Media coverage of current events can be disseminated to the general public in different ways and media biases “often reflect certain organizational and/or professional preferences or values” (Bennett 2011, 173). ). In fact, Lundman (2003) points out "that journalists assess media interest in homicides based on the relative frequency of particular types of killings and the extent to which specific killings fit with stereotypical typifications of race and of gender (357)”. Furthermore, Johnson (2012) believed that the true job of the media was to “create a message that… grabs the public’s attention (62).” In other words, can the media capture and hold the public's attention? Take for example the recent case of George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin. George Zimmerman was arrested and later charged with second-degree murder following the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin on February 26, 2012. The trial ended on July 13, 2013 with an acquittal after daily media coverage by all major networks . Was this case sensationalized because of the “intersections of race and gender” (Lundman, 2003, 357)? Or, as Lundman (2003) asked, were these simply the “rare and uncommon homicides” that were deemed newsworthy by the media (357). Bennett (2011) believed that one of the biggest problems with bias in American media was their “overwhelming tendency to downplay the big social, economic, or political picture in favor of human trials, tragedies, and triumphs (177). Shaiko (2008) alluded to the fact that American news media are “accountable to corporate conglomerates” and not “to readers, listeners, and viewers (205).” Perhaps the most telling quote of all is found in Chapter 10 of The News Media: Communicating Pol...... middle of paper ...... campaigns: A Day to Sell. Boulder: Westview Press. Lundman, Richard J. "Journalistic Value and Selection Bias in Murder News: Comparative and Relative Effects of Novelty and Racial and Gender Typifications on Media Coverage of Homicide." » Sociological Forum 18.No. 3 (2003): 357-86. Print. Manheim, Jarol B. 2011. “The News Shapers: Strategic Communication as a Third Force in Newsmaking,” in Media Power in Politics, 6th ed., ed. Doris A. Graber. Washington DC: CQ Press, 421-430. Patterson, Thomas. “Chapter 10 “The News Media: Communicating Political Images”” We, the People. 10th ed. [Sl]: McGraw-Hill, 2012. 327-57. Print.Shaiko, Ronald G. 2008. “The News Media and Organized Interests in the United States,” in Media Power, Media Politics, 2nd ed., Mark J. Rozell and Jeremy D. Mayer, eds. Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc..., 205-229.