Trayvon Martin
Trayvon Martin was killed by George Zimmerman on February 26, 2012–exactly one month ago. Yet outrage over the tragedy is just hitting its peak in the news cycle. Why didn’t the media, public officials, and the FBI care about this issue sooner?
CNN took up that question over the weekend. According to CNN’s Howard Kurtz, “it took a few days for the major Florida papers to cover that news. And it wasn’t until 10 days later that the killings drew a bit of national media attention from the A.P. and Reuters, The Huffington Post, and CBS This Morning. Then a bit more coverage, BET, HLN, CNN, Good Morning America. And then nearly three weeks had passed before the first article in New York Times.”
In downtown Oakland, on August 2nd, 2007, journalist Chauncey Bailey was shot to death on the street, as he walked to work. The murder was a brazen act – committed in broad daylight in front of multiple witnesses. Yet the truth about who was responsible for the death of the longtime newsman – and why he died – was almost buried by a rushed criminal justice system.
Local author Alan Jacobson writes thrillers, including a popular series that follows the exploits of FBI profiler Karen Vail. His most recent book in the series, Inmate 1577, takes place in San Francisco – specifically, Alcatraz. Jacobson did extensive research on prison life in the 1960s, particularly at the Federal Penitentiary at Alcatraz. I sat down with Jacobson to talk about his new book. Audio above; transcript after the jump.