Why is the Christopher Lane shooting getting a distinctly different style of media coverage than, say the Trayvon Martin shooting?

It seems to me that the whole controversy of Trayvon Martin was that it could be potentially used to defend any white man who shot a black man who was merely approaching him because of “stand your ground” and “he looked dangerous”.
This seems more of a school shooting sort of thing where some budding sociopaths just found a random guy to kill for sport.

I don’t think race was made THE focus of the Trayvon case but, given the racial situation in the US, I think some of the coverage was on point. Are you trying to get people to say that this is evidence of ‘reverse racism’? ‘Cause, really, that’s not a thing.

The huge difference is the kids who commited the murder of Lane were arrested before they shot their next victim. The Trayvon case came to the media because Zimmerman had not been arrested. I have seen the Lane case all over the news. It is disgusting and an embarrasement for America which is already perceived as a violent gun loving country by many other countries in the world.

This is not a case of potential self-defense or controversial “stand your ground” laws like Trayvon Martin was. Additionally, these shooters were arrested right away, unlike Zimmerman. It was Zimmerman not being arrested that sparked the initial controversy. Pretty obvious difference here and not part of the “war on whites” or anything conservatives are touting these days.

@Simone_De_Beauvoir

Before we get off track- Yes, I know there is no such thing as “reverse racism”. Plus I am not trying get people to say anything in particular. Just seeing what people have to say.

Here’s your GA.

@josie Well all right. shuffles off, suspicious

Remember that it took a long time for Zimmerman to actually be charged with anything. The public had to make noise.

The answer is because Trayvon Martin was a young black male who was portrayed as being defenseless.

Furthermore, it escalated quickly because the original pictures of Zimmerman showed an overweight, seemingly large, bearded individual who looked predominantly white and the pictures of Martin showed a 13-year old smiling African-American boy.

@JHUstudent He was not portrayed as defenseless, he was defenseless.

John McWhorter recently wrote about this here.

@Simone_De_Beauvoir not trying to say there was a mistake in the media portrayal. A portrayal is an illustration of a person, place or thing. Can portrayals be inaccurate? yes. Can they be accurate? yes.

He was clearly at a disadvantage – definitely didn’t argue against that.