Situation Definition
In February 2012, a 17 year old unarmed black man, Trayvon Martin, was shot and killed by George Zimmerman, a volunteer neighborhood watch coordinator of a gated community. As media outlets began to run the story, they printed details such as how a fight broke out leading to the shooting, naming Martin and quoting his uncle, yet failing to identify Zimmerman right away due to the fact that he had not been charged yet. This situation turned into a media sensation around the world as journalists of color felt personal ties to the story and led to a conversation about reporting on race and racial profiling. It also sparked a conversation about how to report on racial issues.
Analysis
The killing of Trayvon Martin sparked a national conversation about diversity, racial profiling, and the media. What stood out to me ethically in the situation was how outlets were hesitant to name Zimmerman but named Martin so quickly as well as how the contribution of journalists of color to this story made the reporting more impactful and compelling. I was also interested to learn that Zimmerman’s race was originally reported as white, then throughout the news cycle went from half-white, half-Hispanic, to a confirmation of him being Hispanic after learning his mother was Peruvian. In the case study, “Race prominent feature in coverage of Trayvon Martin” it stated
“Because the (supposed) criminal (Zimmerman) and the (supposed) victim (Martin) do not fit the “standard script” in crime reporting, journalists had to construct a new frame to report this particular incident” (Willis/Painter, 2016). This quote stood out to me because the media is so used to reporting on crime in “ghettos” or “inner cities” a certain way, and have it down to a science as to how to report on it that it came across as a bad look for media outlets when they reported on this story. The study also brought awareness as to how this unfortunate situation was used to bring awareness about larger issues and lost its “human center”. Many believed this shooting was motivated by race and racial profiling. While we may never know for sure, it led to a long national debate in the media. In the case study, “Ideologies of language and race in US media discourse about the Trayvon Martin shooting,” the author states, “The short answer is that, as the dominant racial ideology in US society, the folk theory of race and racism remains a guiding framework in much of the discourse” (Hodges, 2015). This brought to my attention that as journalists and media professionals we still have a long way to go on reporting on racial issues and making diversity a priority in the newsroom.
Conclusion
What I learned the most out of all of the interesting facts and perspectives on the reporting of the Trayvon Martin shooting was the importance of maintaining diversity in the newsroom and in media. In the Poynter article, Why ethics and diversity matter: The case of Trayvon Martin
Coverage” it was emphasized how compelling the stories were of black journalists covering this story. They brought into light different perspectives due to their own experiences with racial profiling and led to a more balanced, fair story that other journalists may not have contributed. We talked about this in class but learning about this case study further helped me put into context why diversity and ethics matter.
References
Deggans, E. (2017, March 02). Why ethics and diversity matter: The case of Trayvon Martin
coverage. Retrieved from https://www.poynter.org/news/why-ethics-and-diversity-matter-case-trayvon-martin-coverage
Hodges, A. (2015). Ideologies of language and race in US media discourse about the Trayvon
Martin shooting. Language in Society, 44(03), 401-423. doi:10.1017/s004740451500024x
Willis, E., & Painter, C. (2016). Race prominent feature in coverage of Trayvon Martin.
Newspaper Research Journal, 37(2), 180-195. doi:10.1177/0739532916648962