Court Cases

Thanks to Florida’s sunshine laws, expect to see quite a bit of George Zimmerman on your television set over the next few months. This afternoon at 1:35, Zimmerman made his first court appearance, with the judge setting his arraignment on second-degree murder charges for May 29.

The “big three” cable news channels all covered the appearance live:

The cable networks went into overdrive this evening with the news that George Zimmerman was in police custody and charged with second-degree murder in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin. Fox News, MSNBC and CNN carried the remarks from Angela Corey, the special prosecutor in the case.

The news broke at 6pmET, when the Rev. Al Sharpton would normally be hosting his “Politics Nation” show on MSNBC. Instead, Sharpton was appearing with Martin’s family in Washington, DC applauding the bringing of a criminal charge, thanking those who kept up the fight, even commending Florida’s governor Rick Scott. MSNBC and CNN carried the remarks from Sharpton who had said from the beginning that he would continue his fight for justice, whether on his MSNBC show, or through other venues. Martin Bashir sat in for Sharpton tonight.

While CNN and MSNBC were in rolling coverage of the news conferences, Fox News mostly stayed with “Special Report,” during which correspondent James Rosen reported on Sharpton’s National Action Network gathering on race relations in Washington.

The charge filed against Zimmerman was the lead story on the three evening newscasts.

The Washington Post reported right around 2 PM that George Zimmerman would be charged by state prosecutors in the shooting of teenager Trayvon Martin. The exact charges will be announced in a press conference at 6 PM ET.

Fox News reported the news at 2:13 PM, citing the Post, MSNBC reported the news at 2:19, citing its own reporting, and CNN reported the news at 2:24, citing the Post.

Following the news, CNN and FNC went into legal analysis mode, while MSNBC has brought on “PoliticsNation” host Al Sharpton and contributor Toure.

Sharpton, who was identified on MSNBC as the director of the National Action Network, also popped up on CNN with martin’s parents around 2:54 PM:

On his Fox News program, Sean Hannity confirmed that he spoke to George Zimmerman about his case, but said that he did not know anything about the situation regarding his attorneys. Zimmerman’s attorneys dropped him as a client after losing contact with him, and learning that he reached out on his own to Hannity as well as the special prosecutor in the case.

“Yesterday I was contacted by an individual that we in fact believe was George Zimmerman,” Hannity said. “He reached out to me, we spoke on the phone about his case, and I agreed not to report on the contents of that conversation. That’s it. I know nothing about his relationship with his now former attorneys.”

WATCH:

In a surprise press conference this afternoon, the attorneys for George Zimmerman, the man accused of killing Florida teenager Trayvon Martin, announced that they are dropping him as a client after “losing contact” with him.

Their presser was carried live on CNN and MSNBC, though not on Fox News, which chose to cover the stock market instead. MSNBC pulled away after just a couple of minutes, while CNN stayed with the attorneys.

Interestingly, Fox News came up in the attorney’s discussion, as they say that Zimmerman  reached out to FNC’s Sean Hannity on his own, as well as the special prosecutor, without consulting them. They had been in New York last week taking meetings with media organizations on his behalf.

“We learned that he had called Sean Hannity of Fox News directly, and I can’t confirm this, we believe he spoke directly with Sean off the record, and he’s not willing to tell us what our client told him.”

As expected (again) Current TV has counter-sued Keith Olbermann, laying out its argument that it was Olbermann who was in breach of contract, and not network executives.

Just as Olbermann portrayed Current executives in a negative light in his filing, Current paints Olbermann as an ego-maniacal jerk in its filing.

Current argues that Olbermann refused to promote the network or its shows, and would order staff not to promote “Countdown” when he wasn’t anchoring. It also pulled some embarrassing emails and events from Olbermann’s tenure at the network. After a picture of the “Countdown” set leaked to the press by the designer, Olbermann asked Current CEO Joel Hyatt “Can you assassinate him, please?” Another incident saw Olbermann throw a glass mug against the wall of the studio, shattering it.

The full suit is embedded after the jump.

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For several days, several CNN correspondents and programs have been reporting on and discussing a portion of the 911 call made by George Zimmerman in the moments before he shot Trayvon Martin. They even brought in audio experts to try and get to the bottom of it.

At issue: what words Zimmerman used to describe Martin. Was it:

F*cking c*ons, as was first reported. Or was it:
F*cking cold, as as speculated next. Or was it:
F*cking punks, as Zimmerman’s lawyers claim.

This morning, CNN anchor Kyra Phillips played the clip five times on her show. (Although because the word “fucking” was used, CNN bleeped it, making it even harder to make out.) In the end, Phillips revealed, “several members of CNN’s editorial staff repeatedly reviewed the tape but could not make a consensus on whether he used a slur.”

(h/t Newsblues)

As expected, former Current TV host Keith Olbermann filed suit against his former employer, and he minces no words in the complaint, calling the executives at the channel “dilettantes” and going into detail about the technical problems that are known to have plagues his program. The lawsuit took aim squarely at Current’s CEO Joel Hyatt, who it painted as unprofessional and unprepared.

The lawsuit also alleges that Current promised Olbermann editorial control over his program’s website, but that shortly after hiring him signed a new distribution deal with an MSO that restricted the amount of material Current could put online.

Olbermann’s full complaint is embedded after the jump.

In a statement responding to the lawsuit, Current was equally harsh, saying that the facts are on its side, and ending by saying “We hope Mr. Olbermann understands that when it comes to the legal process, he is actually required to show up.”

The Current statement is also after the jump. Update: Current has responded with a suit of its own, also after the jump.

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Another property that News Corp. has a stake in has admitted to hacking into the private correspondence of story subjects. This time the news outlet is Sky News, the U.K. cable and satellite news channel. While Sky News is owned by BskyB, News Corp. owns a minority stake in the channel, and until this week James Murdoch had been chairman of BskyB’s board.

The BBC has details on the hacks, which took place on two occasions, with Sky journalists hacking into the emails of people in the news. Sky also released a statement defending its actions.

“We stand by these actions as editorially justified and in the public interest. We do not take such decisions lightly or frequently. They require finely balanced judgement based on individual circumstances and must always be subjected to the proper editorial controls.”

The full Sky statement is after the jump.

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Back in February Fox News correspondent and son of Robert F. Kennedy Douglas Kennedy was charged with child endangerment and harassment following an altercation in a Westchester County hospital.

Today, the New York Post has word that all of the endangerment charges have been dropped.

“We can now inform you that as a result of the assessment made by the local child-protective services, no credible evidence was found to believe that the child has been abused or maltreated. Therefore, the report has been determined ‘unfounded,’ ” Linda Joyce, of OCFS’s Division of Child Welfare and Community Services, said in a March 30 letter to Kennedy.

Kennedy’s lawyer appeared on “CBS This Morning” to discuss the case: