
Facing Ferguson: News Literacy in a Digital Age
Resources
11Duration
Multiple weeksSubject
- Civics & Citizenship
- History
- Social Studies
Grade
9–12Language
English — USPublished
About This Unit
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.
Essential Questions
What is the role of journalism in a democratic society, and how can we become responsible consumers and producers of news and information in the digital age?
Learning Goals
- 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.
A Note to Teachers
Before you teach this lesson, please review the following guidance to tailor this lesson to your students’ contexts and needs.
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This unit was created in partnership with the News Literacy Project.
The News Literacy Project is a nonpartisan education nonprofit building a national movement to create a more news-literate America. NLP is the nation’s leading provider of news literacy education.
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