NBC Nightly News did the worst job of any of the big media outlets covering the shooting of Ma’Khia Bryant in Columbus:
'NBC Nightly News' is under fire for editing out a key part of a 911 call before the Ma'Khia Bryant shooting: Where the caller says a girl was "trying to stab us." They also didn’t show viewers the knife in the attacker's hand just before the shots.https://t.co/pbgwwGIK5J pic.twitter.com/wANbR4HfFt
— TV News HQ (@TVNewsHQ) April 22, 2021
As pointed out in the tweet, NBC left out the part of the 911 call that included the girl saying “It’s these grown girls over here trying to fight us, trying to stab us, get here now”. That’s maybe 2 seconds they could have easily included.
NBC also said multiple times in the segment that Bryant was threatening people with a knife, but never described her as trying to stab people or showed her with the knife in her hands.
Now to be fair, they did air the Sheriff saying that the video shows Bryant trying to stab another female with a knife, so I think the point was made. But it would have been much better to underscore it with the photo of her holding the knife and the cries for help on the 911 call.
This is in stark contrast to how ABC and CBS News aired their reports, with both of them showing Bryant holding the knife and including the relevant portion of the 911 call:
In stark contrast, CBS Evening News showed the important part of the 911 call. "These grown girls over here trying to fight us, trying to stab us," the caller says.
They also slow down the video and zoom in on the knife in the attacker's hand. pic.twitter.com/izvXaUH6Ki— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) April 22, 2021
For World News Tonight's part, ABC also shared the important part of the 911 call where the attempted stabbing was mentioned. They also stopped the video and highlighted the knife. pic.twitter.com/Ti9j4JNLaS
— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) April 22, 2021