An anonymous producer for NBC News has been fired by the network for his role in the edited George Zimmerman 911 call from the night of Trayvon Martin’s death.
The 911 recording in question was aired March 27 on NBC’s Today show. The revised version failed to include the 911 dispatcher’s inquiry as to the race of the suspect. This lead listeners to believe that Zimmerman had volunteered the information regarding the suspect’s race when he stated:
“This guy looks like he’s up to no good. He looks black.”
Without hearing the question regarding race that was asked by the dispatcher, it comes as no surprise that there were those who were lead to believe that Zimmerman was quite possibly a racist who had commit a hate crime against a black Florida teenager, Trayvon Martin.
Whatever the case happens to be, it’s in everyone’s best interest if news reports contain all of the facts without unnecessary censorship as to allow the audience to draw their own conclusions from the information presented before them.
An internal investigation by NBC lead to the dismissal of one anonymous producer in Miami, Florida. The network has also issued an apology after learning of their own regrettable mistake in airing the edited 911 call. According to Reuters, more than a half dozen employees at NBC were interviewed in the wake of their selective editing disaster. Staff members at NBC News were “in shock” after learning of the alterations made to the tape.
Do you think that NBC was justified in firing the producer responsible for selective editing the George Zimmerman 911 call?
too right he should be fired. I wouldve thought differently of the killing if I knew all of what he said..
anyways, I seen an up to date picture of these two. TM was no saint like the media is making him out to be. that picture that the media keep showing is 5+yrs old. a later picture would show him in prison in an orange jumpsuit. & he got throwing pout of school cause they found traces of crack or heroin on him. but because a black teen was killed, has overshadowed this fact.
I'm just an audio guy.. I make no claims to anything else.
I took the 911 call with the most audio informatiion regarding screams, pulled down some of the louder noises (the actual shot and a few times the woman caller gets a bit loud) so they don't hurt you while listening to the softer noises… Then ran it at a slower speed and pitch corrected it 100 percent true. Anyone with an ear for music can tell not a note has been changed.. Digital affords you this luxury. In the analog days we had to physically slow the tape/medium down and you lose pitch and clarity.
THIS AUDIO IS NOT ENHANCED per sey.. not like enhancing a photo.. the only enhancing has been to adust volume levels so you don’t hurt your ear listening to everything at relative volume levels.
There are a few swirling artifacts in this copy because I had to compres the wav file to a 128 kbps mp3 to fit on my page so you had a player to hear it on.. These artifacts are slight and will not distract.
http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=11548279
This exercise is just a way to access the call and hear things you would not of as easily (but every bit of audio information from the original is still there) just listening to the raw recording. Akin to slowing down video without the frame per second limitations.
It is time that we look at the Trayvon Martin killing for what it is — a criminal homicide, only incidental to race. One cannot draw a much different conclusion by listening to the cries for help heard in the recorded 911 calls.
Even without them, however, it seems improbable that a confident, stocky-build man, with a gun in his holster, would need to beg for help — notwithstanding the claims of Zimmerman, his father and his brother. Our understanding of human nature and common sense tells us that such cries would come from someone who is severely threatened and acutely aware of his imminent death.
Any doubts of this are removed by merely listening to those multiple “help, help” pleas loud enough to be picked up during the 911calls. Aside from their heart-wrenching intensity, we also note that these cries go on for over a minute. Was Zimmerman telling Martin during that time that he was about to pull the trigger? Why else would Martin need to plead for help with such desperation?
If Zimmerman was threatening to shoot Martin in those two minutes before we hear the shot, what we have then is a cold blooded murder – and by one clever enough to now use our racial divide to get away with it. We should see through this tactic and not let him do so. Not only because such defense would further divide us, but also because an unrepentant criminal would get away with murder.
http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=11548279
I want to know who the producer was that was fired, were they black or white……why all the hush hush……on a scoop or something news worth such as lying of this magnatude, they would normally trot out who it was for the attenion and ratings……i wonder……who was this anonymous producer…..