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?