Good for him. I hope he gets millions from them.
Lawyers for George Zimmerman filed suit today against NBC Universal Media over a well-publicized editing error that portrayed their client in racist terms in his pursuit of Trayvon Martin on a drizzly evening in February.
âNBC saw the death of Trayvon Martin not as a tragedy but as an opportunity to increase ratings, and so to set about the myth that George Zimmerman was a racist and predatory villain,â states the civil complaint in its opening salvo against NBC.
NBCâs editing of the 911 audiotape in the Martin case became a public fixation after the media-monitoring Web site NewsBusters.org noted editing oddities on a âTodayâ show broadcast March 27. Hereâs how NBC News portrayed the audiotape:
- Zimmerman: This guy looks like heâs up to no good. He looks black.
The full tape went like this:
- Zimmerman: This guy looks like heâs up to no good. Or heâs on drugs or something. Itâs raining and heâs just walking around, looking about.
- Dispatcher: OK, and this guy â is he black, white or Hispanic?
- Zimmerman: He looks black.
Zimmerman thus didnât volunteer a racial profile of Martin; he was asked to provide it, a point that the lawsuit makes in colorful fashion: âNBC created this false and defamatory misimpression using the oldest form of yellow journalism: manipulating Zimmermanâs own words, splicing together disparate parts of the recording to create illusions of statements that Zimmerman never actually made.â
The suit against NBC alleges four other instances in which NBC-produced shows aired false and defamatory versions of the same events. Zimmerman faces a second-degree murder charge in the case.
The botched edits, charges the suit, were far from innocent mistakes: âDefendants pounced on the Zimmerman/Martin matter because they knew this tragedy could be, with proper sensationalizing and manipulation, a racial powderkeg that would result in months, if not years, of topics for their failing news programs, particularly the plummeting ratings for their ailing âToday Showâ as well as for the individual defendants to âmake their markâ for reporting a [manipulated] story such as this.â Individual defendants are Lilia Luciano and Jeff Burnside, NBC employees involved in early cases of Zimmerman mis-editing.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...mmerman-sues-nbc-over-trayvon-martin-reports/
Lawyers for George Zimmerman filed suit today against NBC Universal Media over a well-publicized editing error that portrayed their client in racist terms in his pursuit of Trayvon Martin on a drizzly evening in February.
âNBC saw the death of Trayvon Martin not as a tragedy but as an opportunity to increase ratings, and so to set about the myth that George Zimmerman was a racist and predatory villain,â states the civil complaint in its opening salvo against NBC.
NBCâs editing of the 911 audiotape in the Martin case became a public fixation after the media-monitoring Web site NewsBusters.org noted editing oddities on a âTodayâ show broadcast March 27. Hereâs how NBC News portrayed the audiotape:
- Zimmerman: This guy looks like heâs up to no good. He looks black.
The full tape went like this:
- Zimmerman: This guy looks like heâs up to no good. Or heâs on drugs or something. Itâs raining and heâs just walking around, looking about.
- Dispatcher: OK, and this guy â is he black, white or Hispanic?
- Zimmerman: He looks black.
Zimmerman thus didnât volunteer a racial profile of Martin; he was asked to provide it, a point that the lawsuit makes in colorful fashion: âNBC created this false and defamatory misimpression using the oldest form of yellow journalism: manipulating Zimmermanâs own words, splicing together disparate parts of the recording to create illusions of statements that Zimmerman never actually made.â
The suit against NBC alleges four other instances in which NBC-produced shows aired false and defamatory versions of the same events. Zimmerman faces a second-degree murder charge in the case.
The botched edits, charges the suit, were far from innocent mistakes: âDefendants pounced on the Zimmerman/Martin matter because they knew this tragedy could be, with proper sensationalizing and manipulation, a racial powderkeg that would result in months, if not years, of topics for their failing news programs, particularly the plummeting ratings for their ailing âToday Showâ as well as for the individual defendants to âmake their markâ for reporting a [manipulated] story such as this.â Individual defendants are Lilia Luciano and Jeff Burnside, NBC employees involved in early cases of Zimmerman mis-editing.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...mmerman-sues-nbc-over-trayvon-martin-reports/