The tragic and unnecessary death of Trayvon Martin should have brought out the best in our nation…and a bi-partisan call to action…but instead it’s brought out the worst in many individuals in our society, particularly many members of our media.
As I’ve said many times in this blog before – not every story truly has two sides.
In this case, I am sickened by the rush of the conservative media to demonize the victim just to score political points…as if this would justify his killing even if their smear campaign turned out to be true.
And not to be outdone, the liberal media’s rooting for Zimmerman to be guilty is not without its own sensationalism.
We see the same lines trending in society… according to new findings from Pew Research, conservatives and liberals are divided on how the tragedy has been covered.
In the end, no matter your ideology, a young man has been needlessly killed. So, instead of demonizing the victim, shouldn’t we all be pushing for the truth?
While materially less important than the death of Trayvon Martin, the coverage of Sandra Fluke and her testimony before Congress brought out the same media behavior. Rather than talking about the issues, conservative commentators leapt to discredit her, painting her with an extraordinarily unflattering and untrue brush.
Demonizing victims, and particularly young people, to score political points or push an ideology is wrong and deserves our indignation. It’s a distraction from the real issues that demand our attention and discourse…and worse yet, it’s dividing us at a time when we should come together.
The Tragedy of the Media and the Tragedy of Trayvon
April 3, 2012
The tragic and unnecessary death of Trayvon Martin should have brought out the best in our nation…and a bi-partisan call to action…but instead it’s brought out the worst in many individuals in our society, particularly many members of our media.
As I’ve said many times in this blog before – not every story truly has two sides.
In this case, I am sickened by the rush of the conservative media to demonize the victim just to score political points…as if this would justify his killing even if their smear campaign turned out to be true.
And not to be outdone, the liberal media’s rooting for Zimmerman to be guilty is not without its own sensationalism.
We see the same lines trending in society… according to new findings from Pew Research, conservatives and liberals are divided on how the tragedy has been covered.
In the end, no matter your ideology, a young man has been needlessly killed. So, instead of demonizing the victim, shouldn’t we all be pushing for the truth?
While materially less important than the death of Trayvon Martin, the coverage of Sandra Fluke and her testimony before Congress brought out the same media behavior. Rather than talking about the issues, conservative commentators leapt to discredit her, painting her with an extraordinarily unflattering and untrue brush.
Demonizing victims, and particularly young people, to score political points or push an ideology is wrong and deserves our indignation. It’s a distraction from the real issues that demand our attention and discourse…and worse yet, it’s dividing us at a time when we should come together.
Posted by Michael Kempner at Tuesday, April 3rd, 2012 8:32 pm