Once again, here’s the deceptively edited audio from Zimmerman’s 911 call, which was played on the Today Show, followed by the unedited audio:

NBC News says it was just a mistake and that they fired the producer responsible, but they won’t say who it was or why it happened. We’re just supposed to take their word for it that they’re sorry we’re offended, and that it won’t happen again. That’s not enough for Zimmerman, who is now suing them.

WaPo‘s Erik Wemple made an interesting choice of words about it:

Lawyers for George Zimmerman filed suit today against NBC Universal Media over a well-publicized editing error that portrayed their client in racist terms in his pursuit of Trayvon Martin on a drizzly evening in February.

“Editing error.” That’s quite an assumption, isn’t it? I mean, considering we don’t know who did it, how it got to air, what NBC News is doing to correct the problem, or really anything else about what happened. All we have is NBC’s insistence that it was an innocent mistake. And hey, why would they lie? They’re the media!

I tried asking Wemple’s compatriot, Brian Stelter at the New York Times, and here’s part of our conversation about it on Twitter:

Flashback: a producer nyti.ms/RbKMHf AND a correspondent nyti.ms/NQAcRy left NBC in the wake of embarrassing Zimmerman editing. — Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) December 6, 2012

@brianstelter What’s the producer’s name? How do we know he or she was really fired? — Jim Treacher (@jtLOL) December 7, 2012

@jtlol NBC says the producer was; and so do the reporters & producers who were/are friends with the person and were outraged by the firing. — Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) December 7, 2012

@brianstelter How can those reporters and producers be friends with someone without a name? — Jim Treacher (@jtLOL) December 7, 2012

@brianstelter You can understand how it might be seen as less than transparent on NBC’s part, yes? — Jim Treacher (@jtLOL) December 7, 2012

@brianstelter By the way, is there a particular reason you’re not even allowed to divulge a gender? — Jim Treacher (@jtLOL) December 7, 2012

@jtlol I’ve tried to find out the name and gender, and I’ve been unable to. NBC won’t say, and the friends say they don’t want to hurt them. — Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) December 7, 2012

@jtlol it’s very awkward, for sure. and the opposite of transparent. — Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) December 7, 2012

@brianstelter We both know that if this was Fox News and not NBC, their failure to name the fired producer would be a @nytimes headline. — Jim Treacher (@jtLOL) December 7, 2012

@jtlol A Fox producer was reportedly fired for the suicide screwup this fall. His name wasn’t released and NYT didn’t report that. — Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) December 7, 2012

@brianstelter Some people might actually think deliberately altering audio to sound racist is different than accidentally airing a suicide. — Jim Treacher (@jtLOL) December 7, 2012

@jtlol and I’m one of them. but names of fired staff tend not to be revealed by news networks. maybe it’s a contractual issue. — Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) December 7, 2012

Maybe. But that’s as far as his curiosity extends, I guess.

These guys aren’t going to get worked up about audiovisual editing unless they they hear two magic words: James O’Keefe. But at least we can keep reminding them that we’re watching as they fail to do their jobs.