It is important for news stations and sources to be reliable and ethical. Throughout my broadcasting classes, conduct and ethics is emphasized the most. To maintain professionalism and credibility, a news station and or source must not convict someone unethically! This is exactly what MSNBC has done in the Trayvon Martin case. They have been repeatedly playing Reverend Al Sharpton (a frequent correspondent on the network, who has his own show) exclaiming that Zimmerman (the man accused of killing Martin) must be arrested and convicted. Sharpton has made this a racial issue. His behavior has been ridiculously inexcusable. He is leading rallies and hosting his shows from the rallies! He is claiming, “they are sick of it” (i.e. the black community). The president even made a national announcement, hence making this a global case, and proclaimed, “If he had a son, he would look like Trayvon”. This is a particularly dangerous statement to make since Trayvon had a drug record for using marijuana in school (it is important to note that it was not a criminal record). Why would the president come out and say that? Is he only speaking out about this young boy because he is black? What he should have said was that this is an unbelievable travesty. Whether Mr. Zimmerman shot Mr. Martin in self-defense or not, the situation is a tragic one, for ANY race! The situation would have been just as egregious if Trayvon had been Caucasian, Asian, Hispanic etc. But he neglected to say any statements of the sort. Why did he need to insert himself into this case? Maybe the American people feel that his opinions make him more grounded.
If Trayvon was indeed shot in cold blood, unjustly by Mr. Zimmerman than he absolutely should be convicted; I want to be very clear on this. Zimmerman should be in jail if he is convicted for the murder of Trayvon Martin. But let us not jump to any conclusions. We know that there was a fight that ensued. Beyond that, everything is hearsay. I do not think that if this case involved two black teenagers Mr. Obama would weigh in, nor do I think reverend Al Sharpton would be rallying in the streets. But because Mr. Zimmerman is a white Hispanic and Mr. Martin was black the liberal media is having a field day. This is simply not right; the media needs to not be concerned so much with ratings, but rather with fair and accurate reporting. We need a society to look not at color but at character. Regardless of color, one should be treated equally and justly! News should be generated from actions and authentic issues void of skin color, not from interest groups and ratings…