The Other McCain

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Media’s Lack of Accountability Now Blamed on ‘Right-Wing Bloggers’?

Posted on | April 26, 2012 | 18 Comments

NBC officials are refusing to provide a full accounting — and name names of those responsible — for the misleading edit of the George Zimmerman 911 call. NBC’s editing created the false and inflammatory impression that Zimmerman had singled out Trayvon Martin on the basis of race. In fact, as the unedited audio of the call showed, Zimmerman was asked by the 911 operator about Martin’s race.

Dan Reihl at Big Journalism called attention to the deceptive edit a month ago. An NBC employee was then fired (but not named by the network) and now, according to the Miami Herald, a reporter/producer at NBC’s Miami affiliate, Jeff Burnside, has also been fired. John Sexton at Big Journalism culls this telling quote from the story:

“The network is very sensitive about the whole Al Sharpton/MSNBC issue, so when the right-wing bloggers started hammering, they needed to throw them fresh meat,” said the station source, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak about the controversy. “It’s not at all clear how this happened. Obviously, there was miscommunication.”

Wait a g–damned minute here: Has NBC so completely abandoned any pretense to basic accuracy in its reporting that the only reason they take disciplinary action is to throw “fresh meat” to “right-wing bloggers”? And isn’t it at the same time true, as Ace of Spades says, that the media have become so reliant on left-wing blogs that major news organizations routinely re-hash misleading or even blatantly false stories pushed by the online Left, while only rarely and reluctantly acknowledging stories originated by the online Right?

Isn’t this what the Elizabeth Flock story showed us? Notorious moonbat John Avarosis makes an outrageously irresponsible accusation — that Mitt Romney is recycling KKK slogans — and the Washington Post can’t even be bothered to verify it?

Journalism has evidently become so politicized that there is apparently no longer even any need for NBC News to pretend that it is engaged in anything other than partisan propaganda — even when, in the pursuit of an overtly political agenda, they are providing manufactured falsehoods to serve as fodder for dangerous racial demagoguery.

So if NBC reports complete dishonest bulls–t, that’s just fine. However, if “right-wing bloggers” start hammering, they’ll be thrown some “fresh meat” — a couple of low-level employees thrown under the bus — while folks in the executive suites at 30 Rock are never held accountable, or compelled to confront the fact that they have presided over the destruction of their own organization’s journalistic credibility.

Category: Crime, Florida, Journalism, Media Bias, MSNBC, NBC

Comments

18 Responses to “Media’s Lack of Accountability Now Blamed on ‘Right-Wing Bloggers’?”

  1. SDN
    April 26th, 2012 @ 3:29 pm

    Like I said, too dishonest to live with.

  2. M. Simon
    April 26th, 2012 @ 3:29 pm

    Keep the Narrative alive.

  3. Zilla of the Resistance
    April 26th, 2012 @ 3:51 pm

    You tell ’em, Stacy! As America’s Last REAL Reporter, you’re in a better position than anyone else to call them out on this.
    Everybody who is able to should hit your freaking tip jar right now. 

  4. Steve in TN
    April 26th, 2012 @ 4:21 pm

    Just today twitter idiots were spouting the NBC lie as if it was fact…  And refused to budge.

  5. asmith
    April 26th, 2012 @ 4:25 pm

    This is clearly an example of bullying.  Something must be done.  For the Children.  And NBC.  N.B.  Neither The Children nor NBC paid any taxes this year.  Just sayin’.

  6. The American Spectator : The Spectacle Blog : NBC News and the Death of Truth
    April 26th, 2012 @ 5:06 pm

    […] This would seem to suggest that NBC News is sacrificing low-level personnel — throwing "fresh meat" to "right-wing bloggers" — in an effort to evade corporate responsibility for an unethical deception that inflamed racial tensions in the Martin case. This enraged me: […]

  7. ltw
    April 26th, 2012 @ 5:25 pm

    Dear Station Source:  “It is not clear at all how this happened.”   would have been a great place to have started with the actual reporting of the original story.

  8. ThePaganTemple
    April 26th, 2012 @ 5:37 pm

    Maybe if we try really hard we can make NBC fire somebody once a month until they fire the wrong person and they blow the old whistle. There’s plenty of things to raise hell about with that network.

  9. Joseph Fein
    April 26th, 2012 @ 5:40 pm

    Time to call the Modern Mainstream media (the networks, HBO, etc.) what they truly are: The Democratic Party Praetrorian Guard

    Which is why when we win, the Left is always surprised.  They spend a lot of time talking to themselves.

    As a genius Blogger said, Heh.

  10. rjacobse
    April 26th, 2012 @ 5:53 pm

    Not “Mainstream Media.” Lickspittle Media.

    Not a true reporter left in the lot.

  11. Matthew W
    April 26th, 2012 @ 6:27 pm

    I had forgotten that Flock episode !!!

  12. NBC: We only edited the Zimmerman 911 call tape because those darned right-wing bloggers made us! « The Daley Gator
    April 26th, 2012 @ 6:27 pm

    […] ultimate WTF did they just say statement from the media. Stacy McCain is not amused NBC officials are refusing to provide a full accounting – and name names of those responsible […]

  13. Bob Belvedere
    April 26th, 2012 @ 7:31 pm

    As I insightfully wrote over at my site today:

    The sycophancy fancy of the media is no surprise, if one is a student of American History: we expect the former to lean toward the butts of our political class because the history of journalism has always been about advocacy — the Neutral Objective Media myth of the past century notwithstanding. Since media began, it has been a highly partisan profession, usually adopting the philosophy of the owner of the publication or outlet, sometimes the publisher and sometimes the editor. It has only been within the last hundred years that the Left has successfully created the false truth that journalism can be as purely objective as God. They did so in order to hide their stealth twisting of the facts designed to suit their nefarious Narratives and give these distortions the sheen of neutrality.

    http://thecampofthesaints.org/2012/04/26/the-spot-on-quote-of-the-day-213/

  14. Adjoran
    April 26th, 2012 @ 7:50 pm

    It is also FALSE – the initial catch of the false edit was by Jeralyn Merritt, a liberal lawyer who blogs at TalkLeft:  http://tinyurl.com/7sqc9yj

  15. richard mcenroe
    April 26th, 2012 @ 7:57 pm

    If only we had as much influence on the GOP…

  16. Pathfinder's wife
    April 26th, 2012 @ 10:36 pm

    In order to have that one would first have to become part of the mainstream media.

  17. Bob Belvedere
    April 27th, 2012 @ 8:11 am

    God, I’m good.

  18. Bob Belvedere
    April 27th, 2012 @ 8:12 am

    I had not known that – thanks, Adj.