBC sees dollar signs! Just a touch of editing and ... look at those servers cook!

Normally I would feel unqualified to make any comments on this case unfortunately it's unclear if this will ever be brought before an actual court so this might end up being the only thing done -- mock trials in the worst format of all: the 24 hour news cycle.

Re:Give the People What They Want

[Anonymous Coward]

Guilty guilty GUILTY! A thousand counts of guilty for ... um ... being bored in public? "I demanded he present his papers and pointed out that any self-respecting member of the proletariat would not lethargically meander about and instead optimize his steps in an effort to better serve his comrades."

I guess you live in one of those real gated communities (i.e. rich white suburbs too far from the bus stop for the lower class to get to) that never has to worry about burglaries. There is a reason why Zimmerman was a neighborhood watchman - their neighborhood had been suffering many break-ins and was a high crime area. If you live in a high crime area and notice someone that doesn't live there is walking around from house to house in the daytime you'd be suspicious too.

Re:This IS NOT NEWS FOR NERDS

[Myopic]

I think you have improperly equated "news for nerds" with "nerdy news".

I'm a nerd. This interests me. Therefore this is news for nerds. Get off your high horse.

Why so hung up on a race?

[Balial]

An unarmed kid is dead because someone with a gun pursued and shot him. The ethnicity of the two parties is irrelevant. The shooter should be on trial for murder.

Re:Why so hung up on a race?

[SaroDarksbane]

My fixed version: An unarmed person was shot during an altercation, and the facts relevant to determining who initiated the fight are still unknown. The ethnicity of the two parties is irrelevant. The shooter should be on trial for murder if there is probable cause to believe he was the one who started the fight.

Re:Why so hung up on a race?

[poity]

The shooter should be on trial for murder if there is probable cause to believe he was the one who started the fight.

The shooter should be registered with the police and given notice that an investigation is under way, and should a strong enough case be built against him, be charged and brought to trial.

Probable cause is enough initiate searches and investigations, but not enough to keep a person under arrest or to bring him to trial. It's so very strange that the often pro civil liberty slashdot is suddenly in favor of police and government overreach.

Wakeup call to those who only hound Fox "News"

[RyoShin]

This just goes to show you that Fox News is not the only one who will happily edit or take out of context something they feel will boost their ratings or meet their internal bias/views. It's why I've stopped watching/reading all mainstream news. I just occasionally glance at "smaller"news sites and browse /. (though most /. summaries also twist the facts to meet the submitter/editor's own bias/views, but the topics are generally more interesting to me.)

Considering the weight we put on our Jury system, this kind of reporting should actually come with heavy penalties. AFAIK, Zimmerman has yet to go to trial (if ever), and reporting like this will only improperly skew the potential jury pool one way or another. And because many Americans still trust "news" (be it Fox News or NBC or CNN), they will take things like this as absolute fact; a correction never gets as much time or weight as the original story, so they're far more likely to miss that. This American Life's correction a few weeks back was the proper way to go about it, and that's likely a millennial event. And I'm too lazy to look it up, but a few months back there was a report on /. that even after someone is told that a previously stated "fact" was actually a mistake or outright lie, an alarming portion of people still hold the previous "mistruth" as fact.

Furthermore, an incident like this actually helps Zimmerman--there's plenty of evidence, circumstantial or otherwise, to lob against this guy, so when you go out of your way to make up or twist such things it only lends credence to the idea that the guy isn't as bad as he seems.

Re:This IS NOT NEWS FOR NERDS

[XxtraLarGe]

Editors stay in your lane. There is nothing relevant in this case to tech, or nerd issues.

Manipulation of recorded data by a major media outlet to change peoples' perception is not relevant to tech?

Re:Mistake my ass

[vlm]

That might be overthinking it a bit. Lets try to figure out what the "today show" is. Is it carefully calibrated propaganda, or just irrelevant chewing gum for the mind?

Lets look at their website to see how they show themselves to the world... "Trayvon's parents to lead nighttime rally in Miami " "And the most huggable TODAY anchor is." "5 confessions of a ‘Scary Mommy’ " "Beard shares struggle to be ‘beautiful, thin and perfect’ " "Why is Savannah barefoot at the news desk? " "Kate and William wax figures unveiled at Madame Tussauds" "Hey, girl, watch out for that taxi! Gosling to the rescue ""Too-beautiful British writer: ‘The bile proves my point’ " "Matt to Ryan Seacrest: Are you taking my job?" "Has Obama locked up the Trekkie vote? " "Mom recounts saving daughters from ‘terrifying’ tornado "Where to buy Kate and Pippa Middleton's favorite jeans " "‘Reunion’s’ Levy: ‘I’m tired of being a sex symbol’ "Seeing double: Celebrities get the wax treatment "

I think a detailed analysis indicates its basically all crap... chewing gum for the mind... meaningless trivialities. Mostly "human interest stories" and "celebrity gossip". Good to hear that I'm not missing anything... according to ratings I'm part of the 99% of the population that doesn't watch that kind of trash.

Considering that only around 1% of the population watches, its probably not the ideal vehicle to propagandize to the masses.

I would imagine a show like this occasionally F-s up a lasanga recipe or mis-pronounces a TV stars name, and no one cares, its just that for once they covered something I'm told I should care about, and they were not used to the higher standard required for the scrutiny. My guess is the managers who put the B-team in charge of an A-team task will get off free by throwing their employees under the bus. Clear case of mis-management. If they had stuck to celebrity gossip, a normal screwup would have been OK and unnoticed.

television news networks

[nimbius]

dont exist to inform viewers of current events in a timely and accurate manner as part of their FCC mandate to offer the public a general good. Commercial television networks offer a news program to sell advertising air-time by finding stories and topics that revolve around easily exploitable human emotions. The abuse of context and deliberate indulgence with which networks engage in editorializing a story to the point of satire should be all the proof you need.

This isnt an NBC, CNN, FOX or ABC problem, its a problem with formerly independent news sources suddenly being treated as some sort of cash-cow revenue component of a television stations earnings, instead of a service offered to people without cost, as the FCC license intended.

get the sponsorship out of television news entirely. it should be unbiased objective reporting that sounds like C-SPAN and repeats itself every 30 minutes to an hour and holds itself accountable to some sort of law that requires truthfulness in journalism. The kind of standard that explicitly keeps fox out of canada.

Re:it is impossible to remove bias from media

[SaroDarksbane]

Everyone is biased, but not everyone is a liar.

"NBC" didn't do anything

[darth dickinson]

This article refers to things that NBC decided, did, or said regarding their outrageous editing of George Zimmerman's 911 call.

But NBC exists only in a legal sense. It has no brain. It makes no decisions. And it's really incapable of giving a rat's ass about criticisms it might receive from the right of the political spectrum.

The things that NBC "says" or "does" are really said or done by the people who work, mostly anonymously, inside the protective bubble we refer to as NBC.

We're not permitted to know which of those people made the "error" in question. But we know who is the one ultimately responsible for it.

That would be Steve Capus, the president of NBC news. As the top guy, he is ultimately responsible for everything NBC "says" or "does".

And now, Steve Capus is responsible for the whitewashing of this "error."

Steve Capus must be held accountable for this travesty that happened on his watch. Steve Capus must step down as the president of NBC News.

Every post about this issue should frame it as what it really is: Malicious malpractice, committed and covered up by Steve Capus.

Judicious Editing

[TheNinjaroach]

That's a very serious misrepresentation of the phone call. NBC obviously did this to rile up viewers and try to create the story (and central character) to be larger than life. Journalistic integrity at its worst.

Re:who cares

[TheCarp]

This brings up one of the reasons I have no objection to either the stand your ground law or a fair unbiased trial that will likely let a guilty man go free..... its a self limiting problem. If he does it one or two more times.... them someone is just going to shoot him "in self defense".

So... I figure we either have:
1) an innocent man: He wont be involved in another incident most probably (except that the 911 call does seem to indicate he goes around looking for trouble)

2) A guilty man who knows better than to do it again, and will find a new hobby. Well punishing him wont fix anything so, if this debacle stops him from causing more trouble and killing again, then at least something positive was achieved, if not much and its not very satisfying

3) A guilty man who will eventually be emboldened. He may cause another incident, he may kill agaon, he may get away with it again. He wont get away with it many times before some random person kills him.

Um...did I miss any? Cuz I am seeing no problem here.

Representing this as a mistake is BS

[LetterRip]

This wasn't a mistake, it was a deliberate misrepresentation on the behalf of whoever did the editing or ordered the editing done.

When the corporation claims 'oops' when it is obviously deliberate, it leads to distrust. There most definitely should have been firings over this.

Re:Yes, walking around aimlessly

[cpu6502]

>>>Oh, and he's black

By the time MSNBC is done editing the video, your black friend will be a white man (they won't show his head), and they'll overlay it with dialogue how he's a racist that hates blacks. (I'm not joking; they've done it before.)

Mod parent up.

[khasim]

The police have yet to explain all the things that they did NOT do in this case.

No drug/alcohol test for Zimmerman.
No checking Martin's cell phone.
No photos of the damage to Zimmerman that would support Zimmerman's claims.

The cops are looking rather incompetent. So WHY are the cops incompetent?

Re:Yes, walking around aimlessly

[Kalriath]

Wow, sounds like that friend of yours needs a new job. Calling the cops to come out and interview every single person who's "wandering around aimlessly" sounds like a thoroughly inefficient use of taxpayer resources. I can't imagine how someone "wandering around" can even scope houses out anyway - I'd say the point that becomes suspicious is when the suspect is also paying an inordinate amount of attention to the houses while wandering.

Why National News?

[Grizzley9]

Of course it was on purpose, from the very beginning it was meant to increase ratings. This is a local story, one you would find on many nightly news local stations. In what way is this a story deserving of national headlines? Why? Because they can make it such and inflame the viewership to create controversy which sells ratings. They are using the death of a teenager to increase ratings pure and simple.

My friend is trying to protect his neighborhood

[Quila]

He's lived here for 30 years and watched crime go up and up over that time. Every week he tells us of another house that's been broken into. In almost all instances, the house was cased prior to the robbery to determine when it would be unoccupied.

Crime is best prevented by the people knowing their neighborhood and being able to spot anything out of place. If an unknown 6'2" black guy in a hoodie walking apparently randomly at night is out of place in a neighborhood, then so be it.

Oh no, that would be profiling! Racist! Hate to break it to you, but NOT profiling according to statistically relevant criteria is plain stupid and a waste of resources.