One year after an explosion of press attention made it one of the most-covered news stories in the first half of 2012, the question seems obvious:
Has the news media learned anything about covering race issues in the wake of the Trayvon Martin shooting?
Considering how little attention the case garners today, it is tough to remember just 12 months ago how much journalists obsessed on this story, when unarmed, African-American teen Martin was shot and killed by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman in a Sanford, Florida, subdivision on Feb. 26, 2012.
For a time, it was second in coverage only to the presidential election, as Martin's family pressed a reluctant Sanford police department and Florida prosecutors to arrest Zimmerman for fatally shooting a teenager armed only with a bag of candy and a bottle of iced tea. As condemnation of Zimmerman grew, a cadre of supporters, often in conservative media outlets, arose to decry a rush to judgment while challenging the family's depiction of Martin as an innocent child.
Too often, news audiences seemed caught in the middle, ill-served by coverage which often seemed focused on serving the news outlet's own priorities as much as informing the public.
Twelve months later, it may seem as if little has changed. But there are subtle lessons to be learned about the shape of modern media from the impact of the Trayvon Martin case, some that are shared in "Race-Baiter: How the Media Wields Dangerous Words to Divide a Nation:"
We only talk about race issues in crisis.
One reason so much coverage of the Martin case spun off into issues such as racial profiling, fashion (Martin was wearing a hooded sweatshirt when killed), murder rates among African Americans and the power of racism allegations, is because mainstream media outlets spend so little time talking about race issues outside the pressing controversy of a major news story. When big news strikes centered on race, that's often the only time the world pays attention.
Unfortunately, that's when people are least likely to have an open-minded discussion about anything, as passions rise and positions harden. In an environment like that, quality journalism looking at the racial elements of "stand your ground" laws (allowing individuals to defend themselves with deadly force in public spaces if they feel their life is in danger) or racial profiling may get lots of attention, but their lessons can be lost as people search to find confirmation for their own convictions.
Subjects of big news stories will increasingly become media outlets themselves.