WEBCommentary Editor

Author: Bob Webster
Date:  December 8, 2012

Topic category:  Corruption of American News Media

NBC News:  Just a Division Within the New Ministry of Propaganda
NBC News deliberately frames George Zimmerman, is caught, then claims it was "accidental"


NBCUniversal Media, the parent company of NBC News, has been sued by George Zimmerman, accused killer of Trayvon Martin. The lawsuit should net Zimmerman a fortune for NBC's mischaracterization of him by deliberately editing Zimmerman's voice recordings to depict him as a "racist and predatory villain" when, in fact, in the original full recordings there were no indications of that whatsoever.

George Zimmerman is suing NBCUniversal Media, parent of NBC News, for deliberately and with clear intent, characterizing him as a "racist and predatory villain."

NBC News' edited version of the actual recording that was played repeatedly by NBC News:

"Zimmerman:  This guy looks like he's up to no good. He looks black."

The actual recording before NBC News' edit:

"Zimmerman:  This guy looks like he's up to no good. Or he's on drugs or something. It's raining and he's just walking around, looking about.

Dispatcher:  OK, and this guy - is he white, black or Hispanic?

Zimmerman:  He looks black."

These recordings are available at this FOX News web page.  [FOX News transposes "white, black" to "black, white" on their web page]

It is unlikely Zimmerman would ever have mentioned Martin's race had he not been specifically asked by the police dispatcher.

NBC News claims "there was no intent to portray Zimmerman unfairly", a claim that is as laughable as it is implausible.

It is worth noting that the NBC News story about Zimmerman's lawsuit manages to omit the key quotation addressed by Zimmerman's suit.

NBC News continues their assault on Zimmerman by opening their online story of his lawsuit with:

"George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch volunteer charged with second-degree murder in connection with the killing of unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin in Florida, sued the parent company of NBC News on Thursday, alleging that the network intentionally edited reports on the case... "

No, NBC News, Zimmerman is not "alleging" - he is simply claiming what is blatantly obvious to anyone but a lawyer!

It defies credibility that editing the voice recordings between Zimmerman and the police dispatcher, arguably the major international news story of the day, would have been given to an intern. In any event, the edited product would have been carefully scrutinized at several levels of management.

That NBC News fired three people over this incident testifies to their acknowledgement that egregious conduct of their employees was involved. The atmosphere of news distortion had evidently become too well-entrenched for some employees to recognize the difference between acceptable distortion of conservative political views and unacceptable distortion of facts relating to a major non-political news story (ironically, making it political by injecting racial accusations that would be further enflamed by the hasty words of president Obama).

Principles of honest news editing begin with leave nothing out of a direct quotation and continue with include proper context with relevant supporting material. There is no question that these principles were deliberately violated with the Zimmerman recording.

It appears that NBC News, anxious to boost its ratings, decided to go on air with what amount to a fabricated racial intent on the part of Zimmerman. Trying to defend their abhorrent action by claiming it was unintentional or that Zimmerman actually said those words is the equivalent of the little boy with the chocolate icing all over his face claiming he didn't eat that last piece of chocolate cake. No, we didn't actually see him eat it; but his face is covered with the same icing and that piece of cake is missing. Circumstantial evidence can be compelling.

During the days of the former Soviet Union, the main news source coming out of the Soviet Union was Pravda ("truth", a truly Orwellian choice). The purpose of Pravda under the Soviet Union was to publish as "truth" that which the government propaganda machine decided should be the view of the people and to omit any bad news that would reflect poorly on the regime in power.

Today, Russia's Pravda has become a more viable source for news than the so-called "mainstream" US news media. The old Pravda would be proud of news distortion and omission that has become the "new normal" for most of the US news media. That is why I have begun to refer to such news sources as the AP, Reuters, NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN, MSNBC, The New York Times, The Washington Post, etc., as "The Ministry of Propaganda." These news operations do not report news; they report views designed to mislead the public through distortion and omission. Objectivity is out, propaganda is in.

The Zimmerman case is one of the clearest and most egregious of the many examples of today's US news industry's metamorphosis from news reporting into blatant propaganda.

Welcome to today's "new normal" where the Ministry of Propaganda brings you your daily dose of "news".

Bob Webster
WEBCommentary (Editor, Publisher)


Biography - Bob Webster

Author of "Looking Out the Window", an evidence-based examination of the "climate change" issue, Bob Webster, is a 12th-generation descendent of both the Darte family (Connecticut, 1630s) and the Webster family (Massachusetts, 1630s). He is a descendant of Daniel Webster's father, Revolutionary War patriot Ebenezer Webster, who served with General Washington. Bob has always had a strong interest in early American history, our Constitution, U.S. politics, and law. Politically he is a constitutional republican with objectivist and libertarian roots. He has faith in the ultimate triumph of truth and reason over deception and emotion. He is a strong believer in our Constitution as written and views the abandonment of constitutional restraint by the regressive Progressive movement as a great danger to our Republic. His favorite novel is Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand and believes it should be required reading for all high school students so they can appreciate the cost of tolerating the growth of unconstitutional crushingly powerful central government. He strongly believes, as our Constitution enshrines, that the interests of the individual should be held superior to the interests of the state.

A lifelong interest in meteorology and climatology spurred his strong interest in science. Bob earned his degree in Mathematics at Virginia Tech, graduating in 1964.


Copyright © 2012 by Bob Webster
All Rights Reserved.


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