Responsibilities of The Media & Trayvon Martin

Freedom of the press is one of the most important amendments in our Constitution's Bill of Rights. However, major news networks have a social responsibility to deliver accurate news that takes a rational stance. Unfortunately, biases and ratings often come in between accuracy and stretching the truth. Both conservative and liberal media stations have been guilty of reporting twisted facts in order to drive ratings and prove their bias. 

The Trayvon Martin case is just another example of the media gone wild. Yahoo stated, "The Trayvon Martin case has exposed some of the media's worst tendencies--selective editing, rushing to judgment, stoking anger for ratings and page views." The article goes on to talk about ABC exaggerating injuries, NBC twisting Zimemrman's words to make him look racist, and CBS  making other false claims about a lack of injuries. Yahoo's explanation of NBC's coverage sickened me. NBC reported Zimmerman saying, "This guy looks like he's up to no good. He looks black." When in reality, Zimmerman was answering a dispatcher's question: 

Zimmerman: This guy looks like he's up to no good. Or he's on drugs or something. It's raining and he's just walking around, looking about.

Dispatcher: OK, and this guy--is he black, white or Hispanic?

Zimmerman: He looks black.

Any death is a tragedy and it's extremely unfortunate that this happened. I have faith the American justice system will make the right decision based on their investigation. I don't want the media drawing conclusions to a case they weren't there or an investigation hasn't even been solved yet. They should present what they know, exactly how it happened, and let the American public draw conclusions based on facts. The media twisting facts and drawing uneducated/ inaccurate conclusions needs to stop. 

This case's media coverage has been horrific. However, if the case really does prove his innocence than I hope Zimmerman gets the death penalty. Anyways- guilty or not- rest in peace Trayvon.