MSNBC Misses Opportunities With Misleading Zimmerman "Quote"

As reported on Breitbart.com, MSNBC recently used ill-placed elipses to make George Zimmerman look racist.  Reporting on a call that Zimmerman made about Trayvon Martin, MSNBC quoted Zimmeran as saying: 

“This guy looks like he’s up to no good … he looks black,” Zimmerman told a police dispatcher from his car. His father has said that Zimmerman is Hispanic, grew up in a multiracial family, and is not racist.

Here's the entire transcript (with red text depicting what MSNBC left out):

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.

911 DISPATCHER: Okay, is this guy, is he white, black, or Hispanic? 

ZIMMERMAN: He looks black.

I would also point out that they should have changed the capital "H" in Zimmerman's response to "...[h]e looks black." to signify that they had changed the entire structure of the sentence. That is journalism 101...who are these people?

Well, I think they missed an opportunity here and I blame it on a serious lack of creativity.  Here are some examples of what they could have done to really make Zimmerman look racist:

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...black."

ZIMMERMAN: "This guy looks like he's up to no good, or he's on drugs or something. It's raining and he's... black."

ZIMMERMAN: "This guy looks like he's up to no good...he's on drugs...he's...black."

ZIMMERMAN: "This guy...'s up to no good...on drugs...he's just...black."

ZIMMERMAN: "This guy...he's...no good... he's...black."

As you can see, MSNBC missed a huge opportunity here. It's not like anyone respects their journalistic integrity (have they any?) so they might as well go for the Gold. 

BEING BREITBART; A Tribute By A Random, Anonymous Fan

I will never forget sitting in my office waiting for Anthony Weiner to appear on my computer screen for his dubious press conference.  The sudden camera clicks and flashes indicated that Weiner had entered the room and was making his way up to the podium.

“What the -?” I said, as I saw a man standing at the podium with what seemed to be a lion’s mane flowing off his head.  “That’s Breitbart!”

My mind went into full-on processing mode, asking about twenty questions in a few quick seconds.

“Is he behind everything?  Did he call this press conference?  Where is Weiner?  Will there be a confrontation?  What is Breitbart up to?  HOW did he do this?”

He proceeded to hijack the press conference for about fourteen minutes, forcing the Congressman to wait in the wings before making his humiliating apologies.  When Breitbart finished, I shook my head and said, “That was the most brilliant media stunt I’ve ever seen.”

Breitbart’s mission, as I see it, has been to get the truth out unfiltered.  With all the false accusations and claims surrounding the Anthony Weiner twitter scandal, the truth was being clouded by the mainstream media.  Breitbart knew he wouldn’t have a chance to address the slanderous and libelous accusations against him on the big networks without their filters, so he commandeered the press conference, the “journalists”, the cameras and the stage to set the record straight without slant or misrepresentation.  Brilliant!

Incidentally, the weekend that Weiner’s Johnson first appeared on Twitter was my first few days on Twitter.  I immediately followed my favorite conservative voices, including Breitbart, and what an entertaining blessing that was.  I saw from day one what a powerful tool social media was and what a powerful messenger Breitbart was.  I never met Breitbart and he probably never took note of my mentions of him on Twitter because they weren’t hate-filled attacks on him.  I can’t speak about Breitbart “the man”, but I still somehow feel like he was a friend of mine.

My first real notice of Breitbart was the James O’Keefe/ACORN…incident.  I will not call it a scandal, because that supports the narrative that O’Keefe did something scandalous and it also supports the notion that ACORN’s actions on the tape were somehow outside the norm for the organization.  It wasn’t a scandal; it was an exposé about the normal, everyday business practices of a corrupt organization.  I dedicate this paragraph to Andrew Breitbart, who taught me through his work to “control the narrative.”

I followed his work and enjoyed his passion and cajones.  He was one of those people who was simply on a different level than the rest of us.  He frequently referenced philosophers, literary characters, politicians, pop culture personalities, etc.  This caused me to tweet one day “I'm a big fan of @AndrewBreitbart even though I don't understand half of his tweets.”  And studied Philosophy and English in college and have a law degree!

There wasn’t a 2012 CPAC speech I enjoyed more than his.  It was entertaining, informative, inspiring and revealing all at once.  He had no agenda of self-aggrandizement.  In fact, he frequently resorted to self-deprecating remarks – calling himself a goofball and pointing to his flaws – but he didn’t do it in the way some people do, as a way to show false humility.  That was Breitbart, at least, that was my impression of Breitbart.

When he said he had videos from Obama’s college days and that he would be vetting Obama this election, I was thrilled.  Not because I long to see Obama go down (though that sentiment was certainly there), but because I want to see the TRUTH.  I could handle Obama’s Presidency if the truth was out there and he still won.  But, there has always seemed to be a deception and concealment about his past.  I was excited because I simply wanted to know the TRUTH.  And who else would be the harbinger of that message than Andrew Breitbart.

After watching that speech, I called my wife to the room and showed her.  I said, "He better watch his back."  Shortly thereafter I tweeted something to the effect of “If Andrew Breitbart dies suddenly before November, it will be NO accident.”  That Tweet has apparently disappeared, but I know I sent it on February 10 or February 11th of 2012.  I said it half-jokingly, because I knew the power of those he was trying to expose.  He knew it too and he didn’t flinch.  He went at them, just as if they were some bussed-in union zombies paid to hold signs at a tea party rally.  He was fearless!

On February 11, 2012, I tweeted, “Glad @AndrewBreitbart is on our side!”  Even though he is dead…he is still on our side and his legacy will live on in random people like me.