The producer who was involved in a misleading segment about the Trayvon Martin shooting was fired by NBC News, reports The New York Times’ Media Decoder blog.
NBC News declined to name the fired producer, the story notes.
The action came after an NBC News investigation into the segment, which included a 911 call edited in such a way that it appeared shooter George Zimmerman was racially motivated, the piece says.
As previously reported, a "seasoned" NBC producer was responsible for the editing, which was described as a "very bad mistake."
In the original report, Zimmerman was heard to say, "This guy looks like he’s up to no good. He looks black."
The actual call included this exchange:
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 Operator: "OK. And this guy, is he white, black or Hispanic?"
Zimmerman: "He looks black."
Was the producer let go because he/she made a mistake or bad judgement call OR were they terminated to take the focus off the network policies that promote inappropriate editing techniques that tend to forward an agenda?