The Washington Post, left in the dark: We’ve been stunned, the last two nights, by the way Lawrence O’Donnell has played the Mormon card on his cable program.
O’Donnell’s a nasty piece of work. But for today, let’s consider the major fraud conducted by his “news channel.”
As a point of reference, consider this news report from yesterday’s Washington Post. In the highlighted passage, Sari Horwitz is trying to evaluate the claim that George Zimmerman suffered injuries in his altercation with Trayvon Martin:
HORWITZ (4/3/12): FBI agents went Monday to the gated community of Retreat at Twin Lakes, where the shooting occurred, to interview potential witnesses in the case, according to special agent Dave Couvertier, spokesman for the FBI's Tampa Field Office.Horwitz is trying to determine the extent of Zimmerman’s injuries, if any. On-line, she links to this ABC report, where you can see ABC’s “enhanced video footage.”
Central to federal agents is the 911 tape recording of Zimmerman's conversations with a dispatcher about a suspicious man he saw in the community. Investigators are trying to determine whether Zimmerman used a racial slur during the calls.
On Monday, ABC released enhanced video footage, showing Zimmerman in police custody less than 30 minutes after the shooting, which appears to show an injury on the back of his head. The gash would back Zimmerman's claim that he was in an altercation and that Martin repeatedly slammed his head into the ground, the network said.
Norton Bonaparte Jr., who took over as Sanford's city manager six months ago, also called on the Justice Department to review the case and the conduct of police.
That footage ain’t real enhanced. Meanwhile, Horowitz doesn’t seem to know a key fact: Last Thursday afternoon, MSNBC played videotape of Zimmerman’s apparent injuries which was much more “enhanced,” much more clear. See THE DAILY HOWLER, 3/30/12.
Martin Bashir referred to this tape as “an extended and newly released surveillance video” which showed “new angles, never seen before, of George Zimmerman being brought into the Sanford police station.” This suggested that MSNBC had received a second tape from the Sanford police video system—that this was not the same old tape others had aired before.
Bashir's tape did provide a much clearer look at the back of Zimmerman’s head. It seemed to show a rather large goose-egg style bump on the back of his head, with a rather clear abrasion atop it.
This tape is much more “enhanced” than the ABC tape. And it has now disappeared.
To watch Bashir air this tape, just click here. The relevant footage starts at the 2:45 mark.
During a report by Ron Allen, Chris Matthews offered a very brief look at this same tape on Thursday evening’s Hardball. Since then, the tape has gone down the memory hole. Horowitz doesn’t even seem to know that this tape exists.
Unless that tape was some sort of forgery, it seems to represent the best video evidence concerning this question—the best evidence by far.
MSNBC knows that the tape exists. Matthews knows it; so does Bashir. As the channel disappears the tape, it seems to conduct a journalistic fraud.
But then, what else is new?
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