Different Stations,
Different Coverage
The George Zimmerman trial continued yesterday, July 9th
with the defense calling its star witness, Dr. Di Maio. Di Maio, a forensic
pathologist, testified that based on his analysis of the gunshot wound, he
determined that Trayvon Martin was on top of George Zimmerman when he was shot.
Though this witness seemed to be the lynchpin for the defense’s case, the
prosecution was able to get Di Maio to admit that though Martin might have been
on top when he was shot, Di Maio could not determine who initiated the
confrontation. While I watched this moment of the trial, I came to the
realization that most Americans have no idea what actual courtroom proceedings
look like. If Di Maio’s cross examination by the prosecution was on an episode
of Law & Order, Jack McCoy would have bombarded the doctor with questions
trying to get him to go against his testimony or admit his error and support the
prosecution’s case. Once he got the answer he wanted, there would have been a
dramatic pause and music in the background signifying to the viewer that a big
event just happened in the trial. When the prosecution managed to get Di Maio
to admit that he could not tell who started the fight, there was no such
moment. I barely even noticed this small victory and its importance was only
revealed to me when the experts on CNN and Fox talked about how good the
prosecution did on cross.
The defense also called another witness, a former neighbor
of George Zimmerman, who had to testify via the internet because she was sick
and could not make an appearance in court. What she had to say was hard to
understand and did not seem to carry much weight; however, the news coverage
jumped on the topic of whether testifying through an internet connection was as
effective as in person testimony.
In reviewing the coverage both by Fox News and CNN of the
George Zimmerman proceedings that took place on July 9th, I realized
that neither station was going to even make a small reference to the larger
issues this case brings to light: race and gun control. Each station was going
to stay the course by trying to obtain ratings by referencing the drama of the
trial and unknown fate of Zimmerman. Instead of going off on a rant about the
news media turning into an entertainment source, like I did in my previous
post, I decided to examine the different way the two news stations covered the
trial. I wanted to see if there was a difference in the way Fox News (generally
thought of as a conservative news source) and CNN (generally thought of as a
moderate or left leaning news source) talked about and covered the trial.
All in all I will say the coverage between the two stations
was pretty much the same. The programs I viewed were during the day while the
Zimmerman trial was in session so most of the coverage was the live feed from
the courtroom and then brief interruptions from the news program asking for
analysis from their guest experts. I wonder if I watched the news stations’
primetime programming if the coverage would be much different since there would
be more time to fill with no live feed from the court (look for this topic to
be addressed in an upcoming post). Both CNN and Fox focused on the impact of
the expert witness, Dr. Di Maio, and the ineffectiveness of internet testimony
compared to in court testimony. I was amazed that neither station brought up
that the defense’s witness who testified via the internet was black and claimed
that she believed that it was George Zimmerman’s voice on the 911 tape. To me, it seems that the main purpose of this witness was to show the jury that a
black witness was providing testimony in support of the Zimmerman’s defense.
One expert on Fox News in her closing statement briefly brought up the witness’s
race, but this remark was passed over and nothing more was made of it. It
almost seems like both stations are trying to avoid commenting that race is an
issue in the case, which seems odd since race is one the major underlying concerns
of this trial.
Though the topics discussed by the anchors on both news
stations were similar, I did notice a difference in the visual representations
shown on the programs. When CNN showed pictures of Trayvon Martin, they
followed the same theme as those shown on news programs of victims. There was
one of Trayvon as a young teenager, one of him smiling with his girlfriend, and
a family photo of him with his mother. These resembled those photos most often
shown on the news of victims of a car accidents or homicides. Clearly CNN
sees Trayvon as a victim of an untimely demise even if Zimmerman believed he
was acting in self-defense. Fox on the other hand took a different approach to
the photos shown of Martin. The pictures were gritty and in none of them does
Trayvon have a smile. One was just a close up of Trayvon’s face, looking into
the camera, with a serious expression. The other was another close
up of Trayvon with a hoodie on and once again not smiling. These pictures almost
resembled those shown in the media of potential suspects or criminals. It seems
like Fox is subliminally taking the stance that Trayvon brought this on himself
and that his death was justified.
It is interesting to see how two stations can try to get
their opinion out on the case without actually coming right out and saying it.
It is disheartening that as this case winds down to the conclusion (analysts
say that the defense could rest at the end of Wednesday or early Thursday) that
the larger issues are still not being addressed by the media. It made me wonder
if all news organizations are just giving the play by play of the trial and not
addressing the national issues of race relations and gun control. I went online
to see if publications that do not rely as much on ratings were just giving the
details of the trial. I was delighted to see that NPR understood the significance
of the trial and wrote an article about how this trial can be a jumping off
point to discuss other issues of racial profiling. Hopefully, once the trial
goes into jury deliberations maybe the television news stations can stop being
so obsessed with the events of the trial and start discussing the bigger issues
represented in this case. Until next post….
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