Breitbart reports on the quiet firing of a second producer in its accidental, incidental, nothing to see here dishonest edit of George Zimmerman’s 911 call.
There has been a second firing at NBC over the misleading edit of George Zimmerman’s 911 call. A report published yesterday afternoon by the Miami Herald identifies reporter/producer Jeff Burnside as the individual responsible for the edits which appeared in an NBC6 news story on March 19th and again on March 20th.
Burnside worked for WTVJ news, the NBC owned and operated station in Miami where the edit appears to have originated. SFLTV blog confirms his firing but says it was not for the edit that appeared on the Today show, but a similar edit that appeared on WTVJ. So that makes two separate versions of the same “accidental” edit that NBC ran with this on the air.
Back to the Breitbart report:
Burnside’s social media accounts show he was heavily involved in the Trayvon Martin story beginning on March 19th. The next day he interviewed one of Zimmerman’s neighbors at the scene of the shooting. The story he wrote to accompany the interview (since corrected) is one of the two places the misleading edit appeared. In the original version Burnside quotes from the Zimmerman 911 call with a misleading ellipsis, “This guy looks like he’s up to no good…he looks black.” On March 22nd Burnside posted this photo of himself interviewing Al Sharpton who was in Florida for a Trayvon Martin rally. He also attended a rally with Ben Jealous of the NAACP.
The Sharpton connection is key. His status as major advocate in this story, and host on MSNBC, constitutes a glaring conflict of interest that taints the network up and down the line. NBC has failed to maintain editorial standards in dealing with this conflict. And even in the second firing, the network is unapologetic.
“The network is very sensitive about the whole Al Sharpton/MSNBC issue, so when the right-wing bloggers started hammering, they needed to throw them fresh meat,” said the station source, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak about the controversy. “It’s not at all clear how this happened. Obviously, there was miscommunication.”
Actually, it’s pretty clear how this happened, creating the same bad edit that aired multiple times and ended up on the web, all within the same network. Burnside found himself in the middle of a career-making story, interviewing heavyweights like Sharpton for pieces that had the potential to go national and put him on the network honchos’ radar. He edited the Zimmerman 911 call to drive the narrative forward that Zimmerman racially profiled and then murdered Trayvon Martin. From there, it looks like NBC Today producers found Burnside’s edit too good to check, and aired it and slapped it on their web sites. The network’s editorial failure trickles all the way up to Today executive producer Jim Bell. NBC has only grudgingly taken any action in response to this, and still has not corrected its false Today show reports on the air. Corrections have been relegated to NBC’s web sites.To WTVJ’s credit, the station has aired a correction and publicly fired its big-name reporter.
But behind the scenes, it’s all the right-wing bloggers’ fault. For catching NBC red-handed.
Oh, one more thing, just for fun…
Burnside, 52, won several regional Emmy awards and was known for his investigative reports and coverage of environmental issues. Named “Top TV Reporter” by the New Times in 2007, he is on the board of directors of the Society of Environmental Journalists.
>But…he’s an Emmy winner!
Ha…reminds me of the line from “Elizabeth” when Walsingham arrests Norfolk:
Norfork: “You can’t arrest me, I’m Norfolk!”
Walsingham: “You were Norfolk, take him!”
And in the next scene you see his head on a pike……
Good movie! They knew how to treat traitors back then…..
“Second Producer Fired in Zimmerman 911 Call Edit”
That is NOT a fact.
ONE producer, Jeff Burnside, was fired. NBC ALLEDGES that another producer was fired.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegedly
“An allegation (also called adduction) is a claim of a fact by a party in a pleading, which the party claims to be able to prove. Allegations REMAIN ASSERTIONS WITHOUT PROOF, UNTIL THE CAN BE PROVED.[1]
It’s fun. Try it. “NBC alledges that…..”
Somebody said something about mockery being a potent weapon? I can’t imagine a worse mockery to a news organization than preceding all of their releases with, “allegedly”.
Emmy winning journalist: “Changing the world, one lie at a time.”
I hope Zimmrman can sue the ink out of them!!
Ben Wattenberg has a good story in his politica memoirs about a tv appearance with Paul Ehrlich, one of the prominent global warming nutcases. After their segment was done, back in the green room, Wattenberg confronted Ehrlich. “You know what you said out there isn’t true, Paul.” Ehrlich’s reply, “I know. It’s lying for Justice.” Just another illustration of why facts don’t matter unless they confirm a preconceived notion.
The article says the reporter was under a time crunch. Whuh? Creative editing like that takes MORE time.
It also says they’re adding layers to their editorial process to prevent this sort of thing from happening again. All it really takes is honest, conscientious news staff.
Time crunch (definition): leaving out actual words a person says in highly critical conversation with 911 dispatcher that don’t agree with the narrative you want to emphasize. IOW, implying a racist motivation, one lie at a time.
Not journalism…..JOURNOLISTism
Remember also that Sharpton is an honored guest panelist on MSNBC “Morning Joe”.
Dan Rather still claims that his story was true years after being removed. This guy has purported that man-made acts have affected the climate and gets rewards for it. No doubt he will find a cushy job promoting cap and trade. I thought wire-fraud was a crime – and certainly – he committed a fraud using the wires.
even more fodder for Zimmerman’s suit against NBC and Al Sharpton. Probably won’t collect (especially from Al).
Now it’s come out that Zimmerman’s maternal great-grandfather was a black Peruvian. They wanted this to be a white on black crime soooo bad and now the guy gets less and less white every day. What to do? What to do?
Imagine a dial face with the Dem Party’s list of protected groups where an arrow gyrates wildly between the different choices until springs and cogs pop out and smoke rises.
A couple years back Sports Illustrated ran an article bemoaning the small number of blacks in baseball, making it into a major racial issue. Turns out, in calculating the racial background of the major leaguers, Sports Illustrated decided that any player who was black, but had a Hispanic name, could not be counted as black, hence the small numbers. So according to Sports Illustrates Zimmerman’s black-Peruvian grandmother clearly does not count!
The media has been reporting more about scandals and ethics problems lately, yet I don’t think human nature has changed much to affect the true level of corruption in the last decade.
For some reason, they suddenly want us to know how bad we all are…
Bryan. why do you use the word “journalist” like it has any substance. Journalist is what you scrape off the bottom of your shoe after a careless walk in the dog park.
Bryan – You wrote: “He edited the Zimmerman 911 call to drive the narrative forward that Zimmerman racially profiled and then murdered Trayvon Martin.” That sounds an awful lot like the prosecutor’s affidavit accusing Zimmerman of 2nd degree murder. Do you think the prosecutor was influenced by NBC?
Yes, I do.
Not just influenced but looking to make political career hay out of it for future use/income enhancement.
Remember, Al Sharpton isn’t the only bigoted race-baiter/profiteer, he’s just the most visible one. Plenty of hangers-on and the like to be found when one of these brushfires gets started.
The media have turned to Zimmerman-Martin story into a circus. It’s going to be very difficult for a jury to remain uneffected on either side. They will have a tough job, but will have to stay focused only on the evidence presented and may have to face an angry public after they determine Zimmerman’s guilt, or innocense, regrdless of which way they decide.
As far as journalists are concerned, the breakdown has been nearly across the board in our society, incrementally, for the last nearly fifty years. We used to believe in absolutes, including good, bad, right and wrong. We have accepted the Liberal standard of situational ethics and it shows in every aspect of our lives now.
No telling how that will play out over the next decade, or more, but our youth may be having second thoughts about that situational ethics standard. They are watching it play out in lots of ways they do want to repeat.I won’t be around to see it, but as we used to say, hope springs eternal.
“…may have to face an angry public after they determine Zimmerman’s guilt, or innocense, regardless of which way they decide.”
An angry public isn’t the problem. That a significant proportion of the angry public will burn down their cities is.
There will be riots in many major cities this year. If they don’t start with the Zimmerman verdict, they will be initiated by the OWS and subversive groups in the not too distant future. Then we can expect more when Obama is defeated in November.
I remember the riots of the 1960′s and so I say if that is what you want to do then we’ll just go right ahead and have pretty much the same results there is one small difference this time there are many legally armed citizens in many states now days and back in the 60′s that wasn’t true, Vietnam was not a problem till the late 60′s and the riots were in the mid 60′s so now unlike then there are many well trained Vets out there also armed, I think the rioting will be short lived and very painful to those that start them! If you are already a minority it is not good to start rioting and reducing you numbers even further!
“Then we can expect more when Obama is defeated in November.”
No, what we can expect are the riots celebrating BHO’s re election.
Most of the websites I go to are non political, and the folks there think they are “independent” thinkers, but in fact they are lock step liberals who believe whatever the MSM tells them to believe. They are going to vote for BHO again because the ONLY thing they really and truly are passionate about is keeping abortion legal and contraceptives readily available.
BHO could announce he’s signed an EO declaring martial law , repealing the entire bill of rights, and declaring the 13th amendment null and void so he can sell off excess citizens into slavery to middle eastern countries in the name of ‘balancing the budget’…And if he added, “Oh, and the EO also requires insurance companies to pay 100% of the costs of contraception, and will require tax payer dollars to pay for every abortion in the US”… and all would be forgiven.
So many of the younger “independents” and “moderates” are going to go for BHO again, and liberals and Democrats will vote for him a second time because they either “always vote Democratic”, or they still believe they deserve applause for voting for The Black Guy.
(OK , so I’m being a little hyperbolic; sue me…But seriously, the NDAA signing “with reservations” got no attention at these sites, SOPA got no attention, when BHO breaks his veto promise and signs CISPA “with reservations”, this will go unnoticed , “Fast and Furious”, not a word….But (for just one example) GA Representative Terry England’s ‘farm animal’ remarks got page after page of enraged comments on not just TE but ALL “rethuglicans” and “CONservatives”. As did Rush Limbaugh/Susan Fluke. As did AZ’s law that “declares women pregnant 2 weeks before conception” . As did ___)
>>> the ONLY thing they really and truly are passionate about is keeping abortion legal and contraceptives readily available <<<
Bet they add something to that exclusive list when they become unemployed and/or their money runs out.
He might survive doing that. But I doubt it. I hope it doesn’t come to that. That would mean we would be just like Iraq.
“It’s going to be very difficult for a jury to remain uneffected on either side”
Maybe not.
I didnt like that Florida slut with the missing/dead toddler one little bit….but when you (the government) alledge 1st degree murder, without even so much as a known cause of death, your case is doomed if you apply the law as written.
The Florida jury got that one right…. however unpopular, sickening and “unjust” it may have felt to them.
Proof. Beyond a reasonable doubt. Its a tough standard to meet.
That kid coulda died from any number of ways due to pure neglect while Mom was out partying…
Choked on a toy, finger in a light socket, head first into a toilet, accidental poisoning/OD or hell, even sold off to some pedophiles for crack while mom was in a haze. Death is no PROOF of murder. Only proof the kids dead.
When you alledge someone did it (in the first degree?), your story as a prosecutor needs to be tighter than “aw come-on, what else COULD it be!?”.
Proof. Beyond a reasonable doubt. The Government didnt have it that time.
So, the Zimmerman jury just might in fact read the law, look at the burden of proof requirement, and see the charges just dont apply.
Stranger things have happened.
Burnside = lying POS
Jeff Burnside’s crime is a misdemeanor compared to Michelle Gillen’s felony where she and another “reporter”, rigged a Chevy pickup truck to explode when hit on the side in an accident.
This is the same network for both incidents. Apparently, lapsing into habitual behavior is what this network does best.
We had a rule of thumb in the military;
When it comes to ‘BIG MEDIA”, this is the minimum required suspicion.
I’m not surprised; reality is not enough for liberals, not even close; they gerrymander it as if they worshiped a gospel that’s a cross between “1984″ and “The Sting.”
When can we expect the whole management of NBC will be let go or resign? Didn’t these guys just do what management expected of them?
Big Media = Big Government
I hope some of the victims, those assaulted by Blacks to gain revenge for Trayvon, sue NBC for conspiracy to incite race riots.That would yield meaningful social justice.
Or better yet those victims that are still able will go to NBC studios and burn and destroy the entire facility then leave messages to those that survive that that they are looking for them and their families to do the same to their homes and terrorize them some!
Just to play Devil’s Advocate, is it possible that the edited clip was created in Florida by Burnside, then transmitted to New York where another producer, due to the “time crunch,” failed to check that the clip was an accurate representation?
Correction Alert: he is an activist and journolist, not advocate and journalist.
If Zimmerman is found innocent and this turns out like the Rodney King death riots NBC/this “reporter” should do hard time.
Can we thank the LSM, and in NBC in particular, for this particular hate crime?
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Journalism/2012/04/26/Motivated-By-Medias-lies-hate-crime
The trouble w/ these idiots journalist are very low morals. They will lie, cheat & make up stuff just to further their own liberal goals. I wouldn’t watch NBC, ABC, CBS or CNN if someone paid me. It is just all bs media full of half-truths, lies & slanted news. Just like they were taught at j school.
The ‘trial by media’ stuff has always bothered me. It aids in blocking real justice. It dirties and polarizes the jury pool. And with 24-hour networks having so much time they need to fill, it’s just get worse. I find it a travesty and an insult to people as a whole. It tells us, basically, we’re all too stupid to understand right from wrong!
I have noticed, though, that the big 3 aren’t covering the topic as much as they were weeks ago. I can’t ignore the correlation between that and the information that Mr. Zimmerman is actually not a “white guy”. But then again, news gets older quicker these days.
I do feel bad for thinking he was guilty so soon. But I have always felt, as I do with all these big-headline cases, it would be awful if he did something wrong and gets away with it but far worse if he did nothing wrong but is punished for it. To be held responsible and accountable for something you did not do is a true crime IMO.
He will forever be seen as a racist who killed a kid by too many and T. Martin will forever be gone. It was a horrible day that has forever change two families. I wish them all the best.
How about for once in our lives we let the court decide based on the evidence and we don’t let the media, of any persuasion, prattle on with their self serving story lines about the guilt, innocence, or (for crying out loud in the dark) racial make-up of the involved parties. I am sick of all of this crap. How does anyone get a fair trial and justice in this society when our media act out a bunch of political crap over everything that happens? That killing did not affect my life at all. Let the courts decide what should be done and let the rest of us(especially the news people) respect the decisions of the jury. This is why we have courtrooms placed all around our country.
Having watched the OJ Simpson trial, I don’t see how you can have such faith in the courts
“board of directors of the Society of Environmental Journalists”
Explains a few things. He’s just following the Peter Gleick model.
Do you have his home address? Time to get tweeting.