DETECTING MEDIA BIAS

Detecting Media Bias



Detecting Media Bias

Introduction to the Case

The fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman took place on February 26, 2012, in Sanford, Florida, United States. Trayvon Martin was a 17-year-old African American male who was unarmed; George Zimmerman was a 28-year-old multi-racial Hispanic American, who was the community watch coordinator for the gated community where the shooting took place.

Recent isolated incidents of violence against whites by blacks, in which Trayvon Martin's name has been reportedly invoked as a justification, indicate that anger and frustration over the case within the African-American community are boiling over in rare instances. The attacks put a sharper edge on recent polling data, which show that whites and blacks view the Trayvon case differently. Twice as many blacks and Hispanics as whites (73 percent versus 36 percent) say race played a major role in the shooting, according to a recent Monitor/TIPP poll.

Indeed, some commentators suggest the case has helped to bring simmering tensions out into the open. “I've sat … tight-lipped as my white peers questioned the existence of racism in their post-racial American, white privileged minds,” writes Rachel Hislop for the Daily Grind website. “But then a young black man named Trayvon Martin was killed and the dirty blanket was finally pulled off the taboo conversation of the very present demon that is race relations in America, and I've decided that I am tired of staying quiet. I am ready to have this conversation.”

Many black leaders as well as news directors at mainstream media organizations “don't see that you can't just stir [race] up when it's convenient and then turn it off when it's not,” says Carol Swain, a law professor and race relations expert at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn. “Once young people get worked up to where they're committing acts of violence, you can't turn it off like a switch.” “There should be some accountability,” she adds. “The leaders who fanned the flames of racism should be out there directly denouncing the … attacks being taken in the name of Trayvon Martin.”

Part 1(A)

Yes, the reporting of the news story was very clear and accurate and it provided all the facts to show the seriousness of the issue these days. Recent isolated incidents of violence against whites by blacks, in which Trayvon Martin's name has been reportedly invoked as a justification, indicate that anger and frustration over ...