Several news outlets have been pilloried — often rightfully so — for disseminating misleading judgments and outright falsehoods about the Trayvon Martin killing. And now, a new poll from Pew finds that 56 percent of Republicans think there has been too much coverage of the case altogether. The poll reveals a sharp partisan divide — only 25 percent of Democrats say the media has gone overboard. And the gap is even deeper along racial lines, with 58 percent of African Americans saying the death of the black teen is their top story, compared to 24 percent of whites. Has the coverage been excessive, or has the story just become a political litmus test?
The press needs to back off: We've had way "too much hyperbolic coverage" of this tragedy, says Sheila Liaugminas at MercatorNet. The overkill only fuels the "dangerously escalating reaction to [the case], without restraint or recourse to facts." The competition for scoops has created a "carnival-like atmosphere" and muddied the truth. It's time the media stopped using Trayvon to whip "up a public frenzy" to push its own agenda.
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