How The Media Falsely Portrayed Zimmeman

I hope Zimmerman can sue every one of these news outlets who intentionally misstated the facts.
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Besides propelling the case into the national spotlight, the biased coverage of some media outlets did apparently have at least one other effect. One witness, Jeannee Manalao, stated that she had mistakenly believed Martin to have been younger than he was at the time of his death because the media had only shown older photos of the Florida teen.

The trial was marred by numerous incidents of sloppy and deliberately unfair reporting. NBC News is currently being sued by Zimmerman for editing the audio of a telephone call that Zimmerman made to 911 during the night of the altercation with Martin. In the NBC-edited recording, Zimmerman is made to sound as if he was following Martin because he was black. The false edit was first exposed by NewsBusters. It is highly likely that Zimmerman's victory today will increase his ability to win his suit against NBC.

CNN embarrassed itself by falsely claiming that on the 911 call, Zimmerman had used an archaic racial slur to describe black Americans. In fact, as even the prosecution later admitted, he had used the word punks. At least the cable news channel did not resort to fraudulent editing though.

One of the other persistent flaws in the media's coverage of the case against Zimmerman were reports claiming he was "white" when in fact, he is Hispanic, white, and also part black. For months on end, Zimmerman was repeatedly described as a "white Hispanic" even though other people of mixed race such as President Obama are never described as "white blacks."

Additionally, left-leaning media were fond of repeating false statements favorable to the prosecution such as the claim that Zimmerman got out of his car despite being instructed to remain in it. In fact, he was already out of his car when the 911 dispatcher told him "we don't need you to do that." According to Zimmerman, he turned around and tried to return to his vehicle and was subsequently confronted by Martin. Biased outlets almost always ignored the evidence which clearly suggested that it was Martin who initiated their conversation and Zimmerman's testimony that Martin initiated the violence. They also rarely reported the fact that Martin circled Zimmerman's car while he was in it, looking at him menacingly.

Additionally, viewers and readers were repeatedly subjected to hours on end of speculation and hypotheticals about how the fatal confrontation could have been avoided--but only if Zimmerman had acted differently. The speculators never discussed how Martin's father was providing almost no supervision to him, never talked about how the situation would have been prevented if Martin had not been suspended from school due to his own behavior. They also never discussed how the telephone evidence in the trial clearly indicated that Martin had more than enough time to return to his father's girlfriend's residence if he truly had been in fear of his life. Most Americans also likely were unaware of Martin's admitted love of fighting.

The public was also subjected to countless hours of ignorant pronouncements about if Zimmerman had started the fight, that would determine his guilt or innocence. Rarely were viewers ever told the truth that self-defense law in Florida is about whether the surviving person rightfully feared for his life, regardless of who started the physical confrontation.

While the public couldn't get away from information about Zimmerman's run-ins with local criminals who happened to be black, the public was rarely told about other facts about him such as that he fought successfully to get justice for an elderly black man who was beaten by the son of a white police officer, how he mentored black youth, or even that he was a supporter of Barack Obama and not some sort of far-right white nationalist.

The trial of Zimmerman would likely have remained strictly a local news story had it not been for the antics of MSNBC's Al Sharpton who was advising Martin's parents on how to gain more publicity (and also calling for Zimmerman's arrest) while simultaneously serving as a commentator for the Democratic network. Despite criticism from other media outlets, MSNBC never told Sharpton to choose between his dueling roles even though it harmed their overall reputation.

In the end, it is regrettable that Trayvon Martin died that fateful night. What is also regrettable is how America's elite news media willingly went along with a smear campaign designed by racist frauds like Al Sharpton who were looking to boost their own fortunes at the expense of an innocent man. George Zimmerman is not a perfect man. But he did not deserve to become a real-life version of Emmanuel Goldstein.

About the Author
Matthew Sheffield is the creator of NewsBusters and president of Dialog New Media, an internet marketing and design firm. Click here to follow Matthew Sheffield on Twitter.

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/matthew-sheffield/2013/07/13/zimmerman-found-not-guilty

 

As sad as it is, I think Zimmerman has prevented a life of pain and suffering that was going to happen to Trayvon and some of Trayvon's future victims. Trayvon's parents are to blame for the path Trayvon had begun to embark upon.

 

FFS, I wish you hadn't told me that. I sent money to that guy.

No matter, for sure GZ is a Republican now.

 

All of the liberal and progressive thug huggers need to chill ... and whip up a batch of LEAN. Y'all will feel better...

 

Zimmerman's attorneys start going after the media.

With the “not guilty” verdict last night in the George Zimmerman trial, Zimmerman’s attorneys are setting their sights on the media… most notably NBC News.

It was on NBC’s “Today,” regular readers may recall, that a severely out of context spliced clip of Zimmerman was played. A number of NBC News staffers lost their jobs over the edits, and Zimmerman’s legal team subsequently sued.

That case was put to the side, pending the outcome of the criminal trial, but now that Zimmerman has been found not guilty, they plan to move forward. The Washington Post has more:

“We’re going to start in earnest asap, we just have to get the stay lifted which is a ministerial act,” says Beasley, a Philadelphia lawyer, via e-mail.

During the post-trial press conference, Zimmerman’s lawyer Mark O’Mara criticized the media for playing “mad scientist” and portraying Zimmerman as a “monster.”

http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser...team-sets-sights-on-nbc-and-the-media_b188189

 

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Why do you compare that to George Zimmerman?

1. The black man in the photo can (see) crime to his car. That is his property. At 3:00 am too.

2. George Zimmerman never see crime. He never tell the dispatcher he see crime. Only he imagine. Trayvon is walking in the community, and he is legal. He is not on the property of George. At 7:00pm too.

 

Oh... So you viciously went after George for shooting an unarmed black person, but stand behind a black person shooting an unarmed white person. Yeah, ok... Whatever minoot amount of credibility you had is shot all to shit now.

 

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I am saying that man saw crime. I do not think that man should kill someone with his gun for that crime. Will you kill someone with your gun if they try to go to your car at 3:00am? George Zimmerman seE NO CRIME, and kill.