Thanks to Erik Wemple (“NBC issues apology on Zimmerman tape screw-up”; 04/03/2012) and others for staying on top of NBC’s mishandling of the recording of the police dispatcher’s discussion with George Zimmerman, a volunteer neighborhood watch leader, who admitted shooting and killing 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida, in February but claimed it was in self-defence.
On its “Today” show on March 27, NBC presented a portion of Zimmerman’s call this way:

Zimmerman: This guy looks like he’s up to no good. He looks black.

Anyone who had heard the complete recording could tell right away that something was wrong. Zimmerman did NOT volunteer his impression of the race of the “guy”. Here’s how the conversation really went (as a part of this recording):

Zimmerman: This guy looks like he’s up to no good. Or he’s on drugs or something. It’s raining and he’s just walking around, looking about.
Dispatcher: OK, and this guy—is he black, white or Hispanic?
Zimmerman: He looks black.

Presented another way, here’s how this verbal material was mangled by NBC in its broadcast on March 27, with the deleted material crossed out:

Zimmerman: This guy looks like he’s up to no good. Or he’s on drugs or something. It’s raining and he’s just walking around, looking about.
Dispatcher: OK, and this guy—is he black, white or Hispanic?
Zimmerman: He looks black.

It removed Zimmerman’s speculation about the “guy” being on drugs. It ensured that listeners would think that race was one of the first things on Zimmerman’s mind.

NBC’s apology was of the evasive, obfuscatory “mistakes-were-made” mold:

“During our investigation it became evident that there was an error made in the production process that we deeply regret. We will be taking the necessary steps to prevent this from happening in the future and apologize to our viewers.”

Both Fox News and media watchdog NewsBusters pointed out this mishandling of the recording. MSNBC used the same abridgment as the “Today” show, too. It changed its online reporting about the tape and the recording, calling the change a “clarification.” At the bottom of the story, an Editor’s note says,

“A clarification was made to this story on March 28, 2012. An earlier version of the story truncated George Zimmerman’s quotes to a 911 operator in a way that may have changed the meaning.”