Geraldo Rivera: MSNBC Anchors Don't Care About Evidence, Are 'Cheerleading' for Zimmerman Conviction
Geraldo Rivera on Friday accused MSNBC anchors of not caring at all about the evidence concerning the shooting of Trayvon Martin and instead "cheerleading for the conviction of George Zimmerman."
Appearing on Fox New's The O'Reilly Factor, Rivera specifically pointed his finger at Martin Bashir, Chris Matthews, Lawrence O'Donnell, Al Sharpton, and Ed Schultz (video follows with transcript and commentary:
BILL O'REILLY, HOST: Continuing now with our lead story, ABC News and NBC News covering the Trayvon Martin case in opposite ways. Here now Fox News anchor Geraldo Rivera. And you say?
GERALDO RIVERA, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: I, first of all, want to point out that I spent many years in both news organizations -- 15 at ABC, eight at NBC. I think they are honorable people.
But NBC has changed since I was there. It was the creation of MSNBC or rather the decision by MSNBC to choose ideological sides in life generally and most specifically in this criminal action. I believe that they made an ideological decision that they would be on the side of the victim in this case and that they would argue strenuously for the prosecution of George Zimmerman and the ultimate conviction of George Zimmerman. But when you point to Martin Bashir, Chris Matthews, Larry O'Donnell, Al Sharpton my goodness --
O'REILLY: We didn't even use him. We didn't even use the reverend. Right.
RIVERA: -- or Ed Schultz -- Mr. Ed. You have people who have a very firm conviction that it's not so much about the evidence as it is about the fact that a young, unarmed, black, teenager was shot dead doing something innocent.
(CROSSTALK)
O'REILLY: And none of those people were there and they don't know what happened.
But here is what is happening in the country. So you have this big fissure between ABC News which is doing hard news reporting and they come up with this startling shot of Zimmerman's head covered with blood, ok? So that's on Channel 7.
And then you turn to Channel 4 and instead of hard news analysis, you have, as you put it, an ideological take on a life or death story that's going to be decided by a jury. Now, in your opinion, does this taint the entire NBC News operation?
RIVERA: Well, that's an excellent question. I think taint might be a strong word.
Let me just say that NBC also has people like Pete Williams who are lawyers and excellent analysts and ABC has Dan Abrams a wonderful analyst also. I believe they are now invested, Bill, in a way that is more political than it is legal analysis.
O'REILLY: So the whole organization, NBC.
RIVERA: Well, when you have Reverend Sharpton, let's say -- and I really hold him in high regard and I understand many, many people do not. They think that he is a charlatan. I think he really is a fine civil rights leader who has changed his life in the last 20 years.
And he is one of the moving forces to get the prosecution and the arrest --
O'REILLY: But he's in a bad -- he has been -- this has not been a good moment for him.
RIVERA: But now, jump-cut. Here you have Al Sharpton as the face of the person pushing the arrest of George Zimmerman. He also anchors his own shown on MSNBC. How could it not affect that network's coverage? I believe that they are cheerleading for the conviction of George Zimmerman. I have no doubt about it.
Later in the discussion, Rivera said, "We're coming on the 20th anniversary of the Rodney King decision in which an all-white jury in Simi Valley in Los Angeles acquitted the cops who were seen clearly beating up Rodney King...The verdict in that case acquitting the cops set off a firestorm of controversy and rioting...There is a situation here where George Zimmerman is going to be acquitted and people are going to be disappointed because of advocates like MSNBC."
I couldn't agree more.
The only question is whether the folks at MSNBC will be held accountable if their irresponsible behavior leads to the loss of property and God forbid the loss of life.
- Noel Sheppard's blog
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Comments
Even a Stopped Clock is Right Twice a Day
Submitted by libBuster on Sat, 04/21/2012 - 3:09pm.
In this instance, Geraldo happens to be correct. Witness the highly edited NBC Today Show video. NBC is hard left.
My exact first thought.
Submitted by rockyracoon on Sat, 04/21/2012 - 3:52pm.
My exact first thought.
Facts are like kryptonite to the liberal.
Geraldo Rivera, the blind
Submitted by motherbelt on Sat, 04/21/2012 - 3:13pm.
Geraldo Rivera, the blind squirrel that once in a while finds a nut.
The perfect analogy! Geraldo
Submitted by Kenny Bunkport on Sat, 04/21/2012 - 3:21pm.
The perfect analogy!
Geraldo does have his moments of lucidity (albeit few), unlike many of the other leftist so-called journalists.
He just
Submitted by fivestring_assassin on Sat, 04/21/2012 - 3:19pm.
figured that out NOW???
MSNBC
Submitted by adamsmith on Sat, 04/21/2012 - 3:31pm.
A nightly parade of psychopaths....Watch any of the psychopathic lunatics with the sound off. That Tanya Reiman lady on O'Reilly who does the body language segment and Dr. Keith Ablow, also a Fox contributor should have their own show just analyzing MSNBC anchors. They could comment on each anchor with or without a sound feed for the moonbats. I would actually watch that.....
Dude, they're people. I admit
Submitted by tcm14 on Sat, 04/21/2012 - 3:47pm.
Dude, they're people. I admit the race baiting by the MSM is frustrating and nauseating, but you gotta ignore the MSM and have some heart and see these people as more than just the racial slur you reduce them to.
I saw nothing racial in Adam's post
Submitted by Cappmann1962 on Mon, 04/23/2012 - 8:59am.
MSLSD has made their own bed - now they have to sleep in it. They have chosen, virtually without exception, to take the hard left perspective on every topic, and do it in the most deceiving, hypocritical, often heinous way possible. They play to the left, slam the right, make up and/or perpetuate outright lies, call for toned-down rhetoric when it concerns liberals yet continuously hammer conservatives with skewed reporting and name-calling, and the list goes on and on. They deserve absolutely no civility and having an expert detail what their body language would indeed be interesting. To inject racism into Adam's post is almost as bad as what the LSM does each time they lose an argument (which is usually). I'll simply call them as I see them - They are brain-dead psychopaths who proudly flout their twisted philosophy on a daily basis - race is irrelevent. They certainly are people, but they are humans with very little humanity.
By beating their one note
Submitted by Kenny Bunkport on Mon, 04/23/2012 - 12:47pm.
By beating their one note "everything's racist" drum, they have reduced themselves to knee-jerk predictable stereotypes...or "racial slurs" as you have put it.
fair and balanced
Submitted by MidAmerica on Sat, 04/21/2012 - 3:39pm.
Not that the heritage of the Mr Zimmerman would color Geraldo's willingness to seek the truth in the matter.
Of course not!
Submitted by rockyracoon on Sat, 04/21/2012 - 4:00pm.
Of course not! Who could expect anything else, or less from a man who openly cheered for the SCOTUS appointment of the intellectually challenged "wise Latina."
Facts are like kryptonite to the liberal.
What I found and still find amazing is the claim that
Submitted by hbnolikeee on Sat, 04/21/2012 - 9:35pm.
she would be the first latino on the SC.
That's exactly what I was
Submitted by tcm14 on Sat, 04/21/2012 - 3:58pm.
That's exactly what I was thinking when I was watching it was "I can't believe Geraldo is supporting Zimmerman, am I hearing this right?" and then I thought for a second and realized that Zimmerman is HISPANIC and everything made sense.
Bingo
Submitted by Blonde on Sat, 04/21/2012 - 3:59pm.
.
Handy Reference Guide to Obama's Gaffes and Goofs ~ Currently Numbering 200 (and Counting)
Me four, MA.
Submitted by Newsbubba on Sat, 04/21/2012 - 4:10pm.
I would bet the national debt that if Zimmerman were just white instead of a "white Hispanic," Jerry Rivers would be on his ass worse dan da Reverend Al.
He sizes up race before he EVER moves on to the other evidence, and this time it happens to be one of what he considers his people.
His comment about da Rev tells you all you need to know about Jerry's ability to judge a person's character.
They're both race hustlers.
Community cred?
Submitted by Dan Diego on Sat, 04/21/2012 - 4:56pm.
Is Geraza trying to stir up his "peoples" to right this injustice?
He's still an idiot
Submitted by Model850 on Sat, 04/21/2012 - 4:10pm.
Maybe Rivera is coming down on the right side of things with some of his points but other quotes reveal he's still an ignoramus.
I, first of all, want to point out that I spent many years in both news organizations -- 15 at ABC, eight at NBC. I think they are honorable people.
Bzzzzzt. Honorable people don't deliberately edit tapes to smear people.
Well, when you have Reverend Sharpton, let's say -- and I really hold him in high regard and I understand many, many people do not. They think that he is a charlatan. I think he really is a fine civil rights leader who has changed his life in the last 20 years.
Bzzzzzt. How do you hold in "high regard" a race-baiting, tax cheat? And yeah, he certainly has "changed his life in the last 20 years." He's enriched himself with race hustling and failure to pay his debts. Just the sort of guy anyone would hold in high regard.
I'd rather just forget about
Submitted by Newsbusterbrown on Sat, 04/21/2012 - 4:11pm.
I'd rather just forget about it all together.
I'd rather forget I just read your post.
“There are no easy answers, but there are simple answers. We must have the courage to do what we know is morally right.” - Ronald Reagan (1964 Republican Convention)
Any 2nd year law student knows where this case is going.
Submitted by SickofLibs on Sat, 04/21/2012 - 4:27pm.
Geraldo is just hedging his bets so he can later say "See, I told you so!"
Screw him - he's always been a major Sharpton ass-kisser.
Shoe,
Submitted by bobsmom on Sat, 04/21/2012 - 5:11pm.
meet other foot. Hey Geraldo, it's all different when it's a Hispanic ox being gored, huh? I agree with him here, and I want to see Mr Zimmerman acquitted and sue the shorts off of all these idiots. That being said, Ol' Jerry Rivers has done his share of race baiting so seeing him with a major case of panty wad is weirdly refreshing.
What happened was a real
Submitted by LinTaylor on Sat, 04/21/2012 - 7:21pm.
What happened was a real tragedy, regardless of who the aggressor was. The problem, as Geraldo finally realized, is that the media is taking those famous words to heart and not letting a good crisis go to waste, using this as Exhibit A in the Case of White People Are Monsters.
Then again, Gerry's always a bit late to the punchline, isn't he? Maybe he left his brain back in Al Capone's vault.
George Zimmerman will own
Submitted by Average_JoeMN on Sat, 04/21/2012 - 9:22pm.
George Zimmerman will own MSNBC within five years.
Extinguishing Trayvon's Bonfire
Submitted by berlet98 on Sun, 04/22/2012 - 2:00am.
Extinguishing Trayvon's Bonfire
(See “The Trayvon Martin Bonfire,” http://bit.ly/H28Eaf, which drew parallels between the Trayvon Martin killing and Tom Wolfe’s 1987 novel, The Bonfire of the Vanities, and “The Whitewashing of Trayvon Martin,” http://bit.ly/IZkzjK, which made the case for, well, Trayvon’s whitewashing.)
From the outset, the media coverage of the February 26th, 2012 shooting of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman in Sanford, Florida has been skewed, biased, and journalistically disgraceful. The prosecution has demonstrated it is equivalently skewed, biased, and disgraceful.
Now that Zimmerman has been arrested and charged with second degree murder, the whole truth is finally seeping out which should dampen the Trayvon fires but I wouldn’t count on that.
At the beginning of this racial and legal fiasco, the only surety was that Zimmerman had shot Martin, which he freely admitted. The hype and lies that he was a racist, that he stalked Martin, etc. was just that, hype and lies manufactured by the MSM and exploited by black race hustlers in order to stir up racial unrest.
A reputable media would have reported the known facts in the case devoid of editorialized “news” stories designed to paint Zimmerman as a bloodthirsty murderer and Martin as a defenseless youth “hunted down like a rabid dog,” according to Democrat Rep. Frederika Wilson.
Instead of objectively reporting the known truth about the case, most of the broadcast, cable, and print media consistently distorted the facts. That distortion was epitomized by the MSM featuring photographs of Zimmerman looking more like a white man when he is actually half-hispanic and depicting Martin as an innocent child when he was actually full grown.
In reality, at the time he was killed Martin was anything but a child. He was a strapping, 6 foot, 2 inch 17 year old with a history of school suspensions, drug and gang associations, possession of a burglary tool, and possession of unexplained woman’s jewelry at school.
In an unorthodox move, on Friday the shackled Zimmerman courageously waived his Fifth Amendment rights against self incrimination and took the stand at his bond hearing. He said to the Martin family, “I am sorry for the loss of your son. I did not know how old he was. I thought he was a little bit younger than I am. I did not know if he was armed or not.”
The apology was immediately rejected as “self-serving” and “an outrage” by the family attorney, Benjamin Crump, and the prosecution described his testimony as “a media stunt.”
Zimmerman was granted bail in the amount of $150,000, a far cry from the million dollars the prosecution sought. More relevantly, Zimmerman never said he was guilty of any crime. Nevertheless, indicative of the state’s intent to convict him of all charges at all costs, the prosecuting attorney then asked him a totally unethical and inappropriate question under cross examination.
It’s remarkable that the defendant’s attorneys didn’t strongly object to the misleading question: “After you committed this crime and you spoke to the police, did you ever make that statement to the police? That you were sorry for what you’d done or for their loss?”
Equally remarkable is the prosecutor’s apparent obliviousness that no “crime” had yet been established and that Zimmerman is considered innocent under the law until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
Now that a cell phone photo has surfaced substantiating Zimmerman’s contention that Martin had slammed his head into the pavement, one would hope the media would be more objectiveis. However, they are still as committed as the state of Florida to exonerating Martin and hanging the defendant.
The photo, taken by an eyewitness three minutes after the altercation, graphically shows blood streaming from two deep gashes in the back of his head, wounds that supplement neighbors’ statements that Zimmerman also had a bloody, swollen nose.
ABC World News’ Diane Sawyer displayed the picture then proceeded to effectively dismiss it as exculpatory evidence that Zimmerman feared for his life before he shot Martin. . . (Read more at http://www.genelalor.com/blog1/?p=22073.)
NewsBusters' voracious appetite...
Submitted by Jer on Sun, 04/22/2012 - 2:07am.
for consuming berlet's spam.
Jer
Jer.....he does have a point......
Submitted by BEGRUNT on Sun, 04/22/2012 - 2:29am.
"It’s remarkable that the defendant’s attorneys didn’t strongly object to the misleading question: “After you committed this crime and you spoke to the police, did you ever make that statement to the police? That you were sorry for what you’d done or for their loss?” Equally remarkable is the prosecutor’s apparent obliviousness that no “crime” had yet been established and that Zimmerman is considered innocent under the law until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt."
That is a serious question I asked myself when I watched this! This whole thing STINKS to high heaven!! Put your lawyer hat on, and contemplate the question, I seriously want to know how you see it!
"A nation can suffer it's fool's, but cannot survive the traitor"
Cicero
That's true, BEGRUNT
Submitted by Jer on Sun, 04/22/2012 - 2:58am.
He is also a prolific spammer, merely copying and pasting verbatim excerpts from his own blog which he has been shilling here for over three months now. Why NewsBusters allows this joker free advertising space in blatant violation of the terms of use is absolutely baffling.
Jer
Jer
Submitted by Radical1979 on Sun, 04/22/2012 - 3:06am.
Maybe it's allowed because you find it so annoying. ;)
Hahahahahahahahaha ---'tis ---
Submitted by matthewdean on Sun, 04/22/2012 - 3:54am.
true.
That Jer finds it annoying, I mean.
What berlet has to say makes sense from a conservative perspective; and THAT is what Jer finds offensive - not to mention it is far easier to squawk than put forth a rebuttal.
Go get 'im, Jer - you don't have to put up with his common sense.
Oh, and on the off chance that you might not be successful in your left side endeavors were you to go after berlet's posts argumentatively; complain righteously to the powers that be about all the felony spamming going on, right under their very noses.
I'm sure they will
not take it personally that you are insulting their intelligencebe appreciative.MD
That's right, Matthew...
Submitted by Jer on Sun, 04/22/2012 - 4:11am.
I just can't handle conservative commentary. That's why I've only been able to hang here for five years.
Then again it may have something to do with the fact that I grew up in a family whose livelihood was dependent upon paid advertising. If you're so in love with berlet and his spammed opinions, why not spend your time at his website. That's his objective. Help him out.
Jer
That sounds, Jer, pretty much like ---
Submitted by matthewdean on Sun, 04/22/2012 - 6:28pm.
bullshit; from " That's why I've only been able to hang here for five years" - to the - "-- I grew up in a family whose livelihood was dependent on paid advertising."
If you could "handle" conservative commentary, you wouldn't have spent five years attempting to denigrate it with your liberal left Democratic take on all facets of things conservative/Republican.
Republican politicos and policies; and articles at NBs that you take issue with from a lefty perspective.
While it is perfectly fine to opine in opposition to the, or a, conservative outlook; to imply that you have "hung in there" against the onslaught of conservatives is laughable. No one forces you to log in at this site; and as you do so knowing what posting as a lefty will result in as far as reply comments, and then suggest that you are weathering the storm quite well thank you very much, is akin to picking a fight, pummeling your opponents fists with your face, and then congratulating yourself on a job well done.
I am not at all in love with berlet and couldn't care less were he to get the hook for not following NB rules.
The fact that his comments are genuinely interesting, though, certainly causes me to harbor no ill will towards him.
The additional fact that his presence, or commentary, either one, twists your panties so tight that you are squawking about berlet in a voice reminiscent of a castrato, is, however, priceless.
MD
Matthew...
Submitted by Jer on Sun, 04/22/2012 - 7:46pm.
Of the many hundreds of members of the NewsBusters community--the overwhelming majority of whom are conservatives--you are the ONLY one who has rallied to the defense of the spammer berlet. As a matter of fact, I agree with most of his points on Martin/Zimmerman...at least with respect to the points which could be gleaned from a quick scan of his copied and pasted blog excerpts.
Admit it. You adore the spammer berlet. Maybe he has a Facebook page you can visit and further cultivate the relationship. I think it's very sweet.
Jer
For crying out loud, Jer, ---
Submitted by matthewdean on Sun, 04/22/2012 - 11:54pm.
you expect me to go up against someone capable of actually figuring out and committing the following to a post in front of God and everybody:
"Of the many hundreds of members of the NewsBusters community--the overwhelming majority of whom are conservatives---"
That type of intellect, sagacity, and worldly experience would be unbeatable.
Except, alas, you are a lefty; whose argumentative left jab consists of links penned by someone else, and whose right hook consists of research done by others - 'copied and pasted blog excerpts', to coin a phrase.
As you agree with most of berlet's points, wake up, linkster, and smell the smelling salts the ref is waving under your proboscis ---
berlet's value to me is that he honks you off. :o)
MD
Video Clip
Submitted by Michael T on Sun, 04/22/2012 - 5:19am.
Why is this video clip of such poor quality (out of focus)?
"Well, when you have Reverend
Submitted by Semus on Sun, 04/22/2012 - 9:33am.
"Well, when you have Reverend Sharpton, let's say -- and I really hold him in high regard and I understand many, many people do not. They think that he is a charlatan. I think he really is a fine civil rights leader who has changed his life in the last 20 years."
You lost me Geraldo.
Who even knows what Geraldo says anymore
Submitted by StarAZ on Sun, 04/22/2012 - 1:35pm.
I can never follow this guy anymore--generally, I would say, he's for himself and maybe other Hispanics. Generally! He sort of spews word salad.
decide for yourself
Submitted by Jerry Frey on Sun, 04/22/2012 - 11:02pm.
liberals cheer for Trayvon; conservatives cheer for Zimmerman
Decide for yourself
http://napoleonlive.info/what-you-think/facts-about-trayvon-martin-killing/
Geraldo Rivera signed a
Submitted by DaChew on Mon, 04/23/2012 - 6:58am.
Geraldo Rivera signed a contract with CNBC less than a year after NBC "News" exploded a Chevy pickup truck with rocket motors and gasoline to show how dangerous they were.
That should tell you everything you need to know about how "honorable" Geraldo is and how much weight his use of the word "honorable" carries in the context of NBC.
If George Zimmerman were not hispanic, Geraldo would not care one little bit about NBC's calls for lynching him.