If I had to choose the most important lesson learned from my journalism education here at NIU, it would be that the media should never be the story. For a while now, local and national news sources have abandoned this fundamental and tainted the word we used to know as “objective.”

As seen in the infamous Trayvon Martin case, fair and unbiased reporting has taken a back seat to agendas.

Unfortunately, it is the viewers who suffer the greatest loss, for they will no longer receive the objective information they once sought.

Martin, a 17-year-old high school student, was walking to his father’s girlfriend’s home in Florida, which is where he was staying. George Zimmerman, a 28-year-old resident of the neighborhood, began following Martin, then called the Sanford Police Department to report what he deemed suspicious behavior.

Subsequently, a confrontation ensued, which ended with Zimmerman shooting Martin in the chest at close range, killing the teenager. After being taken in for a few hours by Sanford authorities, Zimmerman was released.

In a matter of days, this story leaped beyond local coverage to the national stage and even prompted a response from President Barack Obama.

While this exposure did lead to the eventual charging and arrest of Zimmerman and the temporary stepping down of Sanford Police Chief Bill Lee, it brought out a bigger issue that we face in America.

No, it’s not the fact that racism, racial profiling and stereotyping still exists in America, but that media has turned away from delivering objective information to pushing agendas for the sake of ratings. I know this is not such a new idea, but it is all the more appalling when covering a story as touchy as this one.

The ever-present example of this was the selective publication of photos used to represent Zimmerman and Martin. Many conservative outlets argued liberal media shaped viewers’ perceptions of the incident by running an old “baby-face” picture of Martin and a grimacing mug shot of Zimmerman. Conversely, conservative “journalists” — a term I will use lightly throughout this column — began circulating updated pictures of Martin, including a picture of him with a gold-colored grill in his mouth taken from his Twitter page. Classy. After implying that Martin wasn’t as innocent as the older picture made him seem, the smear campaign continued.

To better illustrate the possibly poor character of this young man, conservative website The Blaze posted an article speculating a list of situations that could warrant the suspension of a student. Martin, who at the time of the incident was suspended for bringing an empty marijuana bag to school, could have been punished for arson, kidnapping and armed robbery, among other things, according to the Blaze article.

The obvious mission of conservative media outlets was to counteract the publics’ initial reaction to the emotional case by painting Martin as the aggressor. Making sure your audience has enough information to consider both sides to the story is important, but destroying a young man’s character is tasteless, especially considering he’s dead.

News media seemed to forget the fact that the general public relies on their information. It should be the job of the viewer to interpret this information, not the media’s.