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CNN's Unacknowledged Change in George Zimmerman Coverage

NBC not only acknowledged its misleading portrayal (composite graphic here) of George Zimmerman's statements on his 911 call concerning Trayvon Martin, it has now fired the producer responsible for the error.

Now it's time for CNN and CNN NewsWire to explain an apparent similar gaffe -- one about what Zimmerman purportedly told his lawyers he said on the 911 call, in partiuclar, a word that some have claimed is a racial slur. It's been more than 24 hours since I began writing this very long post, and I still haven't seen an explanation or acknowledgement by CNN on the change in its articles. If I missed it, please let me know in comments so I can correct it. Since online versions of the articles keep changing, in many instances, I am using the versions of the articles as they appeared on LexisNexis.

The unexplained edit is contained in articles that appeared Thursday, April 5, under the headline "Expert: Zimmerman whispered 'punks' before shooting Trayvon Martin," later changed to "Lawyers: Zimmerman whispered 'punks' before shooting Trayvon Martin." [More...]

The revised versions delete a mixup of phrases on George Zimmerman's 911 tape that CNN initially attributed to Zimmerman and his lawyers. None of CNN's revised online versions that I have seen mention the error or change. Other news outlets have published the article, similarly merely swapping out the incorrect for the correct version, not mentioning the change. But a few media sites are still reprinting the originally published, incorrect version.

The story begins on April 5, when CNN decided to once again address the alleged racial slur in George Zimmerman's 911 call.

Sometime on April 5 and continuing throughout the day and early evening, CNN Newswire ran articles with the headline "Expert: Zimmerman whispered 'punks' before shooting Trayvon Martin." Several versions of the articles, which ran on CNN's website, were reprinted on LexisNexis and published by other news sites (see here, here and here) and included this sentence:

"Zimmerman told his lawyers that he said "These f---ing punks always get away," his lawyers told CNN on Thursday"

CNN changed that quote, after changing the headline to "Lawyers: Zimmerman whispered 'punks' before shooting Trayvon Martin" and the lede paragraph to the articles, but it hasn't mentioned why it changed the quotation reference.

At 2:00 pm on CNN NEWSROOM, Brooke Baldwin interviewed CNN reporter Martin Savidge who said he had spoken with George Zimmerman's lawyers who told him that Zimmerman had told them the words he used in the 911 call were "f*cking punks."

Savidge said based on that, he had media/audio expert Tom Owen do an enhanced version of that portion of the call and Owen agreed Zimmerman said "f*cking punks." Savidge never says Zimmerman's lawyers told him Zimmerman had told them he had said on the call, "These f---ing punks always get away."

Here is how Martin Savidge explained it (video here.) (From the full transcript of the segment at LexisNexis:)

.....Meantime, the 911 recordings from the night Florida teenager Trayvon Martin was shot and killed have now been slowed down, enhanced and enhanced some more, all in this effort to hear exactly what the admitted shooter, George Zimmerman, said to 911 operators that night and to determine if the neighborhood watch volunteer used a racial slur. Well, we have a new development today and I want to bring in CNN's Martin Savidge, who is still down in Sanford, Florida, the town, as you now know, where that shooting took place.

And, Martin, you've gotten a hold of this newly enhanced audio. What does it reveal?

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, let me tell you how this all happened. Last night I had a conversation with the attorneys that represent George Zimmerman and I specifically asked them about the issue of the racial slur, because it is so inflammatory in this whole story. They said Zimmerman never made it. I said, well, have you asked George Zimmerman about that? They said, yes, they did. George has told him the words he used were f-ing punks. OK.

Then, independently, I got a hold of Tom Owen of Owen Forensic Services, which is a company that specializes in audio enhancement, audio improvement. And he started analyzing that specific segment of the 911 call. And the first thing he noticed was that at the very moment George Zimmerman says whatever comes out of his mouth, the phone takes a hit. Either an electronic interference hit or may have physically been bumped. And as a result, that distorted what was recorded and what everybody says they heard. He was able to isolate that interference, remove it, slow it down, do a few other things and this is what he got.

....SAVIDGE: But what he says, analyzing it carefully and clearly, is the word punks. So essentially what we have here, there are a lot of questions still about what George Zimmerman did on the night that he shot Trayvon Martin, but his attorneys and at least one audio analyst expert say he did not use a racial slur.

BALDWIN: Punks instead they say.

Here is another video interview with Savidge where he doesn't mention Zimmerman's lawyers or Zimmerman used the statement "These f---ing punks always get away" as opposed to merely "These f^cking punks."

On Twitter, at 7:42 a.m. on April 5, Martin Savidge attributes the statement to "an audio expert" (obviously Tom Owen) but doesn't say it's inaccurate:

Audio expert tells me he finds G Zimmerman did not use racial slur to 911. Instead tests show he said "These F-ing punks always get away."

CNN NewsWire Services apparently mangled Martin Savidge's report, running the erroneous article repeatedly into early evening, first with the headline "Expert: Zimmerman whispered 'punks' before shooting Trayvon Martin" containing the incorrect quote.

CNN made several changes to the article. The first two changes are not significant. CNN deleted the reference to the word "coons", substituting "racial slur." Early versions, still accessible online here and here, read:

The garbled word that raised controversy was "punks," not "coons," said Tom Owen, chairman emeritus of the American Board of Recorded Evidence.

CNN changed it to:

The garbled word that raised controversy was "punks," not the racial slur some people said they heard, said Tom Owen, chairman emeritus of the American Board of Recorded Evidence.

The LexisNexis versions appropriately reflects the change.

CNN next changed the headline and "lede" paragraph of the article, maintaining the same URL. While early versions (after the slur word change)began with:

Expert: George Zimmerman did not use racial slur before shooting Trayvon Martin

A forensic audio expert who analyzed 911 recordings disagrees with speculation that George Zimmerman uttered a racial slur moments before shooting Trayvon Martin to death.

Later versions began with:

Lawyers: Zimmerman whispered 'punks' before shooting Trayvon Martin

George Zimmerman told his lawyers that he whispered "punks," not a racial slur, in the moments before he shot Trayvon Martin, his attorneys told CNN on Thursday.

While online versions didn't mention the headline and lede change, Lexis Nexis versions did, with appropriate wording.

But then we get to the change of substance, which CNN has yet to acknowledge or explain. The early versions of the article using the headline "Expert: George Zimmerman did not use racial slur before shooting Trayvon Martin" all contain this statement:

Zimmerman told his lawyers that he said “These f—ing punks always get away,” his lawyers told CNN on Thursday.

In later versions, along with the changed headline and lead paragraph, the sentence is changed to:

Zimmerman attorneys Hal Ulrig and Craig Sonner told CNN their client told them that he said, "F---ing punks."

CNN never references the change of substance, going from "“These f—ing punks always get away,” " to merely ""F---ing punks" in the online versions. On LexisNexis, it describes the change as merely shortening the lawyers' quotes.

NOTES: Update 3:37 p.m. - shortens purported Zimmerman quote provided by lawyers, grafs 3, and in highlight

That explanation allows readers to conclude what Zimmerman's lawyers told CNN was shortened rather than incorrectly reported.

Here's a version of the CNN Newswire article with the second headline, changed lede and incorrect statement attributed to Zimmerman and his lawyers, that still ran at 7:26 p.m. Thursday night (my bolding):

Lawyers: Zimmerman whispered 'punks' before shooting Trayvon Martin CNN Wire April 5, 2012 Thursday 7:26 PM EST,

SANFORD, Florida (CNN) -- George Zimmerman told his lawyers that he whispered "punks," not a racial slur, in the moments before he shot Trayvon Martin, his attorneys told CNN on Thursday.

Some people interpreted the police recording of Zimmerman's call to 911 as evidence the fatal shooting was racially motivated.

Zimmerman attorneys Hal Ulrig and Craig Sonner told CNN their client told them he said, "These f---ing punks always get away."

Forensic audio expert Tom Owen, who analyzed 911 recordings, agreed the garbled word that raised controversy was "punks," not the racial slur some people said they heard.

When Owen, chairman emeritus of the American Board of Recorded Evidence, used a computer application to remove cell phone interference, the word became clearer, he said. After discussions with linguists, he said he became convinced that Zimmerman said "punks."

He provided CNN with a copy of the newly processed audio.

CNN also enhanced the sound of the 911 call, and several members of CNN's editorial staff repeatedly reviewed the tape but could reach no consensus on whether Zimmerman used a slur.

The incorrect version, sourced as CNN NewsWire, is also still running on Fox8 in Cleveland, with the headline "Expert: Zimmerman Whispered ‘Punks’ Before Shooting Trayvon Martin"

What's so wrong about this? It's that the unintelligible word following the word "f*cking" in Zimmerman's 911 call that some have alleged to be a racial slur was not attached to the phrase "they always get away." It comes later, when Zimmerman says "the back entrance, f*cking ___". From the transcript and audio of the call:

Zimmerman: Okay. These a*sholes they always get away.

Later:

Zimmerman: The back entrance…f*cking unintelligible]

"These as*sholes they always get away" can be heard as clear as day. There's no use of the word "f*cking" in that phrase. No CNN reporter besides Martin Savidge has said on air he got a quote about "f*cking punks" from Zimmerman's lawyers and commissioned Tom Owen for an enhanced version of the audio. (On Twitter, he says the audio expert (meaning Tom Owen) told him said "These F-ing punks always get away.")

Why does this matter? It matters because the never-used phrase "f*cking punks always get away" was attributed to Zimmerman's lawyers, who in turn attributed it to Zimmerman.

The obvious conclusion to anyone who has read the transcript or listened to the call is either that Zimmerman's lawyers are woefully ill-informed and therefore non-credible, or that Zimmerman was feeding his lawyers a line, easily capable of being debunked, rendering his assertion that the unintelligible word was "punks" not worthy of attention or belief. (It also doesn't speak well for Tom Owen who CNN reports provided the enhanced version of the call confirming Zimmerman's lawyers' account, since he would be confirming something that isn't on the call because it was never said.)

CNN, apparently realizing the error, changed its report without noting it erroneously attributed a statement to Zimmerman's lawyers and Zimmerman that Savidge never said they made. The new version appears at the same URL as the earlier incorrect version, meaning CNN just swapped out the wrong version as if it never happened. Since CNN never noted the error, some news outlets which don't automatically update CNN's content, are still running the incorrect version. See here and here.

The story was reprinted online by news outlets across the country all day and night. When CNN corrected its version, just swapping the two versions without noting the error, the corrected version automatically began running in place of the original on the other news sites with automated updates of CNN's articles. Thus, on these automated news sites, because CNN didn't note the error, neither did they, although by now the erroneous version had to have been seen by millions of people.

Here's the pertinent portion of the 911 call:

Zimmerman: Okay. These a*sholes they always get away. When you come to the clubhouse you come straight in and make a left. Actually you would go past the clubhouse.

Dispatcher: So it's on the lefthand side from the clubhouse?

Zimmerman: No you go in straight through the entrance and then you make a left…uh you go straight in, don't turn, and make a left. Sh*t he's running.

Dispatcher: He's running? Which way is he running?

Zimmerman: Down towards the other entrance to the neighborhood.

Dispatcher: Which entrance is that that he's heading towards?

Zimmerman: The back entrance…f* cking [unintelligible]

Contrast CNN's behavior with NBC's acknowledged error on the 911 call, and even the New York Times today, which writes about Zimmerman's earlier 911 calls:

An article on March 17 about appeals for a Department of Justice investigation into the shooting of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman misstated the time period in which Mr. Zimmerman made 46 calls to 911. The calls were made over the course of about eight years, not over 14 months. The error was repeated in a front-page article on March 21 about Florida's self-defense law known as Stand Your Ground.

The New York Times didn't just swap out the erroneous statement for the correct statement. It acknowledged the error.

Here's the uncorrected version of the CNN article still appearing at IowaState Daily: (my bolding):

SANFORD, Florida (CNN) — A forensic audio expert who analyzed 911 recordings disagrees with speculation that George Zimmerman uttered a racial slur moments before shooting Trayvon Martin to death.

What the neighborhood watch volunteer whispered as he followed the teen leading up to the deadly confrontation could weigh into the decision about charges against Zimmerman.

The garbled word that raised controversy was "punks," not "coons," said Tom Owen, chairman emeritus of the American Board of Recorded Evidence.

When Owen used a computer application to remove cell phone interference, the word became clearer, he said. After discussions with linguists, he became convinced that Zimmerman said "punks," he said.

He provided CNN with a copy of the processed audio.

Zimmerman told his lawyers that he said "These f---ing punks always get away," his lawyers told CNN on Thursday.

Who is responsible for the CNN misquote attributed to Zimmerman and his lawyers? Both the correct and incorrect versions state in the LexisNexis version "CNN's Martin Savidge and Tristan Smith contributed to this report," but I think the real question is who at CNN editorially decided to run the corrected version without mentioning its earlier versions were incorrect.

CNN seems so anxious to jump from news reporting to news creating, even retaining experts to render opinions that may or may not be valid, it is jeopardizing its journalistic integrity. The public wants the facts, not more speculation by dueling experts.

Over two days, CNN ran reports of two separate audio enhancements it commissioned of Zimmerman's 911 call, one with its own senior audio engineer and another with Tom Owen. Owen concluded Zimmerman said "f*cking punks" as his lawyers claim, and CNN's sound engineer believes he said "f*cking cold." In the process, it mangled statements by Zimmerman and his lawyers, attributing to them a misquote of the 911 call transcript on the very point of the article, creating doubts about Zimmerman and his lawyers' credibility. It then compounded the error by failing to acknowledge it, resulting in the erroneous version continuing to appear on other news sites. Instead of being a source of information, CNN put out misinformation and created confusion.

CNN and other news outlets need to get out of the news creating business. They also need to learn that more is required when they make an error than just swapping out the wrong version as if it had never appeared. We all know, particularly in this age of news syndication, the Internet has no erasers.

Articles as Published on Lexis:

< Friday Morning Open Thread | City of Sanford Removes 911 Calls and Police Report From Website >
  • The Online Magazine with Liberal coverage of crime-related political and injustice news

  • Contribute To TalkLeft


  • Display: Sort:
    the topic here is media coverage (5.00 / 1) (#1)
    by Jeralyn on Sat Apr 07, 2012 at 01:01:46 AM EST
    not what you think happened or should happen. I'm not interested in fostering more speculation. Please keep your comments on topic, which is principally the various versions of the CNN article. Thank you.

    The issue, especially, is online media (5.00 / 1) (#13)
    by Towanda on Sat Apr 07, 2012 at 01:43:00 PM EST
    and the process of corrections.  I have seen this problem of corrections made without noting so in my local media, and it's maddening -- not only for me now, as a news user and as a blog user (lots of blog brouhahas have been caused by this problem), but also for historians in future.  Historians as well as journalists have weighed in on this, to no avail for most online media (some do note corrections made in their archived versions).

    I am hoping that standards are set on this, and that will not happen without work such as yours to show how serious a problem this can be in major cases.  (Most of the messes I have seen arising from this problem have been of far lesser import.)

    So, please do send your analysis, Jeralyn, to CNN -- to top management, not just customer service or the like -- and to journalism groups such as the Society for Professional Journalists as well as historians' groups such as the AHA, OAH, even the Library of Congress' newspaper division.

    Parent

    Great work to document all of this (none / 0) (#6)
    by Abdul Abulbul Amir on Sat Apr 07, 2012 at 08:57:47 AM EST
    .

    If CNN wants to repair its tattered credibility it should do an investigation into NBC's edit smear.  The who and why of editgate are yet to come out.  CNN otoh seems more like sloppiness than anything else.

    .

    Parent

    Jeralyn - isn't the misreporting (none / 0) (#58)
    by BackFromOhio on Sun Apr 08, 2012 at 02:45:33 PM EST
    also cause for concern that the potential jury pool has been biased?

    Parent
    Media coverage ALWAYS sucks (5.00 / 0) (#2)
    by Dadler on Sat Apr 07, 2012 at 02:31:29 AM EST
    Doesn't matter what the story is, J, the American media are about one thing -- money and profit, which they get through doing everything but reporting news.  Why act surpised?  None of this sh*tty reporting changes a thing.  Taints the jury pool? y What doesn't in this day and age?  The guy is going to walk either way, and the Sanford police, and no one else, are going to be to blame.

    Seriously, when have the media in this country done a good job reporting ANY important story in recent memory?

    Modern for-profit journalism is just that...for profit, not for journalism.

    And it kind of strains credulity to want to talk about media coverage and not about what might have happened, when this ENTIRE CASE WILL ALWAYS BE A MYSTERY, again, because the police did not do their job.

    This case is dead, nothing good will come of it.  A boy's life was wasted, a man's life is going to be altered forever, and no one, from the cops to the media, did anything right.

    Yep... (none / 0) (#52)
    by ks on Sun Apr 08, 2012 at 12:04:42 PM EST
    The media coverage here is pretty much par for the course.  There's nothing surprising or unique about it at all.  IMO, their performance has been middling so far in this case but I could easily list several "similar" racially charged cases where it's been far worse.

    Parent
    That transcript is definitely helpful. (5.00 / 1) (#8)
    by EL seattle on Sat Apr 07, 2012 at 10:00:14 AM EST
    Ubnfortunately, having the transcript wasn't enough to stop Mother Jones from apparently doing a bit of editorializing-by-omission, themselves. (Even if they don't fall into the 'unintelligible expert transcription' quagmire.) It seems like almost everyone wants to have an instant resolution to this story.

    In their main story about this case, the Mother Jones website says:

    The man tried to explain where he was. "Now he's coming towards me. He's got his hand in his waistband. And he's a black male...Something's wrong with him.

    Because the story doesn't include the 911 dispatcher's earlier request for Zimmerman to identify Martin's race ("OK and this guy is he white, black, or hispanic?"), the reader might infer that Zimmerman's line "and he's a black guy...Something's wrong with him" was an unsolicited statement that implies some sort of specific rascist intent. Personally, I don't think that the rest of the transcript supports that sort of "gotcha" summary of Zimmerman's call.

    Thanks for your careful coverage of this story, by the way.  As you say, "the internet has no erasers". And it rarely seems to even have accurate time stamps, sometimes.  

    Terrible news coverage about a terrible event. (5.00 / 1) (#9)
    by Sweet Sue on Sat Apr 07, 2012 at 10:11:48 AM EST
    It always bothered me that a twenty eight year old man would say that particular c word.
    I haven't heard it in fifty years.
    Most young people would need a detailed explanation of that particular racial slur.
    From top to bottom, this is such a mess.

    It seems someone made a mistake, (5.00 / 2) (#20)
    by RickTaylor on Sat Apr 07, 2012 at 02:57:05 PM EST
    though it's not clear to me whether it was CNN, Zimmerman's lawyers, or Zimmerman himself (though in the last case, Zimmerman's lawyers should have corrected him). Still, it's hard to get excited about; there have been so many errors made regarding this case, and this seems a relatively minor one. Unlike the NBC fiasco, the mistake doesn't seem likely to change peoples opinion of Zimmerman's innocence or guilt. It also seems an easy mistake to make, conflating two nearby statements that expressed a similar sort of sentiment.

    That said, there's been such a constant stream of misinformation from the media about this case, I've learned I have to be on my toes. We saw a video of Zimmerman taken four hours after the shooting. Later that was changed to just over 30 minutes after the shooting, with no explanation of why they got it wrong before, or why we should believe they got it right after. They said the video showed no evidence of bleeding or wounds! Later of course, they said you could see what appeared to be gashes! Though another reporter described them simply as marks.

    I was outraged when ABC news seemed to imply that the police left Trayvon in the morgue unidentified for three days without contacting his family, and watched as other bloggers and pundits were outraged as well, only to later discover that was a distortion, and they spoke with his parents the next day. I was angered to hear how the police accepted Zimmerman's story of what happened as they described it to Martin's parents, including what appeared to be unbelievable details, only to later discover that the investigator who spoke to them was actually personally skeptical of Zimmerman's account and trying to discredit it. Now I remind myself that we have not heard what Zimmerman's account of happened. We've heard what some of his friends and family say his account was, and we've even heard what Martin's parents say the police said Zimmerman's account was, but we haven't heard from Zimmerman himself. So I wonder how anyone can say what we've learned is or is not consistent with Zimmerman's account of what happened, when so far as I know that account has not been made public.

    So, this case has been pretty eye opening in teaching me I have to listen to the news with a very critical ear.

    If Zimmerman has any sense left at all, ... (5.00 / 0) (#24)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Sat Apr 07, 2012 at 03:19:39 PM EST
    ... he'll keep his mouth shut for the duration of the investigative phase, until the special counsel and grand jury have made their  determination regarding a course of action. Too bad for him that he didn't tell his counsel, spokesman, brother and father to do the same.

    Parent
    I don't think (none / 0) (#30)
    by Jeralyn on Sat Apr 07, 2012 at 03:58:34 PM EST
    it was Zimmerman's lawyers who made the mistake. They probably called CNN's attention to it, either by complaining to Savidge or someone else at the network. If you look at Savidge's tweet,  at 5:42 am (maybe 7:42 ET) he attributes the phrase to Owen, not Zimmerman's lawyers:

    Audio expert tells me he finds G Zimmerman did not use racial slur to 911. Instead tests show he said "These F-ing punks always get away."

    He had just spoken to Zimmerman's lawyers the night before, and I don't think he has ever said on air that Zimmerman's lawyers said Zimmerman used the phrase. Here's what he said at 2:00 pm ET CNN:

    Last night I had a conversation with the attorneys that represent George Zimmerman and I specifically asked them about the issue of the
    racial slur, because it is so inflammatory in this whole story. They said Zimmerman never made it. I said, well, have you asked George Zimmerman about that? They said, yes, they did. George has told him the words he used were f-ing punks. OK.

    Then, independently, I got a hold of Tom Owen of Owen Forensic Services, which is a company that specializes in audio enhancement, audio improvement. And he started analyzing that specific segment of the 911 call. And the first thing he noticed was that at the very moment George Zimmerman says whatever comes out of his mouth, the phone takes a hit. Either an electronic interference hit or may have physically been bumped. And as a result, that distorted what was recorded and what everybody says they heard. He was able to isolate that interference, remove it, slow it down, do a few other things and this is what he got.

    ...SAVIDGE: But what he says, analyzing it carefully and clearly, is the word punks. So essentially what we have here, there are a lot of questions still about what George Zimmerman did on the night that he shot Trayvon Martin, but his attorneys and at least one audio analyst expert say he did not use a racial slur.



    Parent
    But the very first lawyer (none / 0) (#34)
    by Towanda on Sat Apr 07, 2012 at 08:23:31 PM EST
    to speak for Zimmerman, a friend of his, said -- I recall this well, as it was so stunning -- that what Zimmerman said that he had said in the phone call was "f*cking goons."  

    And it was, the lawyer said, "a term of endearment" on Zimmerman's part.

    That first lawyer to speak for Zimmerman has gone quiet, I think, and thank heavens for that. Clearly, these subsequent lawyers have had to try to come in late to a mess and make the best of it.

    Parent

    he was not a lawyer (none / 0) (#37)
    by Jeralyn on Sat Apr 07, 2012 at 08:40:14 PM EST
    I assume you are referring to Joe Oliver. He was Zimmerman's friend and co-worker who acted as his media advisor for a while, not his lawyer. I don't think he said George told him the word was goon, he said it was his conclusion after listening many times. You can view the video of his interview with Chris Matthews here. Please be more careful not to post erroneous information.

    Parent
    Ah, that's right -- the lawyer (5.00 / 0) (#42)
    by Towanda on Sat Apr 07, 2012 at 10:38:46 PM EST
    was sitting right there -- on ABC first, actually; you can view the interview here -- and let him say it.  Your link shows that on their media tour, the lawyer, who called himself Zimmerman's counsel then, let it be repeated.  

    Ah well, as the saying goes, only half of the lawyers. . . .  And that's not an assumption; that's a statistical fact.

    Parent

    That makes more sense (none / 0) (#53)
    by gyrfalcon on Sun Apr 08, 2012 at 12:55:16 PM EST
    For the attorneys to get it wrong would be incomprehensible.   I can easily imagine Owen, having spent hours concentrating on one or two words in isolation, might well have lost track.

    It's possible, but much less likely, that Savidge and his producer would have been so sloppy as to mix up which phrase it came from, but entirely possible that they would have failed to check on what Owen told them.

    Seems to me anyway.

    Parent

    At this point, (5.00 / 1) (#26)
    by RickTaylor on Sat Apr 07, 2012 at 03:34:50 PM EST
    Savidge said based on that, he had media/audio expert Tom Owen do an enhanced version of that portion of the call and Owen agreed Zimmerman said "f*cking punks."

    At this point, I'm skeptical of anything Tom Owen says, after he was so confident about being able to rule out Zimmerman's being the one screaming on the tape based on his analysis using "EZVoice biometric." If someone introduces substantial evidence that this software can really give a reliable negative match between a person talking normally and a person screaming for help, both over a phone, I'll change my mind, but it really sounds suspicious, and contradicts a substantial body material people here have quoted on the limits of voice recognition. There's an advertisement here that explores "the limits of what the program is capable of doing." It shows successful matches between a fellow's voice, the same fellow's voice bandwidth limited, his voice with music, and a recording where he tries to describe his voice. There's nothing on the order of comparing someone's voice talking normally and screaming for help. I found the link via this article here, which points out a potential conflict of interest in Owen promoting this software.

    That should have been (none / 0) (#27)
    by RickTaylor on Sat Apr 07, 2012 at 03:38:49 PM EST
    "disguise his voice," not "describe his voice."

    Parent
    Indeed (5.00 / 1) (#28)
    by jimakaPPJ on Sat Apr 07, 2012 at 03:46:41 PM EST
    CNN and other news outlets need to get out of the news creating business.


    Nice statement (5.00 / 1) (#29)
    by ks on Sat Apr 07, 2012 at 03:54:01 PM EST
    But "news creation" has been going on long before there was a CNN, before any of us were alive and it will be going on long after all of us are dust.

    IMO, people just tend to be bothered by it when they are on what they imagine is the "other side" of the narrative.

    Parent

    I dunno ... (5.00 / 2) (#38)
    by Peter G on Sat Apr 07, 2012 at 08:41:22 PM EST
    "News creation business" seems to me like a pejorative term for "investigative journalism."

    Parent
    I learned a long time ago just how (5.00 / 0) (#43)
    by Anne on Sat Apr 07, 2012 at 10:41:09 PM EST
    easily the media can distort and manipulate, and it's made me highly skeptical of what I read and hear.

    In my case, it had nothing to do with anything quite as sensational as a shooting - it had to do with the County's plans to rebuild a school - my children's elementary school - that had burned down, and the offer by a developer to donate land for a new school that turned out to be a former Superfund site - not exactly the most ideal place for a school.  The community was, to say the least, up in arms and the community input meetings reflected that - but how the media reported on those meetings, and on the situation in general, gave an altogether different perspective than those of us who were present experienced.

    When you have an experience like that, it makes it very hard to take much of anything at face value.

    That is a valiant attempt at sorting it out (5.00 / 1) (#57)
    by ruffian on Sun Apr 08, 2012 at 02:37:10 PM EST
    The media has been so frustrating...they seem to send people down the rabbit hole of the first quote where he says 'always get away', as if people have alleged a racial slur in that quote. It is the second quote, the barely audible one, that  have heard allegations about, not the first.  The Young Turks played it about 5 times, claiming to hear the word 'coons', and I could not hear it. And have never heard it in all the other times I have tried.

    I saw in the Sentinel that Zimemrman's family or lawyer says he was saying 'f**ing cold'. I find that a lot easier to believe, partly because I have never heard anyone under the age of 40 use the word 'coon' as a slur.  It just does not makes sense to me that he is muttering that.

    Not quite (none / 0) (#67)
    by Jeralyn on Sun Apr 08, 2012 at 08:35:00 PM EST
    It was CNN's sound engineer and Gary Tuchman who said Zimmerman said cold." CNN's Martin Savitch say Zimmerman's lawyers and and Tom Owen said it is "punks".

    The Sun Sentinel says quotes CNN as his lawyers saying "punks" not cold.

    Parent

    well, no doubt this will play an extremely (4.50 / 2) (#3)
    by cpinva on Sat Apr 07, 2012 at 05:26:11 AM EST
    compelling role in mr. zimmerman's trial, should there actually be one. um, ok, probably not. frankly, i didn't think it was all that big of a deal, but whatever.

    should a grand jury be convened, and should they bring charges against mr. zimmerman, what do you suppose the odds are that the prosecutor would actually attempt to bring anything other than the original tapes of those 911 calls into evidence? myself, i'm going out on a short limb, and guessing real long.

    something i'd think you'd be more concerned about ms. merrit, as a defense attorney, is the absolutely stunningly poor job both attorneys hired by the zimmerman's have done for their client thus far. now that is compelling, as well as something substantive enough that it may well come into evidence.

    certainly a media issue far more interesting than this.

    CPInva, the issue (5.00 / 2) (#25)
    by Jeralyn on Sat Apr 07, 2012 at 03:31:02 PM EST
    not whether the media versions will be brought up at a potential trial, but how media attempts at conducting parallel investigations can misinform the public and prejudice public perception.  

    As for Zimmerman's attorneys, that's your personal opinion they are doing a terrible job. As a defense attorney, I don't judge other lawyers' legal or media strategies when I'm not privy to the facts of their case. Such criticism could adversely affect their client. Even when I am privy to the facts, through either talking to them or having read the actual court documents, I try to cover a case in a manner that is helpful to the defense. Attacking a defendant's lawyer is hardly a means to accomplish that goal.

    In 10 years of blogging, the only time I recall criticizing a defense lawyer's strategy was with Najibullah Zazi's first attorney, and that was a far different scenario than this one.  Why am I not surprised that you were also the first one to jump into that thread, with speculation that the lawyer had committed an ethics violation?

    This post is about the role of the media, and how they address factual errors, not the lawyers involved. Please don't attempt to hijack the topic.


    Parent

    It COULD be a big deal (none / 0) (#4)
    by jbindc on Sat Apr 07, 2012 at 06:21:23 AM EST
    Because the whole basis for trying to bring in the feds to potentially charge a hate crime seems to be based on this one comment.  If he didn't use a racial slur, that whole theory falls apart.

    Parent
    Empahsis on could (none / 0) (#18)
    by ks on Sat Apr 07, 2012 at 02:23:38 PM EST
    I don't know if it's the "whole basis" or not but, in any event, whatever the Feds do is not going to based on CNN's or Zimmerman's attorney's interpretations.  

    Parent
    True (2.00 / 1) (#19)
    by jbindc on Sat Apr 07, 2012 at 02:49:41 PM EST
    Buy it also isn't going to be based on what the Martin family's or Al Sharpton's interpretations either.

    Parent
    Of course not (5.00 / 1) (#22)
    by ks on Sat Apr 07, 2012 at 03:13:31 PM EST
    But their interpretations are not the subject of this post whereas CNN and Zimmerman's attorneys are.

    Parent
    You're making a big assumption ... (none / 0) (#21)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Sat Apr 07, 2012 at 03:11:53 PM EST
    ... that this is "the whole basis for trying to bring in the feds to potentially charge a hate crime ...", given that we do not necessarily have all the facts here.

    Parent
    Which is why (2.00 / 2) (#23)
    by jbindc on Sat Apr 07, 2012 at 03:17:47 PM EST
    I used big words and phrases as "potentially" abd "seems to be".

    I know reading is hard sometimes.

    Parent

    As I recall, grand jury start date (none / 0) (#5)
    by oculus on Sat Apr 07, 2012 at 07:11:37 AM EST
    was previously made public.

    Parent
    Agreed... (none / 0) (#17)
    by ks on Sat Apr 07, 2012 at 02:19:21 PM EST
    Keeping the media on it's toes is a good thing but, imo, this example is thin stuff at best and characterizing it as a "change in Zimmerman coverage" seems a bit dramatic.

    Parent
    Enhanced or altered (none / 0) (#7)
    by Lacy on Sat Apr 07, 2012 at 09:05:23 AM EST
    I heard one of the so called "enhancements" in which the more obvious first word was still included, and that first word was completely garbled. The process had altered more than enhanced.

    The original tape version with just the volume level raised was clear enough to hear F**ing C*ns...the only problem I detected was if the 2d word was for sure plural or singular.

    I think people hear what (5.00 / 1) (#12)
    by Jeralyn on Sat Apr 07, 2012 at 12:32:34 PM EST
    they want or expect to hear, depending on their view of the case. I don't hear what you hear. Nor do I hear what CNN's experts hear, either "punks" or "cold." It could be anything. I also don't feel a need to determine what he said in advance of learning what the state's experts say. It's their  experts, in several forensic fields, not the media's experts, that their ultimate decision will be based on. I think the time for investigative reporting is after they have made their announcement and said what it is based on.


    Parent
    Actually (none / 0) (#32)
    by Lacy on Sat Apr 07, 2012 at 05:22:41 PM EST
    Some people just like to get facts right and I am one. And it is itself prejudice to assume that those who can perceive what you have not or can not are biased. Censoring is your right but does not help get to the underlying truth.

    Have you listened to the actual unenhanced original tape of Zimmerman? It is not that difficult to hear what it says.

    The one I heard is here: http://motherjones.com/politics/2012/03/what-happened-trayvon-martin-explained#transcript

    It's the 4:10 minute tape of Zimmerman's call (the first of several 911s, down the page a bit)...Listen carefully in a quiet room at the 2:20 point, and you hear "f*king c*ns"...I've had very savvy people listen with no coaching, and all heard the same.

    And if you listen from about 2:00 on, you will detect a bizarre quiver reappearing in Zimmerman's voice...he could not even get his last name out when asked. Panic, excitement, or ????

    .

    Parent

    disagree (5.00 / 1) (#35)
    by Jeralyn on Sat Apr 07, 2012 at 08:25:34 PM EST
    I've listened to many versions, dozens of times. I can't make it out. Nor, do I think, can anyone. It is what you want it to be.

    If you were given this tape six months ago before you ever heard of Trayvon Martin, and someone played you the tape, without telling you why you were listening, I doubt you would be so certain.

    In any event, my point is the only decision that matters right now is the conclusion of the states experts, and then the issue will be is their conclusion (or inability to arrive at one, should that be the case) reasonable and supportable. These media tests in the meantime are speculative, silly and pointless.

    It may be that a court would find this part of the tape inaudible and not allow it into evidence at all. Or it might tell the jurors no expert is needed, this isn't a question of science but of what they hear. Just like jurors don't need an expert to look at a photograph and tell them it's the person who is standing in front of them.  As I said, I think people hear what they want or expect to hear. You haven't changed my mind.

    Parent

    All the questionable back and forth (none / 0) (#10)
    by CoralGables on Sat Apr 07, 2012 at 10:45:38 AM EST
    about race does nothing but help Zimmerman, and takes away from the actual event. In Zimmerman's own words..."These a$$holes, they always get away", before leaving his car with a gun, pursuing a teen, and killing him.

    Perhaps because there was so little coverage (none / 0) (#11)
    by Angel on Sat Apr 07, 2012 at 11:02:25 AM EST
    of this event when it happened people felt the need to try to fill in the blanks with what little information was out there when the story did break big.  Not saying that is right, but it's human nature.  

    I have to agree that Sanford (none / 0) (#14)
    by Towanda on Sat Apr 07, 2012 at 01:49:24 PM EST
    PD, although overruled by the state's attorney who bears the most responsibility for overruling any charges, could have released records that would have meant far less supposition.

    A recent case close to where I live had a lot of similarities, but all involved released a lot of information while we awaited, for weeks, decisions on charges or not.  There were protests by the family and friends of the victim, but they could not protest a claim of a coverup -- as there was none.  The obvious coverup in the Sanford case has been the cause of problems, compounded by continued lack of authoritative information (vs. leaked information from what seem to be some in Sanford PD who agree).

    As it happened, charges were not filed on the shooter in the local case here, but by then, so much information was out there from the PD and others involved that the decision was accepted.  There simply was so little cause for conjecture.

    Parent

    so little coverage (none / 0) (#16)
    by Abdul Abulbul Amir on Sat Apr 07, 2012 at 02:16:10 PM EST
    .

    Whatever do you mean by "so little coverage?"  On average about 16 black males are killed in this country every day to virtually no coverage at all outside the deep inside pages of the local paper.

    .

    Parent

    Seems to me as if (none / 0) (#15)
    by gyrfalcon on Sat Apr 07, 2012 at 01:52:34 PM EST
    it's Zimmerman's lawyers who started this all off on the wrong foot, Savidge and the rest of the CNN people reported it without double-checking the actual call/transcript, and we're off to the races.

    If I'm following Jeralyn's unraveling of all this correctly, that is.  The attorney/s, astoundingly to me, seem to have relied on their generalized memory of the tape and conflated two separate utterances instead of double-checking and being sure they were using the right words.  That's just amazing.

    Bad enough CNN didn't check it, but then they probably assumed the attorneys would have it right. Then somebody somewhere, maybe even one of the attorneys, drew the mistake to their attention and they tried to fix it, not quite grasping that the context is a fairly crucial distinction, whatever the garbled word itself was, and the fix needed to be highlighted and the mistake apologized for.

    Shame on them for not noting the fix when they made it, but par for the course for most media more or less forever, unfortunately.

    The actual tape (none / 0) (#33)
    by Lacy on Sat Apr 07, 2012 at 07:59:49 PM EST
    I will repost a link to the actual tape, and it would be interesting to hear unbiased views of Zimmerman's comment...It's at about 2:19, spoken very quietly under the breath, in the 4:10 min 911 tape at this link (a bit down the page):
     http://motherjones.com/politics/2012/03/what-happened-trayvon-martin-explained#transcript

    Ya gotta be kidding me (none / 0) (#39)
    by jimakaPPJ on Sat Apr 07, 2012 at 08:59:01 PM EST
    All I hear is static at around the 2:19 mark, and my last physical said my hearing was perfect.

    And there is nothing in the conversation that indicates he is talking under his breath.

    This really is manufactured news.

    Parent

    Try again? (none / 0) (#41)
    by Lacy on Sat Apr 07, 2012 at 10:37:40 PM EST
    Maybe you didn't wait the 2 seconds until the words are spoken at exactly 2:21, but if you just pay attention, it's really impossible to miss what's said, if you're in a quiet environment and have an open mind.

    But don't expect to hear him say that he is about to whisper something under his breath that he hopes will not be heard.

    Parent

    I listened very carefully at least 10 times (none / 0) (#44)
    by jimakaPPJ on Sat Apr 07, 2012 at 10:57:41 PM EST
    and I never heard any of that.

    You are hearing what you want to hear.

    Parent

    Oh, I see, (none / 0) (#48)
    by Lacy on Sun Apr 08, 2012 at 07:09:13 AM EST
    I think you're telling me that you're on Zimmerman's legal team, because the static is very low and the fact that words are audibly mouthed is unmistakable.

    Parent
    I'm telling you I have excellent hearing (none / 0) (#50)
    by jimakaPPJ on Sun Apr 08, 2012 at 10:59:45 AM EST
    and I do not hear anything but static and some what I assume to be heavy breathing.

    Like the folks who listened to the edited tape at NBC you are hearing what you want to hear.

    Audioboo link from Mother Jones

    Parent

    You get hearing tests in your physical? (none / 0) (#45)
    by sj on Sat Apr 07, 2012 at 11:04:47 PM EST
    I have had an annual physical exam for years and I haven't had even one.  But all I, too, heard was static or wind noise at that point until I turned the volume way, way up.  And then I couldn't tell what was said.  Could have been either word.  Which ever word I listen for is what I hear.  

    Parent
    I listened to the tape provided by (none / 0) (#51)
    by jimakaPPJ on Sun Apr 08, 2012 at 11:20:31 AM EST
    Lacey and this one by Jeralyn wearing a very good quality Bose headset (not stick in your ear phones) and I don't hear anything but static and breathing/wind nose.

    And yes, depending on your age and background,especially if you have been around a lot of jet engines, you should have your hearing checked.

    Parent

    Jeralyn's tape (none / 0) (#54)
    by Lacy on Sun Apr 08, 2012 at 12:55:57 PM EST
    Thanks for the link to this other tape...The words "Fxxking C**ns" (100% certainty on the 1st word) are at 2:22 on "Jeralyn's tape"...No problem hearing it.

    Claims there's nothing there are either dishonest or show a sad lack of interest or perception...REMEMBER, the transcripts and everyone without a bias agree that the word "F.....g" is there...That's why ALL the "enhancement" was done to isolate the 2nd word as to whether it might have been "goons"!!!

    Are there any other honest and perceptive readers here???

    Parent

    Your imagination has seized you. (none / 0) (#55)
    by jimakaPPJ on Sun Apr 08, 2012 at 01:49:29 PM EST
    BTW - Transcripts show only what the listener thinks they heard.

    BTW - I listened to the so-called CNN enhanced tape and if anyone really wants to claim they can hear anything on it they are fooling themselves.

    Parent

    Mayhap you're fooling yourself (none / 0) (#62)
    by sj on Sun Apr 08, 2012 at 05:23:13 PM EST
    about "perfect hearing".  Although "so-called CNN enhanced tape" is a good description.  Emphasis mine.

    Parent
    Enhancement (none / 0) (#63)
    by Lacy on Sun Apr 08, 2012 at 06:15:43 PM EST
    You're completely into the reality denier arena...that is, if you're even really trying in the first place. Your link to that "enhancement" shows the guy was able to slow down and manipulate the elements of "coons" to resemble something like "C-u-u-n-e-s", while the hearing impaired guy standing there says it sounds like "punks".

    It sounds nothing whatever like "punks".

    It sounds exactly like a 33 rpm of "coons" played at about 15 rpm.

    Parent

    I don't think it says anything (none / 0) (#64)
    by jimakaPPJ on Sun Apr 08, 2012 at 06:25:48 PM EST
    I think it is either breath or wind across the mike and these guys are having their 15 minutes of fame saying they hear something.

    Parent
    Jim, it has been established (none / 0) (#61)
    by sj on Sun Apr 08, 2012 at 03:32:42 PM EST
    independently, by multiple sources, that something was said there.  Your inability to hear it notwithstanding.  

    The question is not "if" but "what."

    Parent

    Oh, I hear what they claim (none / 0) (#66)
    by jimakaPPJ on Sun Apr 08, 2012 at 06:28:22 PM EST
    I just don't believe it is anything beyond wind or Zimmerman's breath that everyone is now trying to "interpret."

    Parent
    Then I don't think you hear what (none / 0) (#68)
    by sj on Sun Apr 08, 2012 at 09:44:09 PM EST
    they "claim".

    Parent
    Soledad O'Brien should've pressed him... (none / 0) (#40)
    by Dadler on Sat Apr 07, 2012 at 09:23:31 PM EST
    ...on the 8 previous burglaries, specifically how do we know it's all young black men unless all were apprehended and convicted.  And if they were, then residents were getting much better bang for their police buck than when I lived in the REAL hood, and had, for example, a young black man murdered on the sidewalk out side my bedroom window and heard it all go down, or when my pit bull/shepherd mix scared a burglar into surrendering after he'd jumped the fence into our yard (a white guy I recall, in a neighborhood in the top five of ethnic diversity in the entire nation).    

    Parent
    Try listening to some (none / 0) (#46)
    by Jeralyn on Sat Apr 07, 2012 at 11:29:17 PM EST
    easier to find versions.

    All the calls are on the Sanford Herald site here. Another uncut version is here.

    And I hear don't hear an "oo" so much as an "o" as in cold. But I'm not an expert.

    Parent

    These also (none / 0) (#56)
    by Lacy on Sun Apr 08, 2012 at 02:20:49 PM EST
    Both these other tapes are the same..."F*** C**s" at the same spot.    

    Hmm, I thought you were suggesting earlier there was nothing on the tape there, but now it's ""o" as in cold over "oo"! BUT, the 2nd word is pluralized (the only thing the "enhancements" made clear), so I think you're getting closer to the truth.

    Parent

    I listened and heard nothing but a lot of static (none / 0) (#49)
    by Angel on Sun Apr 08, 2012 at 10:11:08 AM EST
    at 2:19.  You must have exceptional hearing to have heard what you say you did.  

    Parent
    It's there (none / 0) (#59)
    by sj on Sun Apr 08, 2012 at 03:28:35 PM EST
    Turn the volume way, way up.  

    Parent
    by the way (none / 0) (#60)
    by sj on Sun Apr 08, 2012 at 03:31:40 PM EST
    "unintelligible" is the correct  transcription.

    Parent
    I thought the bad thing was that CNN (none / 0) (#47)
    by rjarnold on Sun Apr 08, 2012 at 12:22:30 AM EST
    even raised ran with the "fu**ing" coon" story in the first place. They presented it as a breakthrough and suggested it as a racial slur before even playing the audio, which influenced how many even looked at it. They obviously should have never gone with the story in the first place since there was wind in the background and there was reasonable debate on what it could have been. Also I lived in Florida and Tennessee the past 10 years, and I have only heard that used as a racial slur once, I definitely don't believe it is still commonly used. CNN was clearly just grasping at straws to find a way to get people more outraged.

    I will say (none / 0) (#69)
    by CST on Mon Apr 09, 2012 at 09:36:05 AM EST
    as someone who is almost the same age as Zimmerman, I don't think I've ever heard someone say that, and it's certainly not one that would come to mind if I were to ever say a racial slur - not that I would.  I wouldn't think of it since it's not common at all.  I agree that it's a bit of a stretch.  It sounds like something people would say in movies about the 20s, not a 28 year old in Florida today, even if he were inclined to call someone a racial slur.

    Parent
    I too (none / 0) (#70)
    by Lacy on Mon Apr 09, 2012 at 12:20:13 PM EST
    heard/saw that very first CNN demo and thought it was bogus...They had a tone to cover what they said was the f-word (apparently, because it was all a huge flop)...and I heard nothing else on the TV demo.  So I googled the topic and found an audio tape, listened, and there it was, whispered, but even my spouse standing  behind me said something like "My God, it is there!"

    F**ing C**s".  My immediate reaction was that someone had doctored the tape to add it, because I  expected it to all be bogus.

    I now have to assume it is legit because the original police 911 tape is out and I've now heard it on about 6 tapes.

    Parent

    You are being ridiculous. (none / 0) (#71)
    by sarcastic unnamed one on Tue Apr 10, 2012 at 12:25:41 PM EST
    Clearly the beginning of the second word starts with a "puh" sound and not a "coo" sound, and ends with a hard "k" sound and not a soft "n" sound. And it sounds like it's pluralized to me, but I'm less sure about that.

    Clearly you and your spouse, standing right there behind you, found what you were predisposed to find.

    Parent