Teaching Trayvon: Race, Media, and the Politics of Spectacle

In March 2012, The Atlantic published an infographic that measured media coverage from the time of the shooting of Trayvon Martin, an African American teenager killed in Sanford, Florida, through the announcement by the Justice Department that it would seek a trial for his alleged killer, George Zimmerman. The picture represented national media coverage: forty-one media segments had been dedicated to Trayvon on CNN, thirteen on MSNBC, and only one on Fox News. Coverage of the case grew significantly through 2013, but for what purpose, and in whose interest was media coverage and social media traffic invested? This paper argues that media spectacle was used to bring about news ratings, increased advertising, and social media traffic at the expense of a national conversation about racial justice, ending racial violence, and stopping gun proliferation.