George Zimmerman sues NBC and reporters

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

http://news.yahoo.com/george-zimmerman-sues-nbc-reporters-221734555.html

By By MIKE SCHNEIDER | Associated Press – 2 hrs 26 mins ago

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — George Zimmerman sued NBC on Thursday, claiming he was defamed when the network edited his 911 call to police after the shooting of Trayvon Martin to make it sound like he was racist.

The former neighborhood watch volunteer filed the lawsuit seeking an undisclosed amount of money in Seminole County, outside Orlando. Also named in the complaint were three reporters covering the story for NBC or an NBC-owned television station.

The complaint said the airing of the edited call has inflicted emotional distress on Zimmerman, making him fear for his life and causing him to suffer nausea, insomnia and anxiety.

The lawsuit claims NBC edited his phone call to a dispatcher last February. In the call, Zimmerman describes following Martin in the gated community where he lived, just moments before he fatally shot the 17-year-old teen during a confrontation.

"NBC saw the death of Trayvon Martin not as a tragedy but as an opportunity to increase ratings, and so set about to create a myth that George Zimmerman was a racist and predatory villain," the lawsuit claims.

NBC spokeswoman Kathy Kelly-Brown said the network strongly disagreed with the accusations made in the complaint.

"There was no intent to portray Mr. Zimmerman unfairly," she said. "We intend to vigorously defend our position in court."

Three employees of the network or its Miami affiliate lost their jobs because of the changes.

Zimmerman is charged with second-degree murder but has pleaded not guilty, claiming self-defense under Florida's "stand your ground law."

The call viewers heard was trimmed to suggest that Zimmerman volunteered to police, with no prompting, that Martin was black: "This guy looks like he's up to no good. He looks black."

But the portion of the tape that was deleted had the 911 dispatcher asking Zimmerman if the person who had raised his suspicion was "black, white or Hispanic," to which Zimmerman responded, "He looks black."

[Penny Lane 8,159]

Well, good luck with that.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Z is looking for a pay day. What is he going to do with all that cash in the joint?

[Karee 4,191]

See Richard Jewell.

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

http://movies.yahoo.com/news/nbc-news-apologizes-editing-tape-911-call-014743826.html

NBC News now apologizes for editing tape of 911 call

By FRAZIER MOORE | Associated Press – Tue, Apr 3, 2012 10:01 PM EDT

NEW YORK (AP) — NBC News has admitted it erred and has apologized for editing a recording of George Zimmerman's call to police the night he shot Trayvon Martin.

In a news report last week, NBC's "Today" show aired its edited version of Zimmerman's call. The recording viewers heard was trimmed to suggest that Zimmerman volunteered to police, with no prompting, that Martin was black. But the portion of the tape that was cut out had the 911 dispatcher asking Zimmerman if the person who had raised his suspicion was "black, white or Hispanic," to which Zimmerman responded, "He looks black."

Later that night of Feb. 26, the 17-year-old Martin was fatally shot by Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer in Sanford, Fla. Though Martin was unarmed, Zimmerman told police he fired in self-defense after Martin attacked him.

Questions have arisen over whether Zimmerman had been racially profiling the youth, a theory the edited version of the tape seemed to support.

In a statement on Tuesday, NBC said its investigation turned up "an error made in the production process that we deeply regret." It provided no details.

The network promised "necessary steps" would be taken "to prevent this from happening in the future," and apologized to viewers.

Edited December 7, 2012 by Bad_Daddy

[spookyturtle 9,466]

Z is looking for a pay day. What is he going to do with all that cash in the joint?

Buy some ointment to relieve the rectal pain?

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

Z is looking for a pay day. What is he going to do with all that cash in the joint?

Not all of us think it's moral for the media to take the time to edit a 911 call and that play it on a show like The Today Show. Some people believe in holding journalist to a code of ethics, and some make post like the one I just quoted.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Not all of us think it's moral for the media to take the time to edit a 911 call and that play it on a show like The Today Show. Some people believe in holding journalist to a code of ethics, and some make post like the one I just quoted.

I don't claim to have any morals but what NBC did was wrong, one does not need morals to know that.

They will settle this out of court, Zimmerman is going to end up walking away a wealthy man

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

See Richard Jewell.

That guy got hosed big time. Not surprised.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Jewell

Richard Jewell

[Usui Takumi 1,562]

Z is looking for a pay day. What is he going to do with all that cash in the joint?

If he is convicted it would be for manslaughter which carries how many years in Florida? 3-4?

[TBoneTX 46,161]

I don't claim to have any morals but what NBC did was wrong, one does not need morals to know that.

They will settle this out of court, Zimmerman is going to end up walking away a wealthy man

I agree that this will probably happen, si man.

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

Zimmerman has a very strong case over this incident - there is no excuse for it. NBC should settle rather than go to court on it because it will lose.

Z's criminal case is an entirely different matter...

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

http://news.yahoo.com/trayvon-martins-killer-sues-nbc-over-racist-myth-004028150.html

Trayvon Martin's killer sues NBC over racist "myth"

Reuters – 2 hrs 46 mins ago

MIAMI (Reuters) - A Florida man sued NBC on Thursday, saying the network intentionally edited and repeatedly aired a non-emergency phone call he made to police before shooting and killing unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin "to create the myth" that he was a racist.

Attorneys for George Zimmerman, who maintains he shot Martin in self-defense in February during a struggle, said the lawsuit seeking an undisclosed amount in damages was filed in the same central Florida court where he will stand trial in June for murder.

"NBC saw the death of Trayvon Martin not as a tragedy but as an opportunity to increase ratings, so it set about to create the myth that George Zimmerman was a racist and predatory villain," the defamation lawsuit says.

"NBC created this false and defamatory misimpression using the oldest form of yellow journalism: manipulating Zimmerman's owns words, splicing together disparate parts of the (police) recording to create the illusion of statements that Zimmerman never actually made."

But NBC denied any wrongdoing in a statement issued late on Thursday.

"We strongly disagree with accusations made in the complaint. There was no intent to portray Mr. Zimmerman unfairly. We intend to vigorously defend our position in court," the statement said.

The edit in question, which aired on the network's flagship "Today" morning show in April, made it appear that Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer, told police that Martin was black without being asked.

In fact, the full tape reveals that Zimmerman only did so when responding to a question posed by a dispatcher.

NBC News president Steve Capus told Reuters in April that the edit was a "mistake, not deliberate" misrepresentation.

Capus said at the time 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.

The network apologized to its viewers in a statement, and two NBC news staffers named as defendants in the lawsuit were fired.

But the complaint says the network never apologized to Zimmerman "for deliberately portraying him as a hostile racist who targeted Martin due to his race."

The misleading audio edit of the call led to significant pressure on the network from critics who claimed it had exacerbated already inflamed racial tension surrounding the case.

"You cannot look at the way that tape was crafted and aired, and not believe that there was intent there," Zimmerman's lawyer Mark O'Mara said on Thursday.

"I think what they were trying to do was beat everyone to the punch in calling him (Zimmerman) a racist," O'Mara said.

"In today's media environment you have to act immediately, and you have to act sensationally if you're going to get attention," he added.

NBC News is part of NBC Universal Media, a unit of Comcast Corp.

Edited December 7, 2012 by Bad_Daddy

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Buy some ointment to relieve the rectal pain?

[Penny Lane 8,159]

Zimmerman has a very strong case over this incident - there is no excuse for it. NBC should settle rather than go to court on it because it will lose.

Z's criminal case is an entirely different matter...

Agreed on both.