Our View: Ignore media biases in Trayvon Martin case

The death of Trayvon Martin has sparked a conversation on racial injustices in the U.S. When news broke that the 17-year-old was shot and killed by George Zimmerman, many assumed the killing was an act of prejudice and that Zimmerman only killed Martin because he was black. The loss of life is a tragedy no matter what race the victim or accused killer is and people may have been a little too quick to jump to conclusions. 

By now, the story has been well publicized. Zimmerman was a neighborhood watch volunteer who saw Martin walking down the street and called the police to report what he believed to be suspicious behavior. Zimmerman pursued Martin, the two fought and Martin was shot. Those are the details we know for sure. 

But, the media and family members of both Martin and Zimmerman were quick to distort the truth in order to portray the two in the most positive light. That much is not surprising. Of course, family members are going to paint the best picture they can, but the public should have taken that into account before jumping to conclusions and blaming race as the cause of the death. 

People on both sides of the equation have cried foul about everything. There have been complaints about the photos used in stories about the two. Martin’s family released an old photo of a young Martin and many reports used a mugshot of Zimmerman from 2005 in their stories. Those photos create a very clear narrative that a lot of people bought into. 

On the other side, others argued that Martin’s past suspension from school or the fact that he was carrying an empty bag with traces of marijuana showed that he was not an innocent teen. 

None of this is really relevant to the case at hand. We don’t know what really happened and we should be wary of playing into the media’s hands. 

People were also up in arms over the delay in Zimmerman’s arrest. Many said that Zimmerman’s race is what kept him out of custody. The reason for the delay was actually Florida’s Stand Your Ground law that gives citizens a lot of room to claim self-defense in killings. But a lot of people wanted to see Zimmerman arrested immediately. 

The death of an unarmed teen is something to be upset about, but when the information is hazy, people should wait for more details before claiming racism was the cause. 

On Wednesday, Zimmerman was charged with second-degree murder and State Attorney General Angela B. Corey made sure to clarify that the decision to charge him was not made to appease the public. 

“I can tell you we did not come to this decision lightly,” Corey said. “We do not prosecute by public pressure.”

This case is already huge and media attention will only grow as it unfolds. People will follow it closely no matter what they believe. As the case continues and more details come to light thousands of people will comment via Twitter or their personal blogs. Hopefully those who comment can ignore any media biases, no matter which way they slant, and come to their own conclusions.