Patterico's Pontifications

7/27/2013

Big Media Distorts Comments of Zimmerman Juror

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 10:28 am



William Saletan has an excellent piece noting how the statements of the juror who initially voted for murder in the Zimmerman case were subtly manipulated to make them seem more . . . black and white than they really were. Here’s one example of many:

Nightline shows ABC interviewer Robin Roberts asking Maddy: “Some people have said, ‘George Zimmerman got away with murder. How do you respond to those people who say that?’ ” Maddy appears to reply promptly and confidently: “George Zimmerman got away with murder. But you can’t get away from God.” But that’s not quite how the exchange happened. In the unedited video, Roberts’ question is longer, with words that have been trimmed from the Nightline version, and Maddy pauses twice, for several seconds, as she struggles to answer it. “… George Zimmerman … That’s—George Zimmerman got away with murder. But you can’t get away from God.”

You have to watch her, not just read her words, to pick up her meaning. As she struggles to answer, she looks as though she’s trying to reconcile the sentiment that’s been quoted to her—that Zimmerman “got away with murder”—with her own perspective. So she repeats the quote and adds words of her own, to convey what she thinks: that there’s a justice higher than the law, which Zimmerman will have to face. She thinks he’s morally culpable, not legally guilty.

Saletan has many other points about the distorted editing. You have to read his whole piece. But he’s right about this one. As Satetan says, comparing an edited version to the full version excises a moment where she hesitates and seems to be starting to repeat the interviewer’s statement, making it clearer that her ultimate statement took the following form: restatement of interviewer’s premise plus my response.

Good catch by Saletan and a good piece. Thanks to narciso for the link.

Big Media will lie to you every time if it makes their story simpler and removes the pesky shades of gray.

Every time.


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