NBC continues to characterize its deceptive edit of George Zimmerman’s 911 call a “mistake.” The edited version, in which George Zimmerman says Trayvon Martin “looks like he’s up to no good. He looks black” appeared on the Today show and on NBC’s web properties. That edit put racial concerns front and center in a story that may not have been about race at all. But could the edit really be a mistake?
Is it possible for such an internal edit that substantially alters the nature of Zimmerman’s call with the 911 dispatcher to happen by chance? As an audio and video editor for going on 20 years, in my opinion it is highly implausible and close to impossible for that edit to have occurred by chance. Watch this video and you’ll see why.
In the edit booth, whether the editor was working with Final Cut Pro, as our editor was, or Adobe Premiere Pro or Avid or Audacity or Soundbooth — whatever the editing platform used — the Zimmerman edit took several steps. The audio track had to be placed on a timeline for editing. In and out points had to be set around the words that the editor wanted to remove. Then the editor had to remove those words with a delete action. Then the resulting edit had to be smoothed over, probably with a crossfade, to remove pops or abrupt changes in the background noise. Video or imagery had to be overlayed, since the edited sound was destined to play on the visuals-heavy Today show. The file had to be saved, and since it was edited in Florida, had to be transferred to NBC New York over the Internet. Whether the video was added in New York or Florida, teams of producers in Florida and New York must have seen the clip and heard the audio before it aired. Surely more than a single editor in Florida heard both the original audio file and the deceptive edit. Lawyers would likely have looked it over prior to airing it. The final say would have gone to executive producer Jim Bell, who is described in his official NBC bio as a “hands on” producer.
Along the way, someone had to transcribe the sound for posting on the Web. MSNBC’s version was identical to the Today version — both omitted the section in which it is clear that Zimmerman only notes Martin’s race in response to an informational question from the dispatcher. Omitting that section changed the entire nature of the clip, and significantly altered the story’s trajectory.
Can all of this happen by chance? It’s about as likely as getting struck by lightning, I suppose: Possible but on the very edge of probability. The most likely explanation is that the network edited the Zimmerman call the way it did on purpose.
I like this game! We can edit all their articles to comply with our agendas.
We can publish to the internet just as they do.
Let’s party!
By golly, I like that idea too! Make them proof they didn’t say what was edited.
When I heard the original clip of the 9-1-1 call, I honestly thought he had been asked what the person’s races was but that part had been edited for time. I in no way assumed that was the actual call. But now hearing how they have addressed the issue when asked about it — that it was a “mistake” that required someone losing their job — I can’t help but wonder about their motives.
Honest question here: Did NBC portray their edited version as an uncut clip from the actual 9-1-1 call or did they just let it ride?
No, they didn’t present it as unedited. Just look at the Youtube video in this article: they had elipses that indicate that something was missing. From an audio standpoint, though, it seemed to be edited to make it sound like it was a single sentence: “he’s up to no good. He looks black” If they wanted to make it obvious that it was an edit, they could have taken out just the “he looks like he’s on drugs” part and kept in the question. Had they just taken out everything after “up to no good,” but left in the question, there would be no problem.
However, I do think that harping on the fact that they used this audio more than once is of no use. An obvious answer to why that happened is laziness: the audio was already there and nobody bothered to check it because they assumed it was already vetted.
It seems very strange to me that a Florida NBC station working on a story which was getting as much attention as this one was really needed to edit out the middle 3 or 4 seconds of the call because of “time constraints”. If time rather than “supporting the narrative” had been the concern, the more logical edit would have been to present just Zimmerman’s first statement, before the dispatcher’s question about race. It would have been even shorter than the version NBC ended up with. And it would have been much easier to edit in that way.
Another good question: Since the print story also included the offending edit, was the nature of the edit clearly designated in the print version? And if not, why not?
Great point. I guess you are talking about transcripts.
I never looked this issue up. The trial by media thing really angers me. All I know about this issue is what I have happened to catch here and there, and what I have read heard here.
Good God; More spatially challenged women.
PLEASE SPARE US!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Dennis Prager took the topic on his radio show this morning. He made the distinction between a honest mistake and a self-serving one, and why those of the second kind are rarely admitted by their perpetrators. He offered a hypothetical example: “What would it tell you if you found yourself taking a wrong turn while driving to your wedding? Are you really serious about marriage?” He then pointed out that of course almost nobody ever drives to their wedding by themselves”, adding a touch of humor to the rhetoric.
Too bad the real story is not funny: Zimmerman got his trial soiled before it even started, with the POTUS himself tilting the balance before the press, who does not know better than amplifying the offense, reflexively or otherwise. It was already improper for the POTUS to propose from the podium that the Cambridge police may have acted stupidly, but this is far worse.
The President may find himself in a tough spot, but that does not excuse taking it on people who are vulnerable to the consequences of expedited process.
NBC’s “self serving” story? Let’s not just jump down NBC’s throat with boots on. Look at the whole pitcher: Say you were a media journalist, . . . at some time or other, y’think you’d tire of the stories about a limb, fallen across a neighborhood street, somewhere? It might be some kind of news to the squirrel which lived in the tree, but, . . .
Those guys are only human, . . . they like to make their living, on what’s coined as “newsworthy”—right? So, . . . a possible burglar merely “scopin’” things out, or some real racism, . . . you’re the big media journalist, . . . you decide, . . .
Or, maybe a cat, a mascot cat, walked on the keyboard, that could produce some strange effects—couldn’t it? Maybe ask Mike Wallace, or whoever took over for him, . . .
PhillipGaley says;
I’ll drink to that!
Every so often, and for years on end, I’ve heard someone make a reference to a race war. I always thought the concept rather a stupid one in terms of its likelihood and I still do. However, the Left-leaning media seem to be doing their damnedest to start one, and furthermore doing so based on statistical lies about people by race and ratings and page-hits. Like Hendrix mentioned, 6 becomes 9.
It’s one of the Libfilth MSM favorite tactics, waving every bloody shirt they can dig up (or manufacture, ala Gabby Gifords) and use their half-truths, distortions and outright lies to infuse their victim groups – the armies of the aggrieved – with as much righteous indignation and outrage as possible so they will be out in the streets creating as much mayhem as possible. Then the Libfilth rush in to “calm” the situation by attempting to institute as much of their filthy agenda as the incident will allow. Lather, rinse, repeat.
– for staying on this story.
Good stuff!
The employee whom is not named by NBC because there was not such a thing that occurred this is just another lie by the media especially NBC! This is just plan B when caught lying or misleading make up a cover story well we fired the guy who did it, for what reason do you not say who it is you fired? Cause we know you didn’t do so and there is no evidence of it other than a proven liar saying so, so in the end what good is that? There is none whatsoever and I say now is the time for us the people to demand to see who was fired and the pink slip as well as the editors home address plus the name of all his immediate family.
This story has caused Al UnSharpton and Obama and Jessee Jackson as well as the New Black Panther Party to call for a Bounty of “Dead or Alive” of about one million dollars, the New Black Panther Party is no better than the Ku Klux Klan and has no legal authority to offer a Bounty for the arrest of anyone and in a recent conference call the New Black Panther Party is calling for killing of anyone other than some one who is BLACK see the following link:
http://gillreport.com/2012/04/video-new-black-panthers-calling-for-bloodshed-race-war/
Is this what NBC ABC CBS CNN New York Times and all other so called main stream media want, is that Justice? Of course it is not and never will be, God might not forgive those in the mainstream since that have blasphemed for years so I suppose they figure what the Hell (since that is where they are headed) I’ll just go all out for tyranny and anarchy!
I for one am well armed and have plenty of ammunition, I suggest that all other do the same and get trained in the use of your firearms and plenty of range time and become an accurate user of you weapons whatever they might be.
I take these new threats seriously and carry daily even now as I write I am armed and you should be as well. If you do not have a carry permit sign up for whatever course and get a weapon and learn how to defend your self starting now the closer to this election the more it may become necessary.
Hey as the Boy Scouts always say in their motto always be prepared, and having a firearm and know how to use it is a whole lot better than not having it and ending up dead!
New Boy Scouts motto:
“Keep a fresh jar of petroleum jelly”.
At the Nothing But Conspirators network, the current “We tripped and fell into a lifeboat” explanation suggests that ONE unidentified “producer”, UNKNOWN TO EVERYONE ELSE AT THE NETWORK, made “sloppy” edits in the “interest of saving time, which is ALWAYS a concern”, that (unfortunately) gave off an impression that was inaccurate.
Let’s examine the alibi.
a)The “unidentified” producer got fired.
Really? How do we know? How can we verify?
b)Most conspiracies do not involve a single person. Since this narrative lines up neatly with the continuing slanders by radical leftists against Southern whites (and, apparently, “white Hispanics”, whatever that means), it would be important to the alibi to know precisely how many people were involved in editing out the single most important piece…the interaction with the dispatcher, from the story.
Also, the “producer” who got fired, how long were they there at the Nothing But Conspirators network, did they harbor long held racist views against whites or “white Hispanics”?
Have they edited out OTHER key pieces of information, that have aired on the Today show and elsewhere in the past? How would we know? Or does the Nothing But Conspirators network only act when they get caught acting with malice aforethought in slandering individuals and whole classes of people, races, ethnicities, parties, and regions of the country?
What other stories of national interest have been “edited” in such a way that key information was distorted that “coincidentally” lines up neatly with the pre-fabricated narrative of leftism? I mean, “in the interest of time”?
c)In order to determine whether there was an absence of malice in the way in which this story was presented or, if instead, it was intentionally and maliciously attempting to slander George Zimmerman and to intentionally and maliciously impute words, acts and deeds upon him that they knew (or should have known) were completely distorted by them to harm him and his reputation…one must examine the person or persons involved in that decision.
By intentionally hiding that person and by intentionally concealing the actual intent, the Nothing But Conspirators network is engaged in the suppression of material evidence.
By attempting to fan the flames of racial hatred, by fueling a false narrative against a race of people for the purpose of inciting anger and hate, by creating a known falsehood for the purposes of escalating racial animus, the Nothing But Conspirators network would have been using the privilege of the airwaves to commit acts of slander, incitement to riot, libel, and for the advancement of a hate crime against a specific person of a singled out race or ethnicity.
This is no trifling matter that should be waved off, with a dismissive face palm.
Everyone associated with this decision has to answer to an entire race of people, to an entire region of people, to anyone else in the nation who cares about our airwaves being used to incite racial animus and the distortion of the truth.
Or…we can simply believe that they tripped and fell into a lifeboat.
As Ann Coulter likes to point out, EVERY time the MSM makes a “mistake,” that “mistake” happens to favor a Leftist agenda. Whether it’s a google-eyed picture of Sarah Palin or this tape editing fiasco, the “oops” factor only goes in one direction.
Curious that. Very curious.
Exactly. Mistakes all in the same direction aren’t mistakes.
Actually that’s the technical definition of bias — random errors are supposed to cancel out. Errors weighted in one direction only are bias.
I specifically recall that during the run-up to the Rodney King riots, the tape that was shown night after night for months on end was also edited. The media edited out the beginning part of the tape where King aggressively moves toward the police officers. I remember seeing the unedited part with my own eyes, early on in the media frenzy. Until it was found to be inconvenient and then removed. I also remember editing of the story line – leaving out the fact that there was a second black man in the car with King. And that nothing happened to him – no beating or anything else – because he responded to police orders to lay on the ground. Again, an inconvenient part of the story left out because it would have gone against the narrative of evil white police beating innnocent black men. And the price paid was over 50 dead in the ensuing riots. Which the media had whipped up and instigated. And this was back in 1992. The media is the enemy of the people. This needs to end.
Payback: Use the same tools and techniques to make audio clips of Obama, Holder, and Reno saying silly stupid things. Call it ‘Treyvoning’
Not a bad idea. Actually, the GOP has an add that shows Obama saying the same things in 2012 as he did in 2011, and it was not just paraphrasing, but word for word repetition.
No need for editing. Just show what they actually DO say.
Bryan – Good analysis. As others have said here, if they lied about this they’re probably lying about the ‘unknown’ producer being fired.
I know my friend Bill “Troll” Tullis in his acoustic forensic analyst role would have been all over this one. Thanks to all of you who continue this sort of good work; it is an art.
Blacks comprise 13% of the US population, Black Males 6% and Black YOUTHS , under 25 y.o., between 2-3% . Yet it this miniscule proportion of the US population which commits 60% of all the violent crimes in the USA and 50% of the murders. Statistically a Black ‘Youth’ is more likely to be murdered by ANOTHER Black ‘Youth’ than any other cause of death.
The list of the most violent and crime filled US Cities mirrors the list of US Cities with the highest Black populations. Scientific Surveys prove that Blacks genetically have a lower IQ than any other Ethnic group and are also more predisposed to mindless acts of violence and criminality. But you must not profile them Oh no that would be RACIST . LOL
But hush dont say a word the or the Left Wing moonbat PC thought Police will be all over you and the Black Race Hustlers , Obama, Sharpton, Jackson, Rev Wright, the Black Panthers, Spike Lee and their enablers the Lame Stream EneMedia and Hollywierdos like Roseanne Bar and Alex Baldwin will denounce you and maybe put a bounty on your head. The TRUTH must not be spoken.
Hey, you bigoted a-hole!
Facts, statistics and reality are raaaaaaaaaaaaacist!
MSNBC said so!
Yep like I said Delia the TRUTH must not be spoken in Obambi’s La La Left Wing Moonbatland.
If you read the black press, you’ll find the disparity in criminal statistics is explained away by selective and racial attentions that let white folks off the hook and target black folks. It is commonly stated in the black press that white folks do as many drugs but are handled differently. Profiling is added in, as if prison populations are somehow predicated on how often criminals drive and are therefore stopped. This would mean traffic stops are one of the greatest crime solving tools in America.
The black press is full of self-sealing and circular arguments whereby, for example, no black people in institutions is a sign of racism and conversely, any sign of black people IN institutions, such as President Obama, are people “who have defied the odds” of white racism, according to the author of “The New Jim Crow,” Michelle Alexander; one cannot ever win such ‘arguments.’
Similarly, Alexander writes “In the capital city of Washington, D.C. three out of four young African American males are expected to serve time in prison.” In some fashion, Alexander sees this as not an embarrassment to the black community but for whites and the black community is in disturbing agreement, not to mention liberal whites. Extend this ‘logic’ out to other areas of American life and the fantasy thinking behind the Martin shooting becomes clears. When it comes to race, the political Left is impervious to logic or statistics as they are simply stood up, turned around and used in whatever best suits.
Reading Alexander is like reading Nazi propaganda against Jews, where a suit is cut to fit in such a way that it is always a perfect fit, even when the sleeves are dragging on the ground. Although she is only one author, Alexander’s myths are reflected in the black press daily and in Derrick Bell’s critical race theory among others – even a relative moderate like Ta Nahesi-Coates at The Atlantic, and I say moderate for a racist, is fully on board the myths that stoke the Martin case. Given the mainstream entities that have taken sides in the Martin case, such as the NBA players association and our own President, the Martin case has perhaps been the worse showing of monumentally agreed upon racism and casual dissemination of racial myths by the black community in the half century since the Civil Rights era.
Lets take it a little further shall we. America’s Black run cities such as Detroit and Chicago are the most corrupt, violent and dangerous cities in America. But lets look further afield say to Africa. There is not one country in Africa , with the possible exception of Botswana which is now and always has been a tolerant multi racial state, where the indigenous population is safer, more prosperous and better fed than it was under those wicked white Colonialist. In fact Africa is rapidly slipping back into the constantly Tribal warfaring , Slave Owning economic cesspit it was before wicked ‘Whitey’ arrived. Just look at Zimbabwe under wicked Whitey it was Africa’s ‘Bread Basket’ now under Black rule it has descended in a few short years to become Africa’s ‘Basket Case’ and its not alone look at Somalia, Sudan, Nigeria, Kenya, Ethiopia, Egypt and even South Africa all heading down the same corrupt violent Black and Muslim ruled slope to oblivion.
Pragmatist – You forgot Washington DC and Baltimore.
Thanks Jack I am sure there are many, many more too. I am not American I am a Brit living in Asia and if I can see this clear as day with just a few keystrokes on line then why are so many Left Wing moonbats unable to do so. Or is it the case tat they dont WANT to know? This is the more likely answer as they cant have the PC Left Wing moonbat world they inhabit between their ears disrupted by TRUTH.
Uncomfortable or not, the facts you cite are just that, facts. And any honest discussion of race in this country would have to address those facts. Unfortunately, the very events transpiring under this Martin/Zimmerman case – threatening mobs, bounties on a man’s head, publishing addresses for mob retribution, media incitement – demonstrate the impossibility of having that conversation. And the irony of the DOJ’s silence in the face of this gangster mentality – especially from an AG who reprimanded America for its ‘cowardice’ in dealing with race issues – is rich beyond words.
Trayvon and Crystal Mangum
“Trayvon and Tawana,” (http://bit.ly/HskbLq), drew a number of parallels between the shooting of Trayvon Martin and the 1987 racial hoax perpetrated by Tawana Brawley and aided and abetted by career African-American agitator, Rev. Al Sharpton.
Just as Martin’s shooting by George Zimmerman has created a firestorm of protests against assumed racist profiling and bigotry, Brawley’s case was accompanied by the involvement of Sharpton and others of his ilk seeking publicity and an unquenchable thirst for racial unrest.
Just as with Trayvon Martin, the bases of Brawley’s claims were false, a tissue of lies that unraveled under official scrutiny.
Both Tawana Brawley’s inflammatory and destructively false accusations and those of Crystal Mangum provided templates for the never-ending campaign to tar white Americans as hateful bigots in the face of facts that prove the exact reverse.
Crystal Gail Mangum, an enterprising, black 27 year old student at North Carolina Central University, helped pay the bills by working as an “escort” and stripper for her pimps at the Allure Escort Service.
Long, seamy story short: Mangum was hired by members of the Duke University lacrosse team to “perform” for them at their off-campus residence for $800. She showed up gloriously drunk, and engaged in 5 minutes of lesbian groping with another “escort,” an Asian-American named Kim Roberts.
Mangum proceeded to exchange words with the team, exited in a huff, stormed around the house shouting and half-naked before driving off into the night with her associate whom she soon tried to kick out of the car, and was subsequently taken into custody by Durham, N.C. police.
Actually, that wasn’t the end of the story. It was more the beginning of a misbegotten tale of fantasy rape, manufactured deceit, and baseless charges of racism and violence, all of which were later disproven.
It was also the disgraceful tale of a district attorney who lied repeatedly and a prestigious university that opted to believe a prostitute rather than its own students in the interests of political correctness. . .
(Read more at http://www.genelalor.com/blog1/?p=21148.)
Wasn’t NBC at the forefront criticizing Andrew Breightbart for “Editing” the video of that woman in front of the NAACP talking about not helping a white farmer or some such?
Hmmmmmmmmm.
So he plays an unedited video but in his case not enough to show that she somehow changed her mind later on and that was an unfair edit, but when they deliberatly pull a section out and alter the conversation totally that was a “mistake.”
I think I get it now.
I agree, this cannot happen “inadvertently”. The vetting process means this affects upper level, key people at NBC. These people need to be outed, their names associated with this disgraceful act. Disgraceful even for them. It really is a new low. Keep the pressure on!
are a direct result of the media lies, incitement and propaganda. The race war has already started.
I recall Henry Kissinger recounting a request for him to talk on a topic, about 15 years ago.
He said he’d do it, if the contract stipulated NO EDITS. He was willing to talk for whatever length of time the network wanted, but they would have to present his complete remarks. The network refused, and the project was dropped.
Kissinger clearly knew about “editing” being used to change the meaning of what was said.
I am so tired of all the effort put in to destroying our country by liberals and their puppy-dog press enablers.
They aren’t even very good at hiding their tracks and seem to take for granted that they will get away with their malicious machinations. When caught they simply shrug it off and say, “Sorry about that. Let’s move on.”
We conservatives get caught up in the details of the chase and forget to turn the spotlight of truth on their motives and purpose. They really do want to radically change our government, our culture and America.
Excellent demonstration of the modern day editing technique. It would be one thing if a long-winded comment were whittled down to a shorter statement – BUT – to delete part of a response and completely hide the give and take with the 911 dispatcher is REALLY way beyond a “mistake.”
Perhaps Senator Joe McCarthy wasn’t that far off back in the 1950′s He was vilified for what he did and he did do it badly in terms of style and approach. But he may have been on to something very important, even dangerous, for the Republic.
When radicals are able to get into positions of power, these kinds of things happen more and more often to work to achieve designated and planned radical political agendas. Other radicals who have also gained power are able to protect their colleagues, and we rarely get to the truth. It is risk to our freedoms. These bad agendas are communicated too easily and twisted for designated purposes and then protected from full investigation and hidden in the dark halls of radicalism.
It’s the ever expanding power of the elite who for some reason tend always to be leftist in their thinking.
Hey, here’s an idea to prevent this kind of media manipulation in the future. Just start referring to violent black youth as honor students. It’s the term most media reports use to describe them anyway and it would be impossible for the media to call you a racist for using it. Voila, problem solved.
While interesting, I don’t think this column is exactly on point. Of course the edit was done intentionally – that’s what editors do. What is missing is whether anyone asked the question: Does the abridged version convey the same information as the original? It’s not the mechanical editing process per se that is at question, it is the human judgment. Anyone who has had experience with the press knows that quoting out of context or outright misquoting is pretty standard fare for them. Readers Digest makes an effort to abridge content without altering the meaning, but not the leftstream media. And yes, the “errors” are pretty much always in the same direction.
Recordings don’t edit themselves. This guy ‘mistakenly’ loaded this on to his editing software? Really? And then he ‘mistakenly’ edited out the 911 operator’s question? And then he ‘mistakenly’ joined the two parts back together again? And they expect anyone to believe this?? Occupy NBC!!!!
I don’t think NBC is asserting that the tape was accidentally edited; I think they acknowledge it was edited for whatever reason, perhaps to shorten it. I think they are asserting that the “error” was that they edited the tape in such a way as to alter the meaning.
Yes, it reminds me of the editing of the Rodney King tape; and also the deceit in the coverage of the “assault weapons” ban (e.g. showing full-auto weapons).
They complain about the fragmentation of the population in effect into separate nations, each getting its information from different sources, each side not talking to one another, but I suspect their real complaint is the loss of their ability to control the conversation.
(And actually, messages on comment boards _does_ provide a location for people from both sides to talk to each other. But the anonymity of the comment boards prevents them from intimidating alternate viewpoints into silence.
And lets not forget the “accidental” editing by MSNBC (not that they are really “journalists, but still) when they edited out the head of the black guy with the gun at the AZ rally for Obama, and had the nerve to say that they were concerned about “racial overtones….white people showing up with guns”.
The reason I mention it is because it is just another example of TV editing deliberately to incite racial tension and frustration. I don’t know if it’s strictly to make a few more dollars or if it is more sinister than that.
Oh, and lets not forget about ABC who finally got around to “enhancing” the video showing that Zimmerman had (gasp!) head wounds.
Let’s not forget MSNBC and the racist assault rifle gun owner picture that they posted. Remember, guy in a white shirt at the president’s engagement in AZ. The photo was real, only problem is that they cropped the arms and head out of the pic, in the real pic they guy is black. MSNBC, fair and balanced, hahahahahahahah
Of course it happened by chance. Did you ever hear about evolution?