>> again, why the long delay? was race a factor or is this just a local tragedy that's been turned into ideological fodder for television news. mitt romney wins the illinois primary but most of the chatter is about a top aide who likens it to a certain children's toy ze wanted to talk about his victory but the debate over this iconic children's toy, the etch-a-sketch threatens to erase all of that. >> our twitter turned that into a viral moment. plus -- >> define that. how far will you go. >> i don't want to campaign for candidates. >> he came up with the idea of televising what happens in congress and made c-span and its passionate callers part of the landscape. now he's stepping down as chief executive. this is "reliable sources." it was back on february 26th that 17-year-old trayvon martin walking down the street was killed in the town of sanford, florida. the man who killed him is hispanic. it wasn't until ten days later that the killing drew a bit of national media attention from the ap and reuters and then a bit more coverage, b.e.t., hln, cnn, good morning america, and then nearly weeks has passed. and then with the release of the 911 call and trayvon martin's mother started doing tv interviews. the story that no one has bothered to cover has become media's newest obsession. >> in the case of the 17-year-old gunned down by a man who says he was acting as a neighborhood watch dog. >> the use of deadly force against a teenager carrying nothing more than a bag of skit tells, shot and killed by a man who was carrying a gun. >> tonight's lead, the growing national outrage over the killing of 17-year-old trayvon martin. >> the killing of 17-year-old trayvon martin by a neighborhood watchman is shaking america tos very core. >> we begin with breaking news a major new development in the killing of trayvon martin in a gated community in florida. >> so what explains the media interest? here in washington, lauren ashburn, founder and editor of daily.com. contributor to the huffington post of usa today and the anchor at wusa, the cbs affiliate in washington. darren, how is it that this inexplicable tragedy was largely ignored for two or three weeks. >> you have to look at where it happened. it didn't happen in new york city or l.a. it happened in sanford, florida, and nobody knows that's right outside of orlando until this happened. secondly, the reality is this. black men get shot down in big cities all the time. it took a while for folks to be remined of this. i have to be honest, i went i said we need to be on this story. as my news director said to me, that's why we have a diverse newsroom so people will look at a newsroom that not everybody is looking at. >> i think there's another casualty here and it's old immediate yeah. the orlando sentinel is 30 minutes by car away from sanford yet they have cut their sanford bureau, they have cut half of their staff and i don't think that in this case it's really fair to blame them for not getting on this story. >> i happen to have in my hand the story that the orlando sentinel ran, not the next day but the second day after the killing. it's four paragraphs devoted to what is now considered national outrage. >> because that's somebody covering it from the newsroom in orlando. they don't have the money and resources. advertising is down and they can't be everywhere at once. and it took a while, howie, for it to become something than just an aggravated assault. >> what change, what happened to transform this case from a florida story to a national one? >> yeah. that's what i wanted to point out. this case has evolved. one reason why i don't think there was a lot of national coverage is that the police at first backed up george zimmerman's story. they said that it seemed as if his story about it being self-defense was what happened. and they claimed that it was under investigation for a long period of time. it wasn't until the families started speaking out to the press, which took about a week, that is when you started to see the national stories on march 7th and march 8th. and then when we had the release of the 911 tapes and people could see that some of the things that the police had said about the incident, saying that george zimmerman didn't know the race of trayvon martin, the kid that was shot and killed. this indication that they had asked george zimmerman not to follow trayvon martin. when those things came out, it became a huge story because then some of the things that the family was saying seemed to be more accurate. >> derek, i don't want to harp on race. but if a white 17-year-old kid carrying around a bag of skittles, would it take two weeks to -- >> i don't know. it depends on how he was shot and killed and the circumstances. i think you're right that race does play a major role in this. because, again, we hear about black young kids being shot a the l lot. it was the details of this one that draw people into it and got everybody so excited. i give credit to the parents on this one because they refused to let it die. they kept talking about it. they kept talking about it so it wouldn't just go away. that's what the folks down there in charge wanted. >> i also give credit to social media. once the parents started to speak out, you see advocacy groups, like change.org, that now has 18 1.8 million signatures, people just now beginning to use the hash mark of his name and you've got celebrities coming out like spike lee or lebron james. >> and now it seems like it's reached a tv soap opera status. >> you also have to -- >> can i break in? >> one second. >> from some of the news one and others that were on this story from the beginning and giving it flying under the radar. black folks knew this was going on before the mainstream media -- >> and i know, for example, that black columnists, they were on this case before their organizations were fully weighi weighing in. >> one of the things that i wanted to point out is we need more reporting on what actually happened and a closer look at how the police handled this situation. one of the things missing here, is george zimmerman has not been talking publicly. he's kind of vanished. he seems to have an attorney that's now talking and the one thing that i think people are losing sil losing sight of, there are very specific issues in sanford, the way that police deal with black suspects, deal with crimes involving black people that i think initially the family was worried about. it has become this larger issue, this larger example of sort of how race plays out in the criminal justice system but i don't want us to lose sight of the fact that there are some very specific problems in that neighborhood, involving the police and crime and how you take a look at people who look a certain way who resemble people committing crimes in the area. that's what we need to focus on. >> there's a lot we don't know here. george zimmerman's attorney said that his client had a broken nose. i'm wondering if this has become driven by ideology. they cover this outrage and fox news has done very little on the case, relatively speaking, saying maybe it was a terrible mistake. >> you know, you can have this argument. i had this argument in my newsroom today. they just followed the law. why is it a big deal? the cops say they can't arrest them. i said, look, police have a plolot of discretion. i got pulled over because he didn't like that i used the horn. >> you suspect that it might? >> i was confused about it. it was hard to know. the point is, they have a lot of discretion in how they handle it. people want accountability. if you kill somebody, if it's a mistake or whatever, there has to be accountability for that. if i hit you with my car, it was an accident, you were in the way, i think there has to be accountability. that's the thing not being department with here. >> let me turn to al sharpton. he's an msnbc host and has been for decade -- and i've covered him for decades, a major african-american activist in this country. in this particular case, we've put together three different clips. this is from thursday, sanford goes down to sanford, rally. he speaks at a rally. then you'll see him doing his show from the same location where he's acting as if not a journalist but certainly a commentary. and then the second tape is in the 7:00 p.m. hour. let's take a look at that. >> we came for permanent justice. arrest zimmerman now! that's what this rally is about. >> nearly a month ago a tragedy took place just beyond the gates behind me. earlier today, trayvon's parents and attorney and amet with the justice department here and we rally for justice for trayvon. trayvon represents a reckless disregard for our lives that we've seen for too long and we've come to tell you tonight, enough is enough. >> lauren ashburn, how on earth can al sharpton go there, continues to be an activist, when to the justice department with the parents of trayvon martin and then he does his had show and speaks at the rally again? >> he's covering himself. >> he's covering himself. >> how does msnbc allow that? >> it is difficult to see how that is possible. however, it's not like he's a card carrying journalist here. he's an opinionator and everybody knows it. so it's not as if there's some sort of hidden mysterious thing about him. we know who al sharpton is. >> but here he -- it seems to me msnbc can say, okay, this is such an important case and you can go and be an activist or you can do your show on the subject but don't be standing with the parents that are rallying at the justice department. okay. eric, break in. >> we talked about this. we talked about this on your show some time ago. and this is exactly the conflict that i was concerned about. it's not so much that people don't know what al sharpton is. the problem is that msnbc has to cover this as a news organization and we're getting to the point where george zimmerman is starting to speak up, the man who shot trayvon martin. he has an attorney. he has a side. is he going to feel like he can talk to msnbc news or nbc and be treated fairly when one of their signature on-air personalities has talked for weeks about how he should be arrested and be in jail. i think that's a real conflict. we've gotten so used to this conflict that we don't say much about it when it happens. >> i think you're absolutely right and i think it's a good point. because when you make your bones doing what al sharpton does, when you step over that line and try to become a journalist, it's definitely a conflict. >> but i don't think he's a journalist. >> is he a commentator. >> that's right. >> he hasn't been covering the story. he's covering himself. >> but they also knew -- we also all knew going in saying that sharpton was not going to cover president obama and say anything negative about president obama. what else do you expect from somebody like that? >> eric, i've got to move on. geraldo rivera made some news, appeared on fox and friends. he said something about what trayvon martin was wearing at the time of the shooting. >> i am urging the parents of black and latino kids particularly to not let them children go out wearing hoodies. i think the hoodie is as much responsible for trayvon martin's death as the hoodie was. >> it's so ridiculous it's not even worth talking about. geraldo wearing a hoodie, bill belichick wears a hoodie that barely looks washed. so i don't think it's the clothes that makes somebody scary. it's the attitude of those in the clothes. >> hang on, eric. geraldo crime scene surveillance tapes. it almost appears like he's blaming the victim. >> there are also pictures of trayvon and people are saying that he's making the gang symbol and i think that a lot of people right now are trying to, you know, push trayvon in a direction that he -- that maybe isn't true and you can't ask him to defend himself. >> this story isn't over by a long shot. we've got to go. eric, thank you for joining us from florida, derek, lauren into when we come back, mitt romney's etch-a-sketch mess. how it turned it into a campaign metaphor he can't shake. you only need one. two times stronger than the leading value brand, they win this test. puffs ultra soft & strong, they always impress. mcallen, texas. in here, heavy rental equipment in the middle of nowhere, is always headed somewhere. to give it a sense of direction, at&t created a mobile asset solution to protect and track everything. so every piece of equipment knows where it is, how it's doing or where it goes next. ♪ this is the bell on the cat. [ male announcer ] it's a network of possibilities -- helping you do what you do... even better. ♪ helping you do what you do... even better. fore! no matter what small business you are in, managing expenses seems to... get in the way. not anymore. ink, the small business card from chase introduces jot an on-the-go expense app made exclusively for ink customers. custom categorize your expenses anywhere. save time and get back to what you love. the latest innovation. only for ink customers. learn more at chase.com/ink it was early wednesday morning when they used, shall we say, an unfortunate metaphor. >> is there concern that the i am impression may efforts the governor to tax so far to the right that it would hurt moderate voters in the general election? >> well, i think he hit a reset button. it's almost like an etch-a-sketch. you can shake it up and restart all over again. >> but that didn't immediately become a big story. it was not until thousands of tweets made this a trending topic on twitter. that television news then jumped on it. >> romney's on the defensive once again after one of his senior advisers said that romney will be able to reintroduce himself at the general election comparing him to the famous red toy, etch-a-sketch. >> then the debate over this iconic children's toy, the etch-a-sketch threatened to erase all that. >> this is an etch-a-sketch. ed has one, i have one. i was really bad at this. >> this will be remembered as etch-a-sketch day in campaign 2012. >> so was this an important story or just an amusing one? joining us to discuss this, in new york, amy holmes. and here in washington, david corn, washington bureau chief and analyst for msnbc and author of a new book about president obama entitled "showdown." amy holmes, was the media frenzy over this etch-a-sketch business over justified? >> i love to see that you have one. where is my etch-a sketch? the only reason why this could work, unfortunately for the romney campaign, is because it has been sort of a continuing theme of his candidacy. so he had his campaign manager stepping all over his big victory in illinois. using a very colorful term and a product that producers could run out and buy to use as props on their newscasts. the reason why it trended is because there's perhaps a little bit of truth in the gaffe. >> the stock in the etch-a-sketch company tripled. i still can't believe this. but whether it's a gaffe, mistake, poor choice of word played into the -- >> at least he didn't call him mr. potato head. much of journalism is really about shorthand. reporters spend all day covering long speeches and following this, we go to congressional hearings, press conferences, and it's all about distilling that down in a way that consumers can sort of observe what journalists think are the top priorities. so there's this narrative been there with mitt romney, what does he really believe in and is he truly a conservative and i think most people think he is playing to the right and doesn't believe this stuff. his media spokesperson, who has been doing good so far, making the most apt as you could from the opposition side and it was inevitable that it was leap it t upon. more people watching to have access to get this out. immediately it lights up triter and people follow. >> it wasn't that immediately cnn made a huge deal about this, it was asked by a professional comedian, although it was a perfectly fair question, nobody disputes that. but i front out about it on twitter that it then boomeranged into a big story. >> absolutely. and then you have the power of the new media, twitter, which makes permanent these moments where prior it would have gone into dig even ask the organization for that clip. now once it's out there, it's out there. >> speaking of clips that are out there, rick santorum lost in illinois and won in louisiana. i want to come back to that. making a comment which he seems to be suggests that four more years of barack obama would even be preferable to four years of mitt romney. and then he kind of backed off a little but had an interesting ling wis stick twist where he seemed to blame the media. >> senator, you said, if you're going to be a little different, we might as well stay with what we have instead of taking a risk with what may be an etch-a-sketch in the future. those are your words, senator. >> we the people might. not me. i would never say -- i've always said i would never vote for barack obama. are you kidding me? what do you think i'm doing this for? because i like barack obama? it's so absurd it's not even worth printing. >> we may as well stay with what we have, with obama. and then he called it a made up story. is it a made up story? >> you know, what do you say whenever you say something stupid on the campaign trail? it's out of con tech. the press is building it up, it's not really a story. they don't want to cover the story. we've seen this happen on cnn and elsewhere and it's what you -- he got caught saying something really stupid for where he is at this point in time. and then all of a sudden he has to say it wasn't what i meant and the press is i can imagine something out of this. no. rick santorum is as much of an unknown quantity to a lot of people out there, even though he was in the senate for a long time and he's playing at a high level for the first time in his life, it's hard to do this and he's made a lot of mistakes in the last few weeks as he surged ahead and he can't handle the pressure sometimes it seems. >> and santorum is increasingly pressing back against the press, saying that there's an over emphasis on social issues and then we see him taking on his own words, comparing obama to romney. >> well, you and i talked about this is a lot. which there is nothing that the press likes better than social issues because they can be emotional hot button issues and the america can understand easily and you don't have to put on the green eye shades. santorum has been -- his complaint about the media covering the issues more than his economic platform is fair. but on the case of suggesting that there's no difference between mitt romney or president obama, i think he was making sort of a receipt tore cal remark that he didn't mean it literally. however, it's fair to ask him, well, if that's the case, then who you vote for obama if mitt romney's the candidate and to take him more literally. these are the kinds of things that politicians have to expect that they are going to be asked about. >> right. and this blew up in the press. i want to turn now, i mentioned, santorum won a pretty big victory yesterday in the louisiana primary by 20 points. it wasn't on the front page of the washington post. i've been arguing that television has gotten bored by this race or they've been covering it a lot less. the other cable networks have broken away to cover something else. speaking of reporters, they are all trying to go home and stop writing about this thing. they are sick of writing the stories. they want this thing to be over. >> that shows that rick santorum, for his 30 years in politics, doesn't understand anything about reporters. if you're on the campaign for a particular candidate, i'm not saying that you root for him to win, but if you're the reporter, you get more time on air, more ink a. if you should