NBC's defense of fired producer
by Rick Moran April 7, 2012
americanthinker.com
NBC has fired the producer responsible for splicing together snippets from George Zimmerman's 911 call to make it appear that his shooting of Trayvon Martin was racially motivated.
NBC aired the edited tape on the Today Show. Media Decoder:
The segment in question was shown on the "Today" show on March 27. It included audio of Mr. Zimmerman saying, "This guy looks like he's up to no good. He looks black."
But Mr. Zimmerman's comments had been taken grossly out of context by NBC. On the phone with a 911 dispatcher, he actually said of Mr. Martin, "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." Then the dispatcher asked, "O.K., and this guy - is he white, black or Hispanic?" Only then did Mr. Zimmerman say, "He looks black."
The network "apologized" for the "error" and then two days later, fired the producer of the segment.
Is there any way that the editing could be construed as an innocent mistake?
Inside NBC, there was shock that the segment had been broadcast. Citing an anonymous network executive, Reuters reported that "the 'Today' show's editorial control policies - which include a script editor, senior producer oversight and in most cases legal and standards department reviews of material to be broadcast - missed the selective editing of the call."
But one day later it dismissed a Miami-based producer who had worked at NBC for several years.
The people with direct knowledge of the firing characterized the misleading edit as a mistake, not a purposeful act.
Tom Maguire points out that NBC is virtually forced to say that the editing was a "mistake" because to admit to a deliberate act would leave them open to legal issues -- like a fat, juicy defamation suit from Zimmerman.
So what are the chances that a "script editor, senior producer oversight and in most cases legal and standards department review" would have missed this blatant attempt to portray Zimmerman as a racist?
NBC needs to clear the air on this matter.
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