Mike Kelcher
Posts: 11,626
Minneapolis, Minnesota, US
T wrote: I hope he wins and drop dead on his way to the bank.
That's because you made up your mind based on the information provided to you by the media. This thread is about the validity of that information and how it was presented and allegedly distorted. However, despite that, your mind seems to be made up and you've decided that he's guilty.
It's a good thing that he's still entitled to a fair trial....hopefully based on facts.
Last July, George Zimmerman sat down with Sean Hannity of Fox News for a multi-topic and much-viewed interview. The discussion went into minute detail on Zimmerman’s deadly encounter with Trayvon Martin, from the moment he spotted Martin to the initial violence to his reflections on the whole thing: “I feel it was all God’s plan,” Zimmerman told Hannity.
That whole setup — Zimmerman chatting with Hannity in front of a huge cable-news audience- — could work to his detriment in the suit that the neighborhood watchman filed last week against NBC Universal. The legal action alleges that NBC News defamed Zimmerman with by mis-editing the 911 call that he made prior to the Martin shooting. The misleadingly rendered audiotape framed Zimmerman as a hardened racial profiler.
As it gears up to defend itself, NBC Universal is all but certain to mount a familiar argument. Zimmerman, it will likely contend, is a “public figure” for the purposes of the lawsuit. Under defamation law, those whom the court terms “public figures” bear a heightened burden of proof when bringing a libel case against a news outlet. They must prove that the outlet acted knowingly to spread falsehoods or with reckless disregard of the truth — a standard known to lawyers as “actual malice.”
Stephen Dawson wrote: ... Zimmerman, it will likely contend, is a “public figure” for the purposes of the lawsuit. Under defamation law, those whom the court terms “public figures” bear a heightened burden of proof when bringing a libel case against a news outlet. They must prove that the outlet acted knowingly to spread falsehoods or with reckless disregard of the truth — a standard known to lawyers as “actual malice.”
I don't know which state the suit was filed in, but usually to get classified as a "public figure" you have to be someone who routinely puts himself in front of the public as a matter of course. This would include politicians and actors, but would not include an ordinary guy who happened to have a bad day.
Last July, George Zimmerman sat down with Sean Hannity of Fox News for a multi-topic and much-viewed interview. The discussion went into minute detail on Zimmerman’s deadly encounter with Trayvon Martin, from the moment he spotted Martin to the initial violence to his reflections on the whole thing: “I feel it was all God’s plan,” Zimmerman told Hannity.
That whole setup — Zimmerman chatting with Hannity in front of a huge cable-news audience- — could work to his detriment in the suit that the neighborhood watchman filed last week against NBC Universal. The legal action alleges that NBC News defamed Zimmerman with by mis-editing the 911 call that he made prior to the Martin shooting. The misleadingly rendered audiotape framed Zimmerman as a hardened racial profiler.
As it gears up to defend itself, NBC Universal is all but certain to mount a familiar argument. Zimmerman, it will likely contend, is a “public figure” for the purposes of the lawsuit. Under defamation law, those whom the court terms “public figures” bear a heightened burden of proof when bringing a libel case against a news outlet. They must prove that the outlet acted knowingly to spread falsehoods or with reckless disregard of the truth — a standard known to lawyers as “actual malice.”
I think this paragraph is key since I don't see how you can claim he became a public figure later and therefore it was okay to edit the 911 tapes in a way to make him look bad:
Wood focuses on chronology in determining whether Zimmerman is adjudged a public figure. The NBC News tape-manglings occurred in late March, though Zimmerman didn’t go on “Hannity” until months later. “If his public appearances … by way of the Internet and television interviews were subsequent in time to the edited tape, I believe he would be deemed a private figure,” says Wood.
Obviously Zimmerman hasn't been heard from for months so I think that also goes against a claim that he's a public figure. The truth is the media made him a public figure partly through reports such as the one that triggered the lawsuit against NBC.
Mike Kelcher wrote: That's because you made up your mind based on the information provided to you by the media. This thread is about the validity of that information and how it was presented and allegedly distorted. However, despite that, your mind seems to be made up and you've decided that he's guilty.
It's a good thing that he's still entitled to a fair trial....hopefully based on facts.
Talk about meat and potatoes...
Yep...we all know he would lose if the SB were the jury.
Cait Chan
Posts: 6,272
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US
Some might be surprised here, but I hope he finds victory in court.
This type of 'journalism' needs to end. Hopefully this case sets a strong precedent for all news outlets. Hopefully.
Now, with that said I never ever once have watched the episode of the Today Show in question. To claim that this manipulation of information is single handedly what has caused him to be one of the most hated men America is a stretch. I know why I think the guy should rot in jail and it sure as hell isn't because of a doctored 911 call.
I hope NBC gets what's coming to them. I'm curious how they will back up their innocence.
Shon D.- Homme wrote: Zimmerman and friends keep making statements that make it seem like he's just a misunderstood man and that the general public hates him because of the biased media.
We actually hate him because he lynched a child. He has no kind of self-awareness. I want the case to go to trial, and I want him to lose. And then I want him to be found guilty in his murder trial. (Though I doubt that either will actually happen...)
| 
| 
| edu