I wrote earlier about how the judge in the Rittenhouse case banned MSNBC from the court for stalking the bus containing jury members. When caught, the producer, James Morrison, said that he had been instructed to follow the jury bus by his employers in New York to follow the bus.

Rittenhouse judge bans MSNBC from courthouse as jury continues deliberations pic.twitter.com/r4NTRKEqjZ

— Fox News (@FoxNews) November 18, 2021

Morrison was confirmed to be an NBC producer by Channel 5 Chicago (an NBC affiliate).

Then NBC News released a statement about the incident:

“Last night, a freelancer received a traffic citation. While the traffic violation took place near the jury van, the freelancer never contacted or intended to contact the jurors during deliberations, and never photographed or intended to photograph them. We regret the incident and will fully cooperate with the authorities on any investigation.”

Sounds like a denial, doesn’t it? But why would you be following the bus, if you didn’t intend to contact them? Morrison already gave up the game and confessed that he’d been instructed to follow the bus by his bosses, according to the judge.

The statement is full of deception. If you look at the phrasing of the statement, NBC wants you to think that the poor guy was just accidentally committing a traffic violation near the bus, not running a red light to follow them, as the judge explained. They call the producer a “freelancer,” but he identified himself as an NBC producer and was identified by the NBC affiliate as a producer.

If you read the statement carefully, it isn’t a denial at all. It’s a very carefully worded statement that hinges on “during deliberations.”

Court TV has now finked on them as to what may have been going on here.

Perspective: Court TV correspondent who knows James J. Morrison just said a reporter following a jury bus is a long-standing practice by news outlets in big trials to get info on juror panel so news outlets can reach out to jurors quickly after verdict. "Happens all the time."

— Steve Lookner (@lookner) November 18, 2021

Court TV correspondent says he doesn’t want to defend the practice, and acknowledges some people might think it’s despicable. Says when a reporter follows a jury bus they’re looking for the jurors’ license plates so they can get their contact info to contact them after verdict.

— Steve Lookner (@lookner) November 18, 2021

So, they weren’t trying to intimidate them —  just trying to follow them, get their license plates, get someone to run the plates, find out who they were, and then harass them to talk to them. But not intimidation at all, right? I seriously doubt it happens all the time. But if it does, that doesn’t make it better, it makes it worse. This is never right.

Can we say what despicable media behavior this is? If a jury member wants to talk to you afterward, that’s up to them, but trying to follow them during a trial, especially when they are at risk from all kinds of other crazy people as well, needs to be condemned.

But instead, what you get is this deceptive statement. What we should have heard is that they will never do anything like this again. The network should suffer some real consequences for this action.

Instead, you get other media covering the story like this:

Kyle Rittenhouse Judge Bans MSNBC From Courthouse After Freelancer Gets Traffic Citations https://t.co/7ls7rAD53E

— Variety (@Variety) November 18, 2021

Yes, I’m sure it’s the traffic citations that are the important point.

Talk about a failure of media all the way around here.