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George Zimmerman sues NBC over Trayvon Martin reports

Grim17

Grim17

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Personally, I don't think he has much of a chance of winning, but I admire him for at least trying to do something. Someone has to make a stand against the BS that NBC pulled and hopefully deter other media outlets from doing the same.


[h=1]George Zimmerman sues NBC over Trayvon Martin reports[/h]Posted by Erik Wemple on December 6, 2012


Lawyers for George Zimmerman filed suit today against NBC Universal Media over a well-publicized editing error that portrayed their client in racist terms in his pursuit of Trayvon Martin on a drizzly evening in February.

“NBC saw the death of Trayvon Martin not as a tragedy but as an opportunity to increase ratings, and so to set about the myth that George Zimmerman was a racist and predatory villain,” states the civil complaint in its opening salvo against NBC.

NBC’s editing of the 911 audiotape in the Martin case became a public fixation after the media-monitoring Web site NewsBusters.org noted editing oddities on a “Today” show broadcast March 27. Here’s how NBC News portrayed the audiotape:
Zimmerman: This guy looks like he’s up to no good. He looks black.
​
The full tape went like this:
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 black, white or Hispanic?

Zimmerman: He looks black.
​
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George Zimmerman sues NBC over Trayvon Martin reports
 
It is within his rights to file a suit.

To many times news edits to fit their agenda. IMO, main stream news is nothing but editorials. Very little objective reporting.
 
You had better hope this fails because it opens up a world of lawsuits against faux news if it works. Not that i am opposed to having more accountability from organizations who call themselves news to make sure they have facts and not partisan bs opinions. I do think that there was some major problems in how the news reported this incident, and if he wins it does not mean he is innocent by any stretch of the imagination, just that so called news people need to be reigned in on their reporting and this will be the chance we need to demolish the fix noise propaganda site through civil action while the UK throws their owner in prison.

Go go Zimmerman. It would be quite ironic to have a prejudiced black killing vigilante be the downfall of faux news propganda.
 
tererun said:
You had better hope this fails because it opens up a world of lawsuits against faux news if it works. Not that i am opposed to having more accountability from organizations who call themselves news to make sure they have facts and not partisan bs opinions. I do think that there was some major problems in how the news reported this incident, and if he wins it does not mean he is innocent by any stretch of the imagination, just that so called news people need to be reigned in on their reporting and this will be the chance we need to demolish the fix noise propaganda site through civil action while the UK throws their owner in prison.

Go go Zimmerman. It would be quite ironic to have a prejudiced black killing vigilante be the downfall of faux news propganda.
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Even though I'm pissed at Zimm because I think he lied to me, I hope he wins this suit...although the odds are against him.

BTW Tererun, I like the way you think. I'll be looking forward to your comments around the site.
 
I think what NBC did crosses a line that needs to be shored up a little bit. What they did went way beyond omitting something at the front end or the back end of the recording to alter context. They carved out a slice in the middle to fit Zimmerman into a pre-concocted narrative. A FAR more egregious act and, IMHO, slanderous. I realize that this opens the door for future lawsuits. But maybe it's time that door was opened?

Anyway, what NBC did was blatant and purposeful. Just firing the person responsible isn't enough, IMO.
 
tererun said:
You had better hope this fails because it opens up a world of lawsuits against faux news if it works. Not that i am opposed to having more accountability from organizations who call themselves news to make sure they have facts and not partisan bs opinions. I do think that there was some major problems in how the news reported this incident, and if he wins it does not mean he is innocent by any stretch of the imagination, just that so called news people need to be reigned in on their reporting and this will be the chance we need to demolish the fix noise propaganda site through civil action while the UK throws their owner in prison.

Go go Zimmerman. It would be quite ironic to have a prejudiced black killing vigilante be the downfall of faux news propganda.
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Don't take it out on Zimmerman just because I spanked you in that other thread. :lol:
 
tererun said:
It would be quite ironic to have a prejudiced black killing vigilante be the downfall of faux news propganda.
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Well would you look at that... A baseless smear and a shot at Fox News, even though this story has NOTHING to do with Fox.

The obsession with attacking Fox News by so many around here, would make a very interesting medical study.
 
Grim17 said:
Well would you look at that... A baseless smear and a shot at Fox News, even though this story has NOTHING to do with Fox.

The obsession with attacking Fox News by so many around here, would make a very interesting medical study.
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His point is valid. If this case goe's Zimmerman's way it will set the precedence that other court such cases will cite. And Fox news had better watch it's lying ass from that point on.
 
It would certainly be nice to see Zimmerman succeed, however, I fear in todays liberal mindset, free speech will always win even over slanderous reporting. The only real way to get the media back under control is to stop watching them. Demand fair balanced news, and hope a new media outlet rises to the occasion. There really is not one major media outlet that does not have advertisers pushing them in a particular direction to fulfill their agendas. Bottom line, stop watching all media that slants it's stories.
 
Capster78 said:
It would certainly be nice to see Zimmerman succeed, however, I fear in todays liberal mindset, free speech will always win even over slanderous reporting. The only real way to get the media back under control is to stop watching them. Demand fair balanced news, and hope a new media outlet rises to the occasion. There really is not one major media outlet that does not have advertisers pushing them in a particular direction to fulfill their agendas. Bottom line, stop watching all media that slants it's stories.
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Or better yet, watch them all and find a happy medium.
 
Jack Fabulous said:
I think what NBC did crosses a line that needs to be shored up a little bit. What they did went way beyond omitting something at the front end or the back end of the recording to alter context. They carved out a slice in the middle to fit Zimmerman into a pre-concocted narrative. A FAR more egregious act and, IMHO, slanderous. I realize that this opens the door for future lawsuits. But maybe it's time that door was opened?

Anyway, what NBC did was blatant and purposeful. Just firing the person responsible isn't enough, IMO.
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this

this is key to the suit
was this editing intentional and designed to damage zimmerman's reputation
or was this nothing more than sloppy editing that appears misguided only when viewed in hindsight

proving the intent will probably be difficult
but a financial bonanza to zimmerman and his attorney if they can find a smoking gun

my speculation is this is a nuisance suit intended to generate zimmerman some settlement money needed for his legal defense. also serves as a low cost way to show the public/prospective jurors that zimmerman was not a racist
 
American said:
Don't take it out on Zimmerman just because I spanked you in that other thread. :lol:
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Are you grim? How can you say you spanked me when this is yet another illustration of your inability to read properly? So again I have to ask the question. Are you unable to read, too lazy to read, or are you a sock?
 
Grim17 said:
Well would you look at that... A baseless smear and a shot at Fox News, even though this story has NOTHING to do with Fox.

The obsession with attacking Fox News by so many around here, would make a very interesting medical study.
Click to expand...

Actually, it does have a lot to do with fox, and other news agencies for that matter. the allowance of a lawsuit in this area, and the victory of zimmerman would set a precedent that is highly dangerous for Fox and company. rush limbaugh would be in deep crap if this was succesful as it would open up a world of lawsuits that were well founded that he blatantly misrepresents facts in things like the whole slut debacle. Then there would be the openness to reverse attack on the entire birther conspiracy for blatantly lying to the american people with innuendo that has been persistantly and overwhelmingly been declared false and they know it. Could you imagine the fun of a Obama vs Trump Lawsuit? Faux would either be forced to pull itself into the commentary comedy entertainment category where they have no assumed "news' coverage and protect themselves under the law that protects satirists and comedians, or they would have clean up their act. So yes this entire thing goes much further than simply Zimmerman and the supposed misrepresentation he had in the media. Legal precedent means it will extend to every news organization and we will see everyone who the mainstream media lies bout come to the civil courts for justice. What is even worse for faux and company is that there is a far lower level of proof needed in civil court for a victory. Guilty in civil court is a matter of reasonable and not a shadow of a doubt. Could you imagine rush or trump up there trying to pretend they did not reasonably know their statements were false and damaging? their only defense would be that they were too insane to be reasonable.
 
NBC is not sued on the basis of "journalistic malpractice".

They are being sued for defamation of character. That means that in court they won't be put to trial to prove if they lied. That has already been established. They will be put on trial to show if the statement they made has damaged the reputation of Zimmerman.

It is like this. If you call Jack stupid and Jack sues you for defamation of character, in court they won't be doing a trial to see if what you stated about Jack is true. So the court will NOT rule favorably or unfavorably whether your statement is true or not. So it won't be ruling on the issue that Jack is stupid or not. What it will be ruling on is if the fact that you called Jack stupid, has lead to Jack has brought Jack to suffer damages to his image. That is what it will be put to trial.
 
tererun said:
Actually, it does have a lot to do with fox, and other news agencies for that matter. the allowance of a lawsuit in this area, and the victory of zimmerman would set a precedent that is highly dangerous for Fox and company. rush limbaugh would be in deep crap if this was succesful as it would open up a world of lawsuits that were well founded that he blatantly misrepresents facts in things like the whole slut debacle. Then there would be the openness to reverse attack on the entire birther conspiracy for blatantly lying to the american people with innuendo that has been persistantly and overwhelmingly been declared false and they know it. Could you imagine the fun of a Obama vs Trump Lawsuit? Faux would either be forced to pull itself into the commentary comedy entertainment category where they have no assumed "news' coverage and protect themselves under the law that protects satirists and comedians, or they would have clean up their act. So yes this entire thing goes much further than simply Zimmerman and the supposed misrepresentation he had in the media. Legal precedent means it will extend to every news organization and we will see everyone who the mainstream media lies bout come to the civil courts for justice. What is even worse for faux and company is that there is a far lower level of proof needed in civil court for a victory. Guilty in civil court is a matter of reasonable and not a shadow of a doubt. Could you imagine rush or trump up there trying to pretend they did not reasonably know their statements were false and damaging? their only defense would be that they were too insane to be reasonable.
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You are barking at the wrong tree tererun. You are now misrepresenting the problem as it exists. Read my post from above for clarification. That is the correct premise.
 
Rainman05 said:
You are barking at the wrong tree tererun. You are now misrepresenting the problem as it exists. Read my post from above for clarification. That is the correct premise.
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no, this is the correct premise. Sorry you don't agree in a big picture representation and just wanted to poke fun at NBC, but this does extend far beyond the implications for NBC.
 
tererun said:
no, this is the correct premise. Sorry you don't agree in a big picture representation and just wanted to poke fun at NBC, but this does extend far beyond the implications for NBC.
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Did you read what I wrote?

"NBC is not sued on the basis of "journalistic malpractice".

They are being sued for defamation of character. That means that in court they won't be put to trial to prove if they lied. That has already been established. They will be put on trial to show if the statement they made has damaged the reputation of Zimmerman.

It is like this. If you call Jack stupid and Jack sues you for defamation of character, in court they won't be doing a trial to see if what you stated about Jack is true. So the court will NOT rule favorably or unfavorably whether your statement is true or not. So it won't be ruling on the issue that Jack is stupid or not. What it will be ruling on is if the fact that you called Jack stupid, has lead to Jack has brought Jack to suffer damages to his image. That is what it will be put to trial."
 
tererun said:
is there an actual reason why this sort of lawsuit could not be applied to fox news, or are you just pretending the real world does not exist?
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Your injection of Fox news into this as well as you calling them "faux" news when you didn't even understand what was reported, is pathetic.

If you paid attention to what Rainman05 said you would understand why it doesn't have the effects that you believe it would have.

"NBC is not sued on the basis of "journalistic malpractice".

They are being sued for defamation of character.​
 
Rainman05 said:
Did you read what I wrote?

"NBC is not sued on the basis of "journalistic malpractice".

They are being sued for defamation of character. That means that in court they won't be put to trial to prove if they lied. That has already been established. They will be put on trial to show if the statement they made has damaged the reputation of Zimmerman.

It is like this. If you call Jack stupid and Jack sues you for defamation of character, in court they won't be doing a trial to see if what you stated about Jack is true. So the court will NOT rule favorably or unfavorably whether your statement is true or not. So it won't be ruling on the issue that Jack is stupid or not. What it will be ruling on is if the fact that you called Jack stupid, has lead to Jack has brought Jack to suffer damages to his image. That is what it will be put to trial."
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yes, and the same could apply to both the birther conspiracy and rush's comments regarding the woman who wanted birth control coverage. Both were statements that were false and yet still promoted that damaged the characters of the people they were attacking based on known false statements. This is the main purpose of fox, and if people started to go after fox for saying blatantly false statements designed to damage another person's reputation fox would soon be very broke.

try to follow the bouncing ball, it is not that hard.
 
Excon said:
Your injection of Fox news into this as well as you calling them "faux" news when you didn't even understand what was reported, is pathetic.

If you paid attention to what Rainman05 said you would understand why it doesn't have the effects that you believe it would have.

"NBC is not sued on the basis of "journalistic malpractice".

They are being sued for defamation of character.​
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Wow, and i would have thought this path was simple to follow. Yes, fox can get sued for defamation of character due to their reporting practices whuich rely heavily on innuendo and flat out lies to damage character. if this were to happen faux would suffer many lawsuits from the people whos character they defamed. this would either force them out of business or towards more journalistic integrity.

Is that simple enough for you? Well it has to be because i really cannot explain that path any simpler than that. Seriously, keep up. It isn't like i am using huge words.
 
NBC will have to defend what the law refers to as "Defamation per se." Meaning that NBC made untrue statements about Zman that are inherently damaging in and of themselves without a required separate showing of proof of actual damages. There are four types of statements that comprise Defamation Per Se, one is impuning the chastity of a woman, falsely stating someone has a loathesome disease such as AIDs, Zman's cause of action is being "falsely accused of a heinous crime:" A murder committed because of racism!

Truth is a complete defense for defamation, but that's going to be tough for Defendant NBC to prove after the false tape they made is entered into evidence. Important to note that the fact alone of shooting and killing a black man is not evidence of racism or any sort of intent.

It's surprising that Lawrence O'Donnell was not named as an individual defendant, he was a "republisher" many times.

This is a lawsuit who's time has come. NBC is going to now have to prove that their statements were true. After they already admitted falsifying them. The falsified tape is just one of the counts cited in the lawsuit.

Interesting to speculate upon, but perhaps not relevant is at what point NBC knew that Zman was not a white man. Everyone else in the country knew it when they saw Zman's picture. What would have been NBC's motive to lie about that (if they did intentionally lie).
 
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tererun said:
yes, and the same could apply to both the birther conspiracy and rush's comments regarding the woman who wanted birth control coverage. Both were statements that were false and yet still promoted that damaged the characters of the people they were attacking based on known false statements. This is the main purpose of fox, and if people started to go after fox for saying blatantly false statements designed to damage another person's reputation fox would soon be very broke.

try to follow the bouncing ball, it is not that hard.
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Yes for the woman who wanted birth control. It is pretty much the same idea.

No for the birther issue. Obama is a public person.
 
tererun said:
Wow, and i would have thought this path was simple to follow. Yes, fox can get sued for defamation of character due to their reporting practices whuich rely heavily on innuendo and flat out lies to damage character. if this were to happen faux would suffer many lawsuits from the people whos character they defamed. this would either force them out of business or towards more journalistic integrity.

Is that simple enough for you? Well it has to be because i really cannot explain that path any simpler than that. Seriously, keep up. It isn't like i am using huge words.
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You have already demonstrated your bias and lack of knowledge of what you speak. Telling me to keep up with that is ridiculous.

As Fox and Rush are not immune form such suites, you really can not point to any similar circumstances where they could be sued.
 
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