With Malice of Forethought

By William L. Garvin
"No person shall be ... deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law ...." Fifth Amendment, United States Constitution

One of the most basic tenets of American jurisprudence is that one is innocent until proven guilty. Apparently, the uber-intelligent modern media thinks this is an outmoded concept. A significant portion of this liberal elite think they are perfectly capable of acting as judge, jury, and executioner. Take the unfortunate case of George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin.

At this point, no charges have been filed against Mr. Zimmerman in the shooting death of Mr. Martin. No trial has been held. No evidence has been entered into the record. A special prosecutor, Angela Corey, has been appointed but she has decided not to convene a Grand Jury. Ms. Corey has the authority to file charges herself or to drop the case. As of now, she has done neither. That has not stopped the media from stampeding to judgment and declaring Mr. Zimmerman guilty in the court of public opinion. Furthermore, they have conducted a deliberate media lynching and have conspired (by their combined actions) to prevent Mr. Zimmerman from receiving a fair trial in any venue.

For example, NBC News broadcast the police audiotape of Mr. Zimmerman’s phone call as "This guy looks like he's up to no good. He looks black." They deliberately doctored the tape to eliminate the three sentences between the two they spliced together. One critical sentence they deliberately eliminated was the dispatcher asking “OK, and this guy--is he black, white or Hispanic?” It was not Mr. Zimmerman that raised the issue of race.

The once honorable New York Times created the new journalistic description of “white Hispanic.” Then there was ABC News. They aired a surveillance video obtained from the police station after Mr. Zimmerman claimed that Mr. Martin had attacked him. Their meticulously measured and incessantly repeated mantra was that the video showed that Mr. Zimmerman “has no apparent injury.” To the mottled media mind, this proved that he could not have been attacked. Subsequent magnifications of the video show what could be cuts on the back of his head. Oops.

Then there’s MSNBC and CNN repeatedly reporting that audiotapes of Mr. Zimmerman’s calls contained racial slurs. This was supposedly supported by “independent experts.” The only problem is that enhanced audio versions indicate that Mr. Zimmerman was using the word “punks” rather than the oft-repeated racial slur. CNN has now backed off their assertion but MSNBC remains undaunted by the truth.

How about the New York Times and National Public Radio leading the pack in spreading the word that Mr. Zimmerman was paranoid because he had called 911 forty-six times in fourteen months. Of course, the truth was that he had called 911 forty-six times but over the course of EIGHT YEARS not fourteen months! Calling 911 once every two months as a member of Neighborhood Watch doesn’t fit as nicely into the predetermined media verdict, does it? The NY Times should never try to guess anyone’s weight at the carnival either. They attributed 240 pounds to Mr. Zimmerman instead of his actual 170 pounds. Never let facts get in the way when your mind is already made up.

NBC has finally admitted that an “error” was made in the “production process” and has allegedly fired the producer of the segment. They have refused to name the person they allegedly fired. No such restraint or consideration has been shown in any of their coverage of the Zimmerman-Martin affair.

MSNBC’s Al Sharpton demands the immediate arrest of Mr. Zimmerman or he will incite massive civil disobedience. After the Tawana Brawley hoax and the $65,000 in damages he had to pay, you’d think he would have learned a little about discretion. NBC may have ignored Mr. Sharpton’s past and made a mistake in hiring him. They may have erred in using five-year old photos to advance their storyline but deliberately doctoring tapes to create false narratives is tantamount to falsifying evidence. NBC and their cronies have lost all perspective. They have forgotten that it is their job to report the facts, not to create them. They have abandoned journalistic integrity and every shred of credibility they once had.