NBC uses Baltimore protest photo in story about Slager mistrial
An NBC News story about the mistrial of a former South Carolina officer charged with fatally shooting a black man was pulled from the Today show’s website because the network apparently included an image of a protest in Baltimore.
The segment aired Tuesday on NBC’s Today and was entitled “Prosecutor vows to retry Michael Slager after mistrial in Walter Scott shooting.”
Slager, a former North Charleston police officer, is charged with murder in the April 2015 death of Walter Scott, a black motorist. The judge in Slager’s trial this week declared a mistrial after jurors deadlocked on whether to convict or acquit Slager. Prosecutors have said they will retry the former lawman.
The segment that aired Tuesday on NBC has been pulled from the network’s website; however, the headline remains, and under it is an editor’s note: “This video erroneously included an image from an event not related to the Scott trial, and has been removed.”
An NBC spokeswoman told The Baltimore Sun that the network would make an “on-air correction and apology” during the Today show Thursday.
Hey @TODAYshow , it's called credibility. Your photo paints a false narrative and lies. Btw, it's a photo from Baltimore in 2015. #NoProtest pic.twitter.com/0sKRYM6DXd
— Chris Jackson (@ChrisJacksonSC) December 7, 2016
Baltimore saw several days of unrest after the death of Freddie Gray, a black man who died from injuries suffered while in police custody. The image used by the Today show was credited to The Associated Press and appeared in The Sun. It shows Malik Shabazz of Black Lawyers for Justice addressing a group of protesters outside the Baltimore Police Department days after Gray’s death.
Gray died 15 days after Scott was killed.
This story was originally published December 8, 2016 at 7:24 AM with the headline "NBC uses Baltimore protest photo in story about Slager mistrial."