WaPo Media Watchdog Barks Up Wrong Tree, Protects NBC

WaPo media watchdog Erik Wemple was all over NBC when their bogus Zimmerman edit was limited to the March 27 Today Show.  Now that the bogus edit has been discovered at the March 22 Today show and three times at NBC Miami, he is all over the critics calling for a more extensive investigation and is burying deep in his links their discovery of the broader mess. It looks as if Mr. Wemple was willing to follow the story until it actually led somewhere.

There was a time when WaPo media watchdog Erik Wemple considered NBC's deplorable editing of the George Zimmerman 911 "He looks black" call to be a big story - here are 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 posts covering it. Each deals with the tempest around the March 27 Today Show, described in detail here. Eventually NBC apologized, explained that time constraints were the problem, and fired a producer.  The firing prompted this tough talk from Mr. Wemple:

The sheer breathtakingness of that elision has convinced some onlookers that NBC acted with malice in this instance — that it was out to portray Zimmerman as someone prone to racial profiling. The New York Post spoke for this group in a Thursday editorial arguing that the audio editing “constitutes pretty damning evidence of willful misconduct by NBC News.” NBC’s statement from Tuesday contends it was simply an error, and Reuters’s sources at the network say the same thing: “The sources described the producer’s actions as a very bad mistake, but not deliberate.”

What we know is that it couldn’t possibly look worse. The audio editing appeared to go out of its way to besmirch Zimmerman. It would have been easier for NBC to have simply let the actual, and less damning, version of the tape play for its viewers. Yet until I see or find more evidence, I am not going to follow the New York Post’s diagnosis of willful misconduct. Colossal errors take all forms, including ones that look like conspiracies.

It couldn't look worse?  Well, how about if NBC critics discovered that the same bogus Zimmerman edit appeared on the March 22 Today Show?  Did the NBC investigation uncover, explain, and apologize for that?

It couldn't look worse?  How about if NBC critics discovered that the same bogus Zimmerman edit appeared three times in text stories at NBC Miami from March 19/20?  Did the time constraints of television also create an unexplained pixel shortage? Did NBC's investigation uncover, explain and apologize for that?

It couldn't look worse?  How about if the three NBC Miami stories from March 19/20 were "updated" on April 9, the day after critics pointed them out, to eliminate the bogus Zimmerman text? Did NBC's investigation explain and apologize for that?

Sounds like a story, right!  Right? Wrong.  Mr. Wemple is now taking Brent Bozell to task for "rooting for the story" and calling for a Congressional investigation.  Are readers trying to find any mention by Mr. Wemple of the fact that NBC's transgressions go well beyond their investigation and apology?  They can, if they click on Mr. Wemple's third link in which he describe Mr. Bozell as "gone activist".  Mr. Wemple then highlights the Bozell press release without noting the lead:

Alexandria, VA – Today, Media Research Center President Brent Bozell announces the media watchdog is calling upon Congress to investigate Comcast / NBC News for the intentional editing of the George Zimmerman audio that was broadcast multiple times and subsequently flamed the fires of racial hatred and animosity:

The word "multiple" serves as a clue there, which is probably why it was skipped.

Nowhere in his extensive text at that post or in this quick summary does Mr. Wemple find time for a sentence noting that NBC used the bogus edit five times but has only apologized and "explained" one instance. In fact, the latest Wemple summary points the other way:

In case you missed it---NewsBusters, the Web arm of the conservative Media Research Center, has done strong work on the NBC Zimmerman tape-editing fiasco. It was the first to spot the gaffe and kept following the story as it developed. Then it lapsed into rooting for it.

"The gaffe"?  How about "The gaffes", plural?  Only the most diligent of readers will crack this code.

There was a time when journalists thought the cover-up was as important as the crime.  Now, the NBC cover-up seems to be the signal to ignore the crime.

STILL, HE DESERVES A PROFILE IN COURAGE: Mr. Wemple is at least acknowledging that there is an NBC story out there, even as he minimizes it.  By way of contrast, Brian Stelter, media lapdog at the NY Times, broke the story of the firing of an NBC producer and has stayed away from this since.

I do worry that Mr. Wemple will take a lesson from this and conclude that it is safest to stay a million miles away from these troglodyte righties even if that means also staying 999,000 miles from the truth. It's working for Stelter!

Comments

[Marcia's easy, farts farcically.]

Heh, 'gaffes' plural. Always the same question, the same question. Incompetence or disingenuousness.
===============

[narciso]

Quite a Nazgul he is;

http://dailycaller.com/2011/09/15/should-erik-wemple-be-attacking-sarah-palin/

Taking a cretinous lie, and then using it as
a boost for a charge of hypocrisy.

[narciso]

Treacher is still on the case, with the Columbo 'one more question, (I mean tweet)

http://dailycaller.com/2012/04/10/the-george-zimmerman-911-scandal-is-now-being-called-editgate-and-nbc-is-acting-accordingly/

[bgates]

How about "The gaffes", plural?

How about "The slander and libel"?

[narciso]

I'm still curious, how did they get the records, as an audiofile, or from the transcript, either way they had it wrong.

[GMAX]

The WAPO? The same guys that with a straight face put out a Presidential poll that had Obama leading by 7% but had 11% (ELEVEN) more Democrats than Republicans? Are you kidding me? If they can be that shameless they most certainly can sweep NBC transcretions under the rug. No doubt their seething hatred for Bozell trumps whatever shards of proper journalism standards that still remain in the deeper recesses of their craniums.

[GMAX]

transgressions

Sheesh

[Cecil Turner]

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

TM!

(The original, not that hoodie dude.)

[narciso]

They hired him from the City Paper, their local alternate weekly, (too left for the post) I believe.

[narciso]

This is what is focusing Stelter's time;

http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/10/fox-news-is-said-to-have-a-mole/

[Captain Hate]

Is it any wonder South Park snarked this loser? http://www.jammiewf.com/2012/classy-alec-baldwin-and-fiancee-taunt-his-alleged-stalker-on-twitter/

[narciso]

Of course, I would tell Stelter, ask Gabe Sherman, he's supposedly been using the same mole, if he exists.

[Tom Maguire]

Bringing people together! From her Twitter I see that NBC Miami reporter Ms. Hernandez is due on April 18, so good luck to her. Blogger Les Paul (aka Les Jones) and his wife just had a baby, and we hope all is well.

The media wars will be raging when these two newbies are headed off to college and J-School, so if the parents take a hiatus from the story we will understand and soldier on.

[narciso]

'Bueller, Bueller'

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/ND11Ak01.html

[narciso]

Rob on twitter, asked a good question, that Christina deflected, this is as much a local story, as anything else, yet they relied on
the network feed.

[Jack is Back!]

Isn't all this stuff - NBC 911 editing, Fox moles, etc. - just a general case of the media acting stupid? Let's remember most of these twits come out of journalism schools infected with the Ayers Contagion.

[narciso]

To sum up, Shater wants to turn down the IMF loan, to punish the SCAF, does that make any
sense,

[Dave]

This story reminds me of nothing so much as the way cops behave when "one of their own" gets caught breaking the law.

[Melinda Romanoff]

'lanched.

[TomB]

GMAX that poll was much worse than 11% more R than D. It was 34% D, 23% R, 34% I. 34 is 47.8% more than 23...

[Rob Crawford]

Press "watchdogs" and "ombudsmen" are defensive measures, not attempts at accountability. The sooner we realize that and treat them with the appropriate contempt, the better.

[Extraneus]

"Alleged" firing, TM. We don't know that anyone was actually fired, nor do we have reason to believe the person who said they were.

[matt]

a hell of an article by James Fallows on why Americans hate and don't trust the media from 1996.

Mike Wallace encapsulates the anti-American American news media and why we must despise them.

[NK]

Here's something we can all agree about (I think) - the Legacy Media have been near universal shameless cheerleaders for the lynch mob since the case was pushed into public view by the greedy lawyer and the race hustlers. They are disgusting.

[PersonFromPorlock]

The Five Phases of Information in the Information Age:

1. No comment.

2. It never happened.

3. It wasn't all that bad.

4. We do not comment on active lawsuits.

5. It's time to put the matter behind us.

[GMAX]

TomB 34- 23 = 11

Rasmussen has the self ID numbers at R + 3 by the way, so swing +11 D to + 3 R and tell me what happens to a 7 % lead.

[Rick Lockridge]

I have edited breaking news segments at two networks and it's true, the pressure to conform to a time limit is intense. The NBC people involved showed poor judgment--you don't get to that level making such potentially controversial edits; rule number one is play it straight and don't stick your neck out for someone else's agenda--and I won't criticize their firings, but I will say the list of egregious mass-media offenders in this story is a long list indeed.

This is one of the worst examples I can remember of "go ahead and convict the guy in the media; what can possibly go wrong?" media groupthink. To single out NBC is to ignore ABC's almost equally vile "no injuries visible to Zimmerman's head" video, which was later miraculously "redigitized" and aired--without any hint of an apology or admission of wrongdoing by the reporter--a few days later, and to ignore the many print stories that unabashedly poured gasoline on the flames.

My point is: excoriate NBC if you like, but do not forget that many other media outlets behaved disgracefully during the early days of this story and some continue to do so. (Today's NYT account of Eric Holder's speech to a black group today, for example, makes no mention of Holder's refusal to address the likely hate crimes committed by the New Black Panthers and, arguably, by Spike Lee).

There are plenty of targets for your outrage. Make sure you don't just go after the biggest.

[Rick Lockridge]

I meant "alleged" firings, of course. Extraneus is quite right.

[Bruce]

Talking about inconvenient truths: Associated Press “forgets” inconvenient part of Zimmerman story - the inconvenient truth being that Zimmerman had apparently two years earlier had spearheaded the action to bring the son of a SPD officer to justice:

Two years ago, after a black homeless man was beaten by the son of a Sanford policeman, passions soon cooled. The assailant, Justin Collison, initially wasn’t charged but eventually was arrested after footage of the episode went viral on YouTube. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor and received probation.

The relevance, at least in mind, being that this refutes the narrative of Zimmerman being a racist, and his shooting of Martin being racially motivated.

[Jane (where is Jon Corzine?)]

Great comments Rick and Bruce.

Bruce, I think that was (perhaps) the reason the police originally arrested Zimmerman, and teh prosecutor, who was brought in, let him go.

[NK]

Matt/TomM-- Matt-- thanks for the link. that Fred Friendly show about the "Media" and the "Military" was as important as anything in me becomeing a media hating conservative. The YouTube clip imbedded in that link has a personal hero of mine Lt Col Connell, who bitch slaps Mike Wallace into nodding in agreement. TomM-- I urge to consider a post about that great day when a grunt Marine told the mighty Wallace what for, and he was absolutely right, and Wallace backed down. Another copy of the link-- see YouTube imbedded therein: http://pjmedia.com/eddriscoll/2012/04/09/when-losers-write-history/

[NK]

PS: Connell's statement is the last 30 seconds or so: "they're not Americans, they're just journalists..." Classic

[jgreene]

The WAPO, NBC, MSNBC, AP... all of them are blatant LIARS. The have totally misrepresented this story and have fanned the flames of a false white racism story.

The Black usual lemmings just follow Jessie, Al and the thug New Black Panther guy over the cliff.

Now the UN is calling for REPARATIONS for Trayvon. Joke? These third world jackasses in Sandford, FL and at the UN are MORONS.

[Extraneus]

Although recent pics have been available for quite some time (weeks?), here's what AP is going with today:

Is there any excuse for that? Not time constraints, not pixel limitations. And look at that poor dead boy's expression...

(Right click to view the whole thing.)

[Sue]

Rush is reporting that Zimmerman will be charged this afternoon with something.

[Jane (where is Jon Corzine?)]

I wonder if there will be rioting regardless of the charge. It seems Holder, Sharpton, Ogletree et al are doing everything they can to gin up a race war.

[Jay]

According to the Washington Post:

Florida special prosecutor Angela Corey plans to announce as early as Wednesday afternoon that she is charging neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman in the shooting of Trayvon Martin, according to a law enforcement official close to the investigation.

[Adjoran]

The reason WaPo and NYT "watchdogs" aren't all over NBC is that their own companies do the same thing all the time. They can't afford to be caught criticizing colleagues for the tricks they all pull constantly, the whole "objective news" facade would come crumbling down.

[Frau Regenmantel]

Another crisis to enjoy manipulate? It reminds me of the terrible East TX dragging murder which supplied election ads against GWB.

Hey, Holder, how's your debate on race going?
Pfui!

[pagar]

Extraneus, I'd wanted to comment on your 05:07 AM at the "Where's Zimmerpman" thread but the thread seemed to have died before I could.

I believe you have identified the entire leftist position for the upcoming election.
They want no defense for anything good in America.They don't want any lawful carry, because it might be used to defend against criminals. They don't want us defending our country with Neighborhood Watch volunteers or US military volunteers.
----------------------------------------
Now I see Allen West is under attack for saying we have "80 Communist is the US House". Those facts have been around for a long time

"The Communist Party USA identifies Progressive Caucus members as its “allies in Congress.”

Read more: http://blog.beliefnet.com/watchwomanonthewall/2011/08/socialists-in-congress-with-ties-to-communist-party-usa.html#ixzz1rl2LMXMi

May God bless Allen West as he works to root out the Communists/Socialist/Democrats seeking to destroy our country.

Every single one of the Communists on that list who are US house members could be defeated in Nov. We need to support their defeat and Allen West.

[mark l.]

a simple question for wemple:

how much should nbc pay out to zimmerman?

the settlement is the endpoint. how long it takes to get there...

I wouldn't take anything less than 7 figures.

when a paid employee of the network is calling for "escalation", based upon his own racism, or the belief in the doctored audio's veracity, the issue transcends the richard jewel incident.

nbc paid 750k to jewel, when they were part of the media posse, following the govt's investigation.

nbc, in this case, is naked, out on a limb, and trying to weather a blizzard that no other media dared go out in.

[narciso]

Stelter you can go back to whatever it is you do.

http://www.mediaite.com/online/fox-news-spokesman-we-found-the-mole/

[NK]

Alan West-- American Hero
Legacy Media-- slags
Mark L-- if charges are filed against GZ, I don't think he's ever pursuing a lawsuit against NBC or anyone else.

[Gregory Koster]

NK, Connell got in good shots at Wallace in that show, but the audience was hostile to Connell, and I've always thought the moderator set Connell up. The hypothetical situation was the US was at war with "North Kusan" and there was a reporter embedded with North Kusanese troops. Said troops see US forces approaching and are set to ambush. Question: should the embedded American reporter try to warn the US troops? Peter Jennings got the question and at first said, yes, he'd try to warn the US troops. Wallace gave Jennings the works in the followup and bullied him into retracting. The audience was plainly on Wallace's side. But think: any moderator knew that Wallace was 200 proof liberal, and of course would be in favor of letting American troops be slaughtered. How easy it would have been to follow up with this question to Wallace:

There's a lot of nut groups in America, men and women who are primed to explode. Suppose you infiltrated one of these groups to compose a piece about them. Suppose further, one member of the group took you for a ride, and suddenly stopped the car, took out a rifle, and started stalking someone. Should you as a journalist, "Going after a story" just like the reporter embedded with the South Kusanese, have called the cops? Would it make a difference if the assassin was aiming at Martin Luther King? It would? Well, Mr. Wallace, why is King worth your abandoning the "journalist" pose, but American troops aren't?

Didn't happen. Not surprising, since the moderator was an Ivy League prof, from Harvard, I think.

[zefal]

Please don't squeeze the MSM. Only Mr. Wemple can squeeze the MSM's Zimmerman coverage.

[mark l.]

in light of recent news/indictment:

*remember how you felt, and remember your race when the OJ trial verdict came down.

I'm calling a reverse OJ. Big arc on this 'wheel of justice'.

possible evidence, present now, that was not before?

powder burns. if the gun was 3 feet, zimmerman walks. if the gun was 6 feet, we are still talking 'reverse OJ verdict'-there will be a hispanic on the jury...he walks, but enters the 'pantheon/inferno' of James Earl Ray.

did I mention we are having an election where the president is black, in less than 7 months?

[Patriot4Freedom]

Posted by: matt | April 11, at 12:33 PM

Matt - Thanks for the great link to the Atlantic piece on the media !

[narciso]

Well we saw this, when the AP imbedded itself with the Mahdi and other insurgents,
and Michael Ware and 'Taliban Tim', McGuirk, and Bobby Ghosh.