Trayvon's killer said to make self-incriminating statements

[Tommy_Carcetti]

64. I agree the media has the tendency to play up stories.

And they could, in part, be doing that in this case for ratings and profit.

But unlike stories about what the Kardashians or Snooki are doing, I will say there is an underlying importance to this story to the point where I wouldn't want it to be buried in the back pages.

Which, ironically, it was for the first two weeks after the shooting.

And we can't dismiss this as a story about "hairless yard apes" getting into a fight over "territory". It's a story with underlying contexts of racial profiling, of gun laws and gun lobbying, of what constitutes reasonable "self-defense", and of a tragic occurance, whether one believes the accused to be guilty or not.

Sometimes stories of a local nature become national, and for good measure. I believe this to be one such instance.

(By the way, I live in Florida. I remember when Stand Your Ground was passed--I actually know a few Florida legislators who told me that problems could erupt because of it. The feeling was that it was only a matter of time before a major case would arise that would put the law to the test. It appears that moment has finally arrived. So I believe the story is newsworthy just for that.)