Charges shifted online opinion about George Zimmerman's guilt in Trayvon Martin case

[dkf]

Updated at 1:07 p.m. ET: As soon as George Zimmerman was formally charged last week in the shooting death of Florida teenager Trayvon Martin, public opinion began shifting online, and for much of this week, a slight majority of those expressing an opinion indicated they believed he probably wasn't guilty of violating Florida law, according to msnbc.com's computer-assisted analysis of 2.6 million Internet postings.


The findings are best read as a snapshot of how the lodging of charges influenced public opinion online. As it has several times since Feb. 26, opinion began shifting again after the bond hearing, and a small majority of Friday's commentary indicated a belief that Zimmerman is, in fact, guilty.



The msnbc.com analysis of online forum posts, Facebook posts and Twitter messages since the shooting indicates a striking willingness among commenters to strongly sympathize with the Martin family while at the same time remaining open to the possibility that Zimmerman — who claims he shot Martin in self-defense — may not have committed a crime.


http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/04/20/11289911-charges-shifted-online-opinion-about-george-zimmermans-guilt-in-trayvon-martin-case?lite

[Nostradammit]

1. With all due respect...

What the fuck does this have to do with anything?

[dkf]

2. Public sentiment is more nuanced than I expected.

[Nostradammit]

3. Oh. Thanks for letting us know.

[grasswire]

4. what are the mechanics of this analysis?

They say they "sifted" through 2.6 million Internet postings to arrive at their "computer assisted analysis". I guess this means they were searching for key phrases.

But wouldn't it be pretty impossible to determine by this methodology the complicated conclusion that commenters may "strongly sympathize with the Martin family while at the same time remaining open to the possibility that Zimmerman — who claims he shot Martin in self-defense — may not have committed a crime."

What keyword search would produce that conclusion?


I'm calling bogus.

[Weare0ne]

5. Computer scan says nothing

As a web programmer, I would say that unless msnbc has a custom revolutionary search algorithm it would not be possible with any statistical certainty to make such a statement. Microsoft, if one judges by Bing, is not able to display results based on a query where sympathy to family is shown in first part of a post/message yet doubt of conviction is shown in second part. Most likely they used a pattern which is likely to have a very significant margin of error making it as valid and reliable as a guesstimate.

[Boabab]

6. What would the "online opinion" consensus been had Trayvon

shot GZ under identical circumstances, then claimed protection under "stand your ground"?

Answer: he would have been arrested and charged that very night, and would still be sitting in a jail cell, with no bail forthcoming.

This is blatantly unequal and biased "justice" playing out in front of the entire world.

The message has already been delivered -- Trayvon's life wasn't worth much at all to a system that wants badly to sweep the entire episode under the rug.