Zimmerman Set For Life Post Not-Guilty? Libel??

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Published: 04 April, 2012, 22:35


The NBC network has apologized after it was revealed that they doctored a 911 call made by George Zimmerman the night he killed Trayvon Martin that some say depicts him as racist. In apologizing, NBC calls the gaffe a production error."

http://rt.com/usa/news/nbc-zimmerman-racist-network-265/comments/

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Kinda makes me wonder why a high-powered attorney can be afforded by Zimmerman; then it dawned on me: MSNBC ran on most of it's evening programs altered audio of Zimmerman stating, "f*cking c00ns." Now NBC has apologized, and admitted that they altered the audio.

I suppose the question is: Isn't this a Libel issue?

If it is, I see a number of networks paying handsomely post Not-Guilty.

Slander is illegal. Proving it is often difficult. Not in Zimmerman's case, however. They already have an admission of guilt! The difficult part is proving damages, but the simple fact that the Blank Punsters put a $10,000 price on his head seems to indicate damage, as well.

I think he cut a deal with the networks. Something along the lines of "If you'll foot all my legal fees, I won't sue you for one billion dollars."

Civil after criminal....Richard Jewell? Anyone want to hazard a guess at to which television 'news' organization was involved there?

Beretta92FSLady said:

Kinda makes me wonder why a high-powered attorney can be afforded by Zimmerman; then it dawned on me: MSNBC ran on most of it's evening programs altered audio of Zimmerman stating, "f*cking c00ns." Now NBC has apologized, and admitted that they altered the audio.

I suppose the question is: Isn't this a Libel issue?

If it is, I see a number of networks paying handsomely post Not-Guilty.

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The audio that was altered wasn't the "coon" bit. It was where the network spliced out the officer asking the race of who Zimmerman was following.

Tawnos said:

The audio that was altered wasn't the "coon" bit. It was where the network spliced out the officer asking the race of who Zimmerman was following.

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I see. So Zimmerman did say "coon?" BTW, I heard the audio on MSNBC, Lawrence O'Donnel (however his name is spelled...who cares!).

It is debated whether he said coon or not. I maintain (I am no expert) that it could have been many words that does not imply race. "Science" got some people to the word "cold". This would be fitting since it was particularly cold in FL that night.

The MSNBC doctored audio cut out the dispatcher asking for the race of the suspect. So it seemed like Z said something along the lines of "He looks like he is on drugs. He looks black". This seems to imply that race was somewhat involved in the situation. The full audio does not pain the same picture.

Beretta92FSLady said:

I see. So Zimmerman did say "coon?" BTW, I heard the audio on MSNBC, Lawrence O'Donnel (however his name is spelled...who cares!).

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I have no idea what he said. Something was muttered and I wasn't going to sit there listening to it a thousand times at different audio levels or run it through a noise filter to try and decipher what it was. It certainly sounds like it started with a hard c sound, but after that it could have been any number of words.

The issue the news ran into was altering the tape so that it sounded... well, you know, Stewart does it better: http://whogottherole.com/movie-tv-news/jon-stewart-blast-nbc-for-altered-911-tapes-video/

OC for ME said:

Civil after criminal...

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In my way of thinking, that's a black eye on America and runs afoul of the intent behind "double-jeopardy."

09jisaac said:

It is debated whether he said coon or not. I maintain (I am no expert) that it could have been many words that does not imply race. "Science" got some people to the word "cold". This would be fitting since it was particularly cold in FL that night.

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As it was, along with rainy.