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Feb. 8, 2013
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Jewish World Review
April 4, 2012/ 12 Nissan, 5772
Network News Shapers
By
Arnold Ahlert
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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
NBC has an ongoing "omissions" problem. The latest scandal involving the network centers around its selective editing of the taped conversation between George Zimmerman and the 911 operator on the night when Zimmerman allegedly shot and killed Trayvon Martin. The unabridged tape of the conversation goes 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.
What did NBC actually presented on the "Today Show?" :
Zimmerman: "This guy looks like he's up to no good. He looks black."
Now NBC is promising to "internally investigate" the incident.
Sure they will. And while they're at it, perhaps they could release the results of their other internal investigation regarding their last omission problem, when they omitted the words "under G0d"--twice--from the Pledge of Allegiance during their broadcast of the U.S. Open golf tournament at Congressional Country Club last summer.
For the record, NBC omitted the phrase "under G0d, indivisible," the first time, and cut the phrase, "one nation under G0d, indivisible" the second time. I say "for the record" because part of NBC's internal investigation into thatincident apparently included removing both tapes of their selective editing from YouTube where the message, "This video has been removed by the user" stands in place of both.
It is likely that most people aren't familiar with editing audio files. Fortunately for those readers, your trusty columnist, having had a previous career in music composition using computer-based audio files, is. In both incidents, no accidents are possible. One must put an audio file up on a computer screen, scan it, find the particular section one wants to omit, and remove it. After that, the front end of the file must be attached to the remaining portion, which is then saved as new audio file.
It's so easy a caveman--or a dedicated ideologue--could do it.
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In the conventional corporate hierarchy, those who make such edits are engineers. And whatever an engineer does, it must be approved by a producer and, more often than not, also run by the corporate legal department for approval, to make sure that nothing being broadcast over the air could subject the network to potential litigation.
There are variations on this theme. An engineer could double as a producer, there could be multiple producers and/or assistant engineers, and legal may or may not be involved. But whatever the particular permutation, the number of people involved in either omission is relatively small. Moreover, a schedule of work assignments given to both producers and the engineers would make finding the guilty parties about as difficult as finding the sky above your head. According to various news sources, NBC promised to investigate this matter three days ago, by the time you read this. Since any genuine investigation would lead to the guilty parties in all of about half an hour, NBC is no longer working an an "internal investigation."
They're working on a "credible explanation," aka a cover-up. And since we already know the last investigation yield nothing more than a typically leftist apology, which invariably ends with "we'd like to apologize to those of you who were offended by it"--as opposed to those who weren't offended by it--we can expect a similar mea culpa, along with the likely removal of the current tape from as many websites as possible, this time around as well.
(Writer's note: as it turns out, I was a prophet. After I wrote this, NBC did issue an apology, claiming the edited audio was "an error made in the production process that we deeply regret." Furthermore, with respect to their so-called internal investigation, when asked if anyone lost their job or had been reassigned NBC replied thusly: "We will not be commenting on our course of action.")
Since network news organizations are highly competitive, it wasn't surprising that ABC News also attempted to gin up a bit of racism in this case as well. They offered America an "exclusive" video purporting to show that Zimmerman was uninjured in the exchange with Martin, even they planted a graphic over his head blocking the view of the critical area, while ABC News reporter Matt Gutman wrote that the "police surveillance video taken the night that Trayvon Martin was shot dead shows no blood or bruises on George Zimmerman."
After the Daily Caller released a photo showing marks on Zimmerman's head, this other bastion of journalistic integrity also attempted to walk the proverbial horse back into the proverbial barn. ABC claims it "re-digitized" the original video, while Gutman ate a heaping helping of corporate crow, noting the clearer video shows "what appear to be a pair of gashes or welts on George Zimmerman's head."
Again, if ABC had an ounce of interest in getting the story right--as opposed to releasing a race-baiting "exclusive"--they could have re-digitized the video before releasing it for public consumption. Once again, it strains corporate credibility to expect Americans to believe that no one in the video editing hierarchy noticed the same marks on Zimmerman's head that were so easily identifiable in the still photo published by the Daily Caller. Thus, once again, it makes sense to assume that, somewhere in the bowels--or executive suites--of ABC's "news" organization, ideology trumped integrity.
Here's a thought. How about a couple of external investigations at both networks, as in publishing the names and the photos of those people in both organizations who consider making a mockery of news reporting a reasonable price to pay for preserving one's ideological bent? Now that would be newsworthy. It might even mitigate some of the public's ever-growing contempt for a profession whose raison d'etre is ostensibly to protect us from government abuse. Like the purposeful dissemination of mis-information, for example.
It might even be, to use the parlance that motivates our modern-day "news" organizations more than any other, a "ratings block-buster."
Of course it will never happen, for a couple of reasons. First, neither network has an ounce of credibility left. NBC has spent the last few years shilling a "Green is Universal" campaign, confident that most of the public is unaware that the company is owned by General Electric, whose CEO, Jeffrey Immelt, is Barack Obama's jobs Czar, and that GE stands to make enormous profits off Chinese-made light bulbs necessitated by the 2007 Congressional ban on incandescent bulbs. ABC lost its credibility a long time ago, when a 1978 "20/20" story contended that Ford automobiles could explode when hit from behind. ABC based the segment on a UCLA test report--without mentioning that UCLA testers were attaching incendiary devices to the undercarriage of the vehicle shown exploding, in order to study how a crash fire affected the passenger compartment of a car.
Second, and just as important, both networks know a substantial portion of the public is ideologically aligned with the networks' leftist slant, and if NBC and ABC go a little "overboard," it's OK, because that same segment of the population is absolutely certain that "Faux News" lies just as much and just as often. Thus, a little "balance for the cause" is perfectly reasonable.
The big picture for both networks? The same picture it's been for the last three-plus years: promote, protect and defend Barack Obama whenever and wherever possible. And if it takes taking the closest thing they can find to a "racial" incident--hence the use of the ridiculously transparent term "white Hispanic," courtesy another bastion of integrity, aka the New York Times--to energize black voter participation in the 2012 election, then the attempt to to racial-ize a story where no racism likely exists, is well worth the effort.
If such efforts continue to splatter factual egg all over ideological faces, much like the Duke University "rape" case? Who got fired, or even identified, for that round of media malpractice?
Perhaps yet another internal investigation is in order.
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Previously:
04/02/12: Stabbing Israel in the Back Is More Like It
03/19/12: Gas Pains and Debt Bombs
03/12/12: Israel Under the Bus
03/05/12: Baby Steps Down the Road to Depravity
02/27/12: Debasing Our Military, One Politically Correct Moment After Another
02/20/12: The 'New Normal' of Rampant Illegitimacy
02/13/12: Sandwiches or Freedom?
02/10/12: Progressive Obsolescence
02/06/12: Safeguarding Kids No Match for Following Procedure
01/29/11: 2016: R.I.P. GOP
01/26/11: Obama's Happy Talk Versus Bernanke's Action
01/23/11: South Carolina Goes for the Media-Masher
01/17/11: Nuking the Strait of Hormuz?
01/09/11: Coercion and Incentive Are Not Interchangeable Terms
01/06/11: Will We Retire Obama --- or the Constitution?
01/03/11: Dumb -- or ‘Disabled?’
12/27/11: Islamists ‘Celebrate’ Christmas
12/19/11: A Deficiency of Decency
12/16/11: Better a A War On Whiners Than Christmas
12/12/11: Anybody But Obama
12/07/11: Connecting the Feckless Foreign Policy Dots
12/05/11: Can We Keep Our Republic?
11/28/11: Cyber Crack-heads
11/21/11: Water Water Everywhere, But Not a Drop to Think
11/18/11: Walking along Avenue J(ew)
11/09/11: Military Scandal, Media Blackout
11/09/11: Open-Mics and Closed Minds
11/07/11: Back in the EU--SSR
10/31/11: Camping Out in La-La Land
10/14/11: Bagman Tim
10/13/11: Are Colleges Too Big to Fail?
10/11/11: Why aren't they upset when their child is mugged in school?
10/07/11: I Stand With the ‘One Percenters’
10/03/11: Can We Legalize Assassination?
09/29/11: Tim, Liz and Bev Equals Moe Larry and Curly
09/26/11: No Acknowledgment of Israel? No More Money
09/19/11: ‘Jobbing’ America
09/16/11: Carville knows a few things about ‘crazy’
09/12/11: Contemptible Krugman
09/09/11: Solving the 9/11 Invitation Controversy
09/06/11: Our Progressive Economic Wrecking Crew
09/01/11: Summer Swoon
08/29/11: The Real American Fanatics
08/24/11:The Five Stages of (Progressive) Grief
08/22/11:The Inevitable Descent From Progressivism to Nihilism
08/22/11: Perry Stands Firm. Obama Stands Mute
08/15/11: Give Me a Flatscreen TV, or Give Me Anarchy!
08/11/11: Resign, Mr. President
08/08/11: Facts? We Don't Need No Stinkin' Facts
08/03/11: Manufactured Crises
08/01/11: Stay Healthy, America --- or else!
07/28/11: Existential Crisis, Part 2
07/25/11: Three-Out-of-Four Americans Are Radicals
07/21/11: What Does Two Plus Two Equal?
07/18/11: News Nuggets
07/13/11: The ‘Write Stuff’
07/11/11: Completely Expectable ‘Unexpectedness’
07/07/11: Organized Cheating
07/05/11: Stimulating Disaster
06/30/11: Progressivism Masquerading as Education
06/27/11: America: Greece With Better PR
06/23/11: NBC-ya Later
06/19/11: One Man's Conversation About Race
06/10/11: An Exhibitionist in an Exhibitionist Age
06/07/11: NAACP Betrays Black American Schoolchildren
06/02/11: For the First Time in My Adult Life . . .
05/31/11: If I Were President
05/25/11: California Dreamin'
05/23/11: On Wisconsin!
05/20/11: Obama's Farewell to Israel Speech
05/16/11: ‘Krauthammering’ Amnesty
05/11/11: Bounce, My Backside
05/09/11: The Epicenter of Progressive Contempt for the Rule of Law
05/03/11: SEALing Osama's Fate
05/02/11: The Education plantation
04/24/11: The Bell May Toll for Jersey Toll Collectors
04/19/11: From Medical Dependency to Dependency on the Welfare State
04/14/11: Trumping the Debate
04/06/11: It Takes a Bigot to Expose a Death Cult
04/04/11: Charlie and Snookie --- and Barack
03/30/11: ‘Disabling’ America, One Lawsuit at a Time
03/28/11: The MSM Kills the ‘Kill Team’ Story
03/23/11: Another Military Scandal
03/21/11: Barry, Joe, Helen and Wisconsin Teachers
03/16/11: The Inevitable Viability of Conservatism
03/14/11: Progressives in Their Own Words
03/09/11: $61 Billion in Cuts --- Vs. $223 Billion in One Month of Spending
03/07/11: Bean Bag B.S.
03/02/11: A ‘Green’ Catastrophe in the Making
02/28/11: Ain't Noting Like the Real Thing
02/23/11: Progressive Rot vs. the ROTC
02/21/11: Wisconsin: Progressivism in All its Ugly Glory
02/18/11: News reporters --- or Narrative Shapers?
02/16/11: The Presidents Budget Proposal: An Obamination of Progressive Profligacy
02/14/11: Only Another 9/11 Will Alter the Illegal Immigration Status Quo
02/10/11: Is O'Reilly losing his touch or is he just irresponsible?
02/07/11: Tossing Britain Under the Bus
02/03/11: Starving the World In Order to Save It
01/31/11: Walking the Middle East Tightrope
01/27/11: Small-scale Terrorist Attacks: Big Strategy?
01/24/11: Jeffery Immelt: A Crony Capitalist In Charge of Job Creation
01/20/11: An ‘Intimate’ Prime-time Interview
01/17/11: Progressives: Always Angry, Newly Desperate
01/12/11: Twain vs. the Totalitarians
01/10/11: Politically Correct Passports?
01/05/11: Showdown at the Fiscal Corral
01/03/11: Reading the Constitution Aloud is a Good Start
12/30/10: Getting Our Moral Mojo Back
12/27/10: PC Airport Safety is an Oxymoron
12/23/10: Getting America Back On Track
12/20/10: A Collectivist Coalition of Convenience
12/15/10: The President Who Wasn't There
12/13/10: Tech-No!
12/08/10: A Lethal Military, Inclusive or Not
12/06/10: The ‘Unexpected’ Consequences of Progressivism
12/01/10: Leakers and Losers
11/29/10: ‘We Won’, Part One
11/22/10: Keep Your Hands Off My Constitution
11/17/10: Grope and Change
11/14/10: Taking Back Our Country, One School At a Time
11/11/10: Checks (and Balances), Please
11/08/10: Curtain Up, Progressives Down
11/04/10: Last Chance, Republicans
11/01/10: By Their Own Words Shall Ye Know Them
10/28/10: Progressive Determination to Undermine American Elections
10/25/10: Shock, but more importantly, action: De-Unionize Public Schools now
10/20/10: Multiculturalism? Check, Please
10/18/10: Healthcare: ‘Alice in Wonderland’ vs. The Constitution
10/11/10: Vote for Restoring the Rule of Law in November
10/11/10: Dems: Running From Clarity
10/07/10: Hypersensitive Hogwash
10/04/10: ‘Comprehensive’ Con Artists
09/29/10: Why Dems Are Going Down in November
09/27/10: The Unholiest of Unholy Alliances
09/22/10: Two Words for Republicans to Remember: ‘I Won’
09/20/10: Purging ‘Me First’ Politicians
09/17/10: No More ‘Lesser of Two Evils’
09/15/10: ‘Recovery’ Arms Race
09/13/10: ‘Bigots’ in the Majority --- Again?
09/09/10: Giving Voters Something to Vote For
09/07/10: Irresponsible Dems, Incomprehensible Bills
09/02/10: War Weary Americans vs. Implacable Islamists
08/31/10: A ‘Dream’ Debased
08/25/10: American ‘Bigots’ Versus Media Propagandists
08/23/10: Recovery Bummer
08/19/10: An Unholy Alliance of Radicals
08/16/10: You've Lost America, Mr. President
08/13/10: The Twin Towers of Progressive Disconnect
08/11/10: A Far Better ‘National Discussion’
08/09/10: It's ‘Only’ One Dead Nun
08/06/10: Incremental Tyranny
08/04/10: Ground Zero Mosque: Context Counts
08/02/10: The Arizona Ruling: a Gift for November
07/29/10: The United Cities of America
07/26/10: JournoList: ‘Coordinated’ Ideological Bankruptcy
07/20/10: Go For Broke Or Get Out of the Way
07/14/10: You're a Liberal/Progressive if You Believe…
07/12/10: $33-an-hour--For Sleeping On the Job
07/08/10: Extortionist Government
07/06/10: ‘Commerce Clause’ Totalitarians
07/01/10: Another Public School Travesty in MA
06/30/10: Calling YOUR Bluff, Mr. President
06/28/10: A Trifecta of Progressive Corruption
06/23/10: Plug the Darn Hole --- In Our Border
06/21/10: Our Empty-Suit-in-Chief
06/16/10: Betraying Our Children
06/14/10: Who Gets the Benefit of the Doubt?
06/07/10: Politically Correct Warfare
06/01/10: Bill Maher's ‘Black’ President
05/25/10: A Mosque At Ground Zero
05/23/10: Libs Stand Tall --- For Mexico
05/19/10: The 'Unintended Consequences' of Liberalism
05/17/10: 'Los' Suns: Stuck on Stupido
05/12/10: Union Audacity: Yes We Will!
05/10/10: Greeks, Leaks and and Double-Speak
05/05/10: Twelve Million Illegals --- or Thirty?
05/02/10: Republicans: Playing Not to Lose Doesn't Cut It
04/28/10: Arizona: Progressivism's Waterloo?
04/26/10: Son of Amnesty
04/22/10: Mortgages and Moral Meltdowns
04/20/10: Bashing Christians — Or Gays?
04/15/10: Personal Integri-‘tea’
04/12/10: Fools, Tools and Ghouls
04/08/10: (Tea) Party On
04/05/10: The Triumph of Mediocrity
04/02/10: Two For the Road
03/29/10: The Innate Immorality of Liberalism
03/24/10: The Art of War
03/22/10: I Want My Country Back
03/18/10: A Perpetual Process
03/17/10: American Exhibitionists
03/15/10: A Light Bulb Moment of Clarity
03/10/10: Little Things Mean A Lot
02/03/10: Budgetary Fork in the Road
02/01/10: Liberal Economic Illiteracy
01/27/10: ‘Roe-ing and Wade-ing’ Back to Reason
01/25/10: Arrogance When Up, Denial When Down
01/20/10: Connecting the Educational Dots
01/19/10: The Next Tea Party?
01/15/10: The Myth That Keeps on Giving
01/13/10: Airport Security Begins Away From the Airport
01/11/10: Secrets and Lies
01/08/10: Embracing Bigotry — or Rejecting Bullying?
01/06/10: Hanging by an Ideological Thread
01/04/10: Our ‘Wonderama’ Bureaucracy
12/30/09: A Day Off
12/28/09: Dangerous Myths
12/25/09: I, Me, Mine
12/23/09: A Very Harry Christmas
12/21/09: My Opinon
12/18/09: The Party of Repeal
12/15/09: Privileged Exemption
11/30/09: ‘Settled’ Science and Unsettled Children
11/30/09: American Sharia Law
11/23/09:The Trial (Travesty) of the Century
11/04/09: American Vampires and Their Political Enablers
11/01/09: ‘Opting Out’ of Insanity?
10/28/09: Cell Phones Cause Brain Cancer. Brain Required
10/26/09: Communism: Nazism With Better PR
10/21/09: Just Asking
10/16/09: Cost Projections vs. Actual Costs, or Hope and Change vs. Reality
10/14/09: News you can use …
10/07/09: Incremental Insidiousness
10/05/09: MIA: Common Sense and Common Decency
09/30/09: Iran: Bad Options and Unpreparedness
09/21/09: Crying Racism: the Last Refuge of Scoundrels
09/11/09: 9/11 Cannot Be Sanitized
09/08/09: ‘Truthers’ and Consequences
09/01/09: A ‘Paper Trail’ Challenge for the Mainstream Media
08/31/09: Drowning in Amorality
08/26/09: The Republican Recovery Program
© 2011, Arnold Ahlert
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