Liberal, Incompetence, Racism, Narrative, Oops, Press, Smears

Last week, CNN had to walk back its assumption that George Zimmerman uttered a racial slur in his 9-1-1 call, and now an affidavit from the prosecution in the case says no racist words were voiced. CNN first suggested on March 21, according to its "sophisticated" audio editing, that Robert Zimmerman said "f***ing coons" on his 9-1-1 call. But the network had to throw water on that assumption once they re-assessed the audio clip, changing Zimmerman's words from "coons" to "cold."

Liberal, Incitement, Incompetence, Oops, Press, Smears, Adult

In a dramatic turnaround from its earlier charge that George Zimmerman, the self-confessed killer of 17-year-old African American teen Trayvon Martin, used a racial slur during the 911 call prior to shooting Martin, the Cable News Network says its expert may have misinterpreted the word... Network anchor Wolf Blitzer and Gary Tuchman and a different audio expert are shown unanimously agreeing that Zimmerman in fact said "f***ing cold" and not "f***ing coon" as earlier interpreted.

Liberal, Character, Racism, Oops, Press, Smears, Lie

CNN's gaffe hasn't been as highly publicized as NBC, which admitted to selectively editing a video in a way that made Zimmerman sound like he was racial profiling. The edited conversation makes it sound like Zimmerman thinks Martin is "up to no good" because he is black. But in reality, he said Martin was black in response to a question from the 911 dispatcher.

Liberal, Incitement, Character, Racism, Narrative, Oops, Smears

Did George Zimmerman use a racial slur in his 911 call? CNN's Gary Tuchman enhanced the audio for clearer results.

Liberal, Incitement, Character, Racism, Brilliance, Oops, Press, Smears

“Now it does sound less like that racial slur. … From listening in this room, and this is a state-of-the-art room, it doesn’t sound like that slur anymore. It sounds like … we‘re hearing the swear word at first and then the word ’cold.’ And the reason some say that would be relevant, is because it was unseasonably cold in Florida that night and raining.”

Editorial, Liberal, Incitement, Character, Racism, Oops, Press, Smears

He finally gets the point I made a couple weeks ago-- if you are expecting to hear a word, you'll hear it. So this time he doesn't say what word he expects the audience to hear. It does sound like cold, though. Then again, it's sounded like coons, punks, and even phones (suggested by Dan Riehl). Maybe the broader point is that when a word is unintelligible, it's unintelligible. And you shouldn't try to frame a man for racial murder based on your guestimates about it.

Liberal, Incitement, Character, Racism, Press, Smears

CNN’s Gary Tuchman dissected the audio with the network’s audio specialist and says he’s not sure what Zimmerman said. ”It sounds like this allegation could be accurate,” Tuchman said. “I wouldn’t swear to it in court. But that’s what it sounds like to me.” “It certainly sounds like that word to me,” he later added.