Tampa Bay Times' Zimmerman tweet asks 'whether the dead boy deserved it'

Brett T. | 4:04 PM on July 13, 2013

Quotation marks or not, more than a few followers of the Tampa Bay Times found the paper’s tweet promoting its article wrapping up the George Zimmerman trial unnecessarily provocative. Did the dead boy “deserve it”? We can only hope that’s not at all what the jury is currently deliberating, or there really is no justice.

"#Zimmerman shot a 17-year-old in February 2012. Now a jury will try to decide whether the dead boy deserved it." http://t.co/joing5GZRW

— Tampa Bay Times (@TB_Times) July 13, 2013

The article itself helpfully differentiates between the charges of second-degree murder and manslaughter that Zimmerman faces, and conviction on either charge (or acquittal) certainly won’t prove that Trayvon Martin “deserved” to be fatally shot. The Times defended its tweet, describing the quotation as “powerful.”

@FL_Chelle @TwitchyTeam That's the lead from the story from our writer at the trial. Thought it powerful. Tweeted it.

— Tampa Bay Times (@TB_Times) July 13, 2013

It’s powerful, all right. But accurate?

@TB_Times powerfully stupid I would say. Just because people write stupid comments doesn't mean you should endorse it.

— Shawn Tatham (@satatham) July 13, 2013

@satatham It is very stark, agreed. But it really summed up the heart of the trial: Did Trayvon Martin deserve to die?

— Tampa Bay Times (@TB_Times) July 13, 2013

@TB_Times Try breaking out the thesaurus and using it. How about warranted instead of deserved? Maybe you should try being objective.

— Shawn Tatham (@satatham) July 13, 2013

@TB_Times @FL_Chelle @satatham do ppl read this crap? Heart of th' trial? I thought the reason was 2 find out if GZ acted in self-defense?

— Andy Culver (@ajculv) July 13, 2013