Jon Stewart ripped NBC for editing George Zimmerman's 911 call to make it appear he volunteered that Trayvon Martin was black — but Stewart also ripped Fox News for losing the moral high ground in its criticisms of the broadcast network.
NBC has said "Today" was mistaken in editing the call, but wasn't trying to deliberately misrepresent the situation. NBC fired the producer it said was responsible.
During the call, a dispatcher asked Zimmerman if Martin was "white, black or Hispanic," and Zimmerman responded that he looked black. But NBC cut the question, so it appeared that Zimmerman was fixated on Martin's race.
Also read: Trayvon Martin Edit Not Meant to Mislead, NBC Says
Zimmerman claims he shot Martin in self-defense, but the edited call suppported arguments that the shooting was racially motivated. Zimmerman has not been charged.
"What the hell? NBC, you cut out the 911 dispatcher's question," Stewart said on "The Daily Show" Monday. "Zimmerman was answering a multiple choice question. You make it sound like he was calling 911 to report aggravated blackness. Your edit changed everything about that. It's like 'Jeopardy' — it's a show about really smart people, right? Not if you edit out Alex Trebeck's answers.
He also mocked NBC's suggestion that it was only a mistake, joking that someone must have hit the "remove context button."
Fox News piled on with criticisms. But Stewart said the network overreached when it gave a forum to former New York Times reporter Judith Miller to criticize NBC.
"If there's one person who's an expert on journalists doctoring their facts to push a preconceived narrative — that lady, Judy Miller," Stewart said. "You remember her? New York Times reporter, 10 years ago, who ran story after story on Iraq's quest to obtain WMDs. Stories which that turned out to be WM-wrong? It's funny, because we went to war with Iraq."
He added: "Come guys, Fox, you had the moral high ground — why not quit while you were ahead?"
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