"Unarmed black teenager"

[PSPS]

I don't watch television news but I do listen to NPR and read the wires. Their news writers have consistently used the term "unarmed black teenager" when referring to Michael Brown as in, "after police shot an unarmed black teenager." I also note the consistent use of the phrase in AP dispatches. I don't remember the adjective "unarmed" or even a consistent use of a phrase when the Trayvon Martin incident was at the top of the news.

Does this reflect a change in the style manual?

Have TV newscasts been doing this too?

[Jackpine Radical]

1. I noticed that too.

Every radio news broadcast I've heard had the "unarmed black teenager" language. Even Clear Channel stations.

[JJChambers]

2. In the TM case, it was alleged that he used the sidewalk as a weapon with which to bash GZ's head

No such allegations have been made against MB. Yet.

[Boom Sound 416]

3. I think we heard and read the word a lot, but probably more, later into the trial coverage. However,

With respect to Michael Brown, it's a significant point that can't be repeated enough because ALL police are armed and unanimously presumed as such, therefore are either advantaged or at least equally matched against a threat.