Media and Responsibilities

The media and their responsibilities to the public are enormous. Most people look to the media to be fair and balanced. Juries can be persuaded by wrong reporting. Riots can be started just as we have seen in the most recent case of Travon Martin and the shooting that occurred in Florida. Reporters can insight violence by hinting to social injustice.

NBC news left out an important part of a recent 911 call involving the Travon Martin case. The dispatcher asked George Zimmerman what the perpetrator looked like. In the edited version of the tape the news organization cut out the part of the dispatcher asking Mr. Zimmerman the question of race. It was edited to look like Mr. Zimmerman was targeting Travon because he was black. This has caused a racial uproar in the US. It was made to look like Mr. Zimmerman was targeting the teenager because of his race. This was untrue. It was later discovered that the dispatchers question was left out. This in turn was made to look like he was killed because he was black.

Racial tensions were spurned to heated levels. There will not be anyway that this man will ever be able to live freely without protection. You even had congressmen and women weighing in on an issue when all the facts haven’t been presented. A congress woman went on national TV stating that Travon was hunted down like a rabid dog. With this type of language just a rational person would be angry. The image of someone being hunted down like a rabid dog is horrible.

Media is a large blame is this matter. It has helped to stir racial tensions. You have had major networks denigrating the Zimmerman family. Instead of trying to unite the country there were networks that went for a ratings fest.

Virtue ethic is the theory that is used to make moral decisions. It was an unjust moral decision by the news cast to unjustly report the story in a negative manner. They were putting lives in danger. There have been several stories about...