Trayvon Martin: With call for sanctions, is Al Sharpton crossing a line?

In 2010, the network stopped one of its hosts, Sean Hannity, from headlining a major tea party event in Indianapolis because it felt it crossed the line.

It is, of course, the role of journalists to unblinkingly report facts and debate context.

Ever since television cameras showed the treatment of black protesters by white police in Alabama in the 1960s, the national media has played a powerful role in shaping perceptions about race, in some ways helping the US become a nation that's on the whole accepting of racial differences and critical of racial stereotypes.

So far, the Trayvon Martin protests – which have been held in cities around the country, including Washington and St. Louis – have been peaceful and, in some cases, have yielded powerful imagery, including protesters wearing “hoodie” sweatshirts like the one that seemed to have raised Zimmerman’s suspicions on the night he confronted Trayvon.

As the criminal investigation has gone on, the protests have raised concerns about how profiling can have devastating consequences, and have forced officials to dig deeper into how, exactly, an armed man came to shoot an unarmed teenager who was doing nothing wrong but looking like "he's up to no good," as Zimmerman told a 911 dispatcher.

Zimmerman told police he was attacked by Trayvon. He said the teenager punched him in the face and beat his head against the ground, causing him to fear for his life.

In defending the protests, CNN contributor Roland Martin wrote on Friday, “Justice is supposed to be blind, but for African-Americans, it has commonly been deaf, dumb and blind. As a result, we've had to live by the admonition of former slave and abolitionist Frederick Douglass, who said, 'Agitate! Agitate! Agitate!' ”

But especially in the case of Sharpton, the much-documented ideological polarization of the media has blurred the lines between reporting on those protests and leading them. Business owners in Sanford say they're already dealing with empty shopping aisles and restaurant tables amid the fallout from the Trayvon Martin case and the media spotlight focused on their town.

"People in Sanford are afraid," insurance company owner Steven Lucas told the Orlando Sentinel. "It feels like something is about to happen, and they're holding onto their money."

To some observers, like the Poynter Institute's Kelly McBride, Sharpton's role and MSNBC's support is in part defensible, since few people, given Sharpton's long history in the public spotlight, view him as a professional journalist. Others have said Sharpton's role in the protest has not made his show controversial, but simply predictable.

Yet the image of a major cable news host possibly instigating a boycott for racial justice that could have broad economic repercussions is likely to fuel the debate over the media's role in social unrest.

“Sharpton's dual role would have been unthinkable on television 20 years ago and still wouldn't be allowed at many news organizations,” writes David Bauer of the Associated Press.

The Florida Civil Rights Association said Saturday it supports Sharpton's push for economic sanctions against the city, but urged that local businesses should not be targeted.

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