On the afternoon of August 9, 2014, Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager, was shot to death in a confrontation with Darren Wilson, a white police officer in Ferguson, Mo. Within a week, the shooting became a flashpoint for a national discussion about race, policing, and justice in the United States. Using Ferguson as a case study, students will explore the media coverage and the protests that followed—driven to a large degree by social media—and learn to become informed and effective civic participants in today’s digital landscape.
Students will be able to:
- Investigate the choices and challenges facing journalists as they report on a story, including the importance of verification, sourcing, and other journalistic practices and standards.
- Understand the role that confirmation bias, stereotyping, and other cognitive biases plays in how we interpret events, news, and information.
- Explore the impact of social media on the traditional news cycle, and understand the role it can play in influencing public opinion and the press.
- Develop critical thinking and news literacy skills to help students find reliable information to make decisions, take action, and responsibly share news through social media.
- Consider their role as citizens in a democracy and their responsibilities as civic participants and citizen watchdogs.