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Treyvon Martin Discuss Or Illustrate The Portrayal Of Diversity In The Media Essay

Treyvon Martin Media has shifted from just being source of information and news to the general masses. It has gone to have an effect on the social, cultural, and psychological aspects on lives of people with them even realizing it. (Perse, 2000) There is a certain degree of stereotyping done by the media in the shows they put and the different proportions of races that they show. (Perse, 2000) The major focus is whether the media actively stereotypes a certain race or not. The shooting of an African-American boy named Trayvon Martin has been discussed in the media. The way different media sources represent this is analyzed and judged whether these sources discriminate the issue or the people involved in the scenario.

When the shooting of Treyvon Martin occurred, the shooter, George Zimmerman was reoffered to as a "white Latino" in the media. A lot of discussion and debate begin on the terms used to describe the race of the shooter. (Sangha, 2012) Some people were calling to see why Zimmerman wasn't termed the victim as he only shot Martin because Martin was the one abusing Zimmerman. Whereas others were wondering that why Zimmerman wasn't termed the shooter and why he is still free. Sangha talks about how once there just used to be black and white in America. Even though it may seem unfit to say, but that made racism and stereotyping a much simpler job for the media. (2012) The people are now questioning whether white Latino is even a race or not. Even though Zimmerman was the shooter, he is still not arrested or charged because he was fighting in self denfe.se Many think that the term white is attached to the word Latino only to justify the actions that have been taken against Zimmerman. Thus, in some instances media does play with diversity and uses it as a tool to be biased against one person. There might not be racial motive in the...

The first to report the story did not go into the details of what happened and didn't even think of it as a racial issue. However, when the reporting's turned out to be more accurate and in favor of Zimmerman, that is when the issue started for real. Many African-American writers and columnist linked it to their own problems that they had faced. However, the journalists have to be sure to weight in their need for their justice with the accuracy of the news that they are reporting. When the media takes on personal feelings towards an issue, then they are likely to target the diversity in a positive manner. (Deggans, 2012) Apart from being from a certain race, the people in media are more concerned what how much followers they have or how many people believe them. This outlook on news reporting stems far from stereotyping the news itself.
However, if this race to report first is really looked into, then it could go on to manipulate the peoples mind into thinking something. For instance, the first to report this shooting portrayed Martins as the oppressor and Zimmerman as the oppressed. It reported that they had gotten in a fight earlier and Zimmerman was given the gun by the state and he could use it for his own safety. The witnesses and investigation later revealed that Martins didn't aggravate the fight and was just heading back home with iced tea and skittles in his hand. No one could think that if a person is leaving a store with tea and candy with him, his intentions aren't to go and hurt a person. However, even though the media did not point fingers at first but putting the…

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Beaujon, A. (2012). Pew finds racial gap among those following Trayvon Martin story. Poynter, [online] 29 March. Retrieved from: http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/mediawire/168319/pew-finds-racial-gap-among-those-following-trayvon-martin-story / [Accessed: January 21st 2012].

Deggans, E. (2012). Why ethics and diversity matter: The case of Trayvon Martin coverage. Poynter, [online] October 23rd. Retrieved from: http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/everyday-ethics/192604/mostly-white-and-sometimes-brown-media-people-in-a-mostly-brown-and-sometimes-white-world / [Accessed: January 21st 2012].

Perse, E.M. (2000). Media effects and society. Mahwah, N.J: L. Erlbaum Associates.

Sangha, S. (2012). Trayvon Martin: Latino Silence over Zimmerman Draws Fire. Fox News Latino, [online] March 30. Retrieved from: http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2012/03/30/trayvon-martin-latino-groups-under-fire-for-silence-over-zimmerman / [Accessed: January 21st 2012].
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