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FRIDAY: When you want to release bad news, everyone knows you do it on a Friday night. The New York Times is citing sources tonight that, not surprisingly, NBC News ended its internal investigation by firing the still unnamed “seasoned” producer deemed responsible. The dismissal reportedly took place on Thursday with no public announcement.
THURSDAY: An NBC News probe found that a “seasoned” producer was responsible for a misleadingly edited clip of the 911 call the network broadcast during coverage of the Trayvon Martin shooting, network sources told Reuters. More than half a dozen news staff were interviewed for the network’s internal investigation. The edited version of the 911 call placed by George Zimmerman just before he shot Trayvon Martin made it appear Zimmerman immediately told police Martin was black, but the full recording reveals that the neighborhood watch captain mentioned the teen’s race only when responding to a question posed by the dispatcher. Network sources did not indicate whether the producer or other staff would be subject to disciplinary action. NBC has apologized for the incident but said it would not release names of employees involved. Execs have vowed to take rigorous steps to formalize news division standards following the incident.
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Anyone fresh out of J-school would have known the proper way to handle it. The “seasoned” producer most likely did it on purpose because the unedited version did not fit the narrative. That person should get together with the NY Times reporter who referred to Zimmerman as a “white hispanic” because, that too did not fit the narrative wanted. The two of them can talk about the old fogies who are obsessed about accuracy instead of ratings.
I’m a veteran television news producer. I can say with near-certainty the soundbite was edited for time, not content.
This is done so that the show is faster-paced, more entertaining, and yes, so it can accommodate more commercials.
In the process meanings can get distorted. Unfortunately, in this case, the distortion was grave.
>>I’m a veteran television news producer. I can say with near-certainty the soundbite was edited for time, not content. <<
Riiight, so it was just a coincidence, just bad luck. Sure thing. Rearrange those words for time, and you never know what you're going to get. We all believe that, don't we, people?
Hey, if NBC news says it was “edited for time,” I guess we just have to believe it.
I don’t know about ‘seasoned’ but if you are a professional journalist you do not edit in a way that leads people to believe something that is not true. As much as time may be a factor you still make certain that you are delivering truthful information or you don’t use the clip at all.
And here’s my edit of newsperson’s comment. Edited for brevity, of course:
“I’m a veteran television news producer. And I can say with certainty that soundbite was edited for content.
“This is done so that the meanings can get distorted.”
Concise enough, newsperson?
I was only editing to make things shorter. Time limitations & all that. Yup.
That totally meaningless. I’ll take all the words in your post and find them in a copy of War and Piece. Then I’ll accuse you of writing a novel.
I must wonder how you could possibly think that you know the reason or motivation behind this seemingly malevolent editing? Seems like you are merely helping to close ranks in order to cover an evil choice by a fellow editor. Simply put, you do not know any more about this than anyone else does, except maybe, the people who investigated this wrong doing and resultantly fired this unidentified malevolent person who has participated in fueling the nation’s unrest over a perceived racial wrong. I believe in the First Amendment, but this unidentified person’s actions seem to be very close to yelling ‘FIRE’ in a crowed theater. I hope that Mr. Zimmerman and others who have been so drastically effected by this misuse of the power of the press will sue both the network and this person whom they are continuing to hide by not making his/her name public. His/her name is News too.
“the soundbite was edited for time, not content”.
You are correct, except the time that was cut was the same time you saved.. Hmmmmmm now how was the selection made to keep which peice when the time was equal??????/ I will join the law suit…
Couldn’t be more right Andy. And there should be no surprises here… the news has left the school of ‘journalism’ because it’s need to compete with the sensationalist aspects of reality TV. Whoever this is that made the call is a TV “producer”… not a journalist exercising any kind of ethics or responsibility to the facts. He/she did what dozens of others do in their position – crank out TV.
I agree. It’s kind of sad that the Today show continually gives valuable airtime to the Kardashian’s, unemployed “actress” Lindsay Lohan and Snooki. These losers do not qualify as news or entertainment.
The 24/7/365 cable TV news cycle and a rush to beat the Internet websites to the story is also a reason that the accuracy of the story is the last thing on the producers mind.
Although not as serious as NBC’s sketchy editing, The View this week gave their take on the shooting as they weren’t on the air when the whole thing blew up in the media: so, well after the fact, which outdated photos of both individuals do they prominently display?
What the hell Barbara,dig a bit deeper and show us both men as they actually look now. The whole thing still stinks but a bit of fact-checking and journalistic integrity will serve this sad story much better in the long run.
17 years old is not a “man” and Trayvon is no longer with us– there is no picture of him that will show him as he “actually looks now.” No one is objective on this story– they latch on to the parts that support their preconceived ideas about the case and ignore the ones that don’t fit.
Was there a printing on the back of Trayvon Martin’s hoodie that said, “I’m 17 years old?” Martin was at least 6′, so it’s reasonable to assume that as far as Zimmerman could tell, Trayvon Martin was an adult well into his 20′s, 30′s or older.
Stop hating on the Hispanics.
With everything swirling around this tragic event, to try and twist the facts is borderline evil.
NBC was caught on this one; imagine how many other stories they have twisted. This is the most irresponsible thing that could be done in journalism… and to do it on a powder keg issue?!?!
It’s amazing how the media can mishape public opinion and not be held accountable.
Absolutely correct. NBC and the Today Show playing fast and loose with the “facts” goes at least as far back as the Kennedy assasination.
Matt Lauer is to busy interviewing Octomom to notice that legitimate news stories have more holes than the Swiss cheese in Rosie O’Donnell’s fridge.
Care to elaborate on NBC’s coverage of the Kennedy assassination?
Oh the irony is thick. An NBC Sr employee engages in blatant conduct to create a different narrative to the truth, one that could incite more hate and violence, and distorts the words of man who’s yet to be charged with a crime, and that staffer’s right to privacy is respected?
NBC News is as vapid as the NBC entertainment side.
“Must Watch TV”? Not anymore.
Waiting for David Gregory to apologize for saying, with certainty, that Zimmermann had uttered a racial epithet when instead he was talking about the weather.
Still waiting for Tom Brokaw to apologize for saying, with certainty, that Richard Jewell was the Atlanta Bomber!
Who give a crap! If this kid had blonde hair and blue eyes the shooter would be on death row by now.
Actually, it would have never gotten beyond the local news.
If this kid had blonde hair and blue eyes the “neighborhood watch” wouldn’t have been watching him in the first place.
True…
Not to mention, they said he never mentioned the race of who he was following until asked… And out of seven calls they got, how many times did the people he followed turn out to be black? A question that hasn’t been followed up on. If it’s seven of seven or five of seven, does it matter if he waited till they asked him? If it’s just the three times, maybe he has some (though totally irrelevant) defence. NEIGHBOORHOOD WATCH SHOULD NOT CARRY GUNS! Open and shut!
That person needs to be fired. Immediately.
They fired her from their Miami bureau yesterday…
At what point does ‘freedom of the press’ transition to ‘slander’?
Whenever you turn on FOX.
It was Fox that caught NBC in the slander not the other way around.
Why was this such a prolonged mystery? It’s not as if broadcast audio is edited accidentally in a network newsroom— only a few people do it, and they hardly creep around in the shadows anonymously. It’s pretty clear NBC has no interest in firing a liar running amok in their news dept.
i hope zimmerman sues NBC.
NBC/MSNBC cesspool will NOW take “rigorous steps to formalize news division standards.”.
Good to know NO prior standards for the news division at NBC/MSNBC!
‘Misleadingly edited’? I think what you mean is ‘deliberately edited with the intent to mislead’.
“Execs have vowed to take rigorous steps to formalize news division standards following the incident” This is, at once, stunning and illustrative.
NBC has a giant, multi-network news division and until this moment had no formal news gathering standards? Based on their behavior here, that is obvious.
The larger issue is that a “standard” for this incident is even necessary. A “seasoned” news producer needs company guidelines to know that altering a recording solely to smear Zimmerman and “push” the race divide is unethical?
The hubris involved is borderline laughable — the full recording is widely distributed! Did the producer think the desired race baiting effect of this act would go unchallenged? I imagine that once the president nominated Trayvon for “son” status, NBC had the green light for its “get Zimmerman” meme.
Violence has already ensued as a result of this and the mainstream media here is on a long list of responsible parties.
Lol you have to fire that person. Nothing else is acceptable.
Was that edited for time? Or intentional bias? I suspect the former given networks insistence on sound bites in this ADD world. Anybody know what the motivation really was?
And ofcourse this story was released when few people are looking on a holiday weekend. NBC News is just as scummy as the politicos they cover. They’re not going to release the names of the scum involved? Why, so not to ruin THEIR reps? They have no problem distroying people like Sarah Palin.
Sarah Palin doesn’t need anyone to destroy her reputation, Einstein, she does very well in the idiotic gaffe department all by her little petty shrill self. And also NBC was the network that stupidly gave her free air rant time this week so who knows what you are blabbering about, Alex…
@ gothambear
They were also sued by Richard Jewel and GM for rigging pickup trucks to blow up, THAT’S what I’m blabbering about. If FOX NEWS pulled this stunt they’d demand Rodger Ailes to be horse whipped! Why is it the producers name hasn’t been reported, I bet you’d demand to know if he/she worked for FOX NEWS.
oh please, Fox “news” pulls shit like this all the time. They just do it a bit more subtlety (although not always) and more systematically over time. No one expects more from them which is why they aren’t called out on it to this degree.
Examples please or stfu.
Accidental, my a$$. Yellow journalism at its finest.
Remember the Maine!
“Who can forget it?”
+1
If fired he can always get a job at fair and balanced Fox, hee hee.
Ironically, this malicious manipulation by NBC is making it more likely that Zimmerman’s lawyers can argue that he can’t receive a fair trial.
Wonder if the “seasoned” producer is black or white?
NBC News seems to have failed to report that fact.
Wonder why?
Why is race now deemed irrelevant by NBC News?
What an embarrassing post. You and I both know the clear difference. Get out of here with that crap false equivalency.
So… if the 911 call had been discovered to have been edited to DOWNPLAY any racial angle, the “seasoned” producer’s race wouldn’t matter – right, Jeff?
I hate to state the obvious but my god, the days of real journalism are far gone. These days it’s acceptable to throw out whatever you can to the public and only apologize for errors when you are caught. Ridiculous.
I find it funny how this idiot Toure for msnbc last week was touting his station’s stringent requirements in standards and practices in so many words while accusing CNN’s Piers Morgan for lacking
Yeah not the same network but same company
As a human being, and a progressive, I strongly condemn the manipulation and join in the calls for the producer to be fired.
Now, I would like teapublicans to hold Fox News accountable for any misleading editing jobs, inaccurate reporting, etc.
P.S. I won’t hold my breath.
“Progressive”, yeah sure. You’re just a leftist.
List them here. There’s plenty of room. One example. Be careful though because i will rebut any half ass attempts at distorting the facts. Take your time.
Point to an example of deliberately misleading editing on the part of Fox News and I will join you. Not holding my breath since Fox doesn’t do this sort of thing.
Check Media Matters, Doc. And ask Andrea Mackris.
nice work making the story about something it is not.
I 100% agree that the producer should be fired. Nothing is more important than honest, fair, accurate reporting.
Now, I would like the teapublicans here and wverywhere to hold Fox News to the same standards. Fair enough, no?
There is the Fox News that airs during the morning and afternoon, then there is the Fox News which consists of the opinion shows–O’Reilly and Hannity. I think the straight news shows are at least accurate in their reporting. Hannity, in particular, is a totally different issue. He’s the equivalent to the nimrods on MSNBC.
Hannity does it a lot….he does it for time.
I thought my first one was lost to the ether. Oops. I’m fired.