Slashdot Mirror
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.'"
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.
We apologise for the fault in the subtitles. Those responsible have been sacked.
Zimmerman and his parents probably care that they were libeled on national TV in an attempt to rile a mob to literally murder them.
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."
... look at those servers cook!
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
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.
My work here is dung.
Please stop, this is not news for nerds.
Editors stay in your lane. There is nothing relevant in this case to tech, or nerd issues.
Nerds frequently walk around looking awkward, wearing hoodies, and scaring simpletons who think they must be D&D satan worshippers. Seems relevant to me.
(And, yes, the D&D satan thing probably is dating me ...)
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.
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.
Or if he's the wrong color in the wrong neighborhood, steal his wallet, sucker-punch him in the face with a knock-out punch, then strip him of his clothes, all the while laughing and videoing on your cell phone.
http://rmirror.net/r/videos/comments/rsc0g/this_makes_my_blood_boil/
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?
Taking guns away from the 99% gives the 1% 100% of the power.
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.
"Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
Everyone is biased, but not everyone is a liar.
(And, yes, the D&D satan thing probably is dating me ...)
Whatever kind of guys you're into. We're not here to judge.
None of us know everything. Therefore we're all naïve.
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.
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.
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.
I went to eat some animal crackers and the box said, "Do not eat if seal is broken." I opened the box and sure enough..
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.
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?
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.
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.