Protests flared in Ferguson, MO in early August when the black 18 year old Michael Brown was shot dead by white officer Darren Wilson. Riots have been going on for the past months due to the fact that it is believed that Brown had been surrendering before being shot six times.
The media has been involved since the beginning, inserting themselves into the protests, some reporters being arrested as thought to be rioters.
This past week the media has been covering the impending verdict of Officer Wilson, which was given today. The charges against Wilson ranged from first degree murder to involuntary manslaughter. This morning he was not guilty on all charges.
Today the media has been flooded with images of the riots that burst out after the verdict was released. Rioters have been setting things such as police cars and local stores on fire and looting local businesses. Bottles and rocks have been thrown at police officers and newscasters alike. In one newscast, after the journalist was hit in the head with the rock, stated that she had been hit with much worse during her time covering what has been happening in Ferguson.
Instead of focusing on the case, media coverage has been heavily focused on the riots. Many rioters have also taken a part of citizen journalism in way of making sure that people are able to see what is really happening, before being possibly filtered and altered by the news sources.
jesschnurr 
Jess,
I like how you mention the fact that it seems as if the the media has been more focused on the riots and the rioters rather than the case itself. I think that it is good that the media is doing this because it really is showing people what is going on in Ferguson. The fact that newscasters are getting hit with rocks while reporting just goes to show without words how dysfunctional things really are because of this scenario and the court ruling.
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I agree with your post and also believe that after the verdict the attention of the media quickly went to the riots. I also feel that the looters got way more attention then they needed. I felt that the attention that the rioters and looters got was making the entire situation worse. Also when the journalist was hit with the rock I noticed that it almost “gave in” to the rioters as a whole. They liked that they were being heard and that should not be the focus of such a controversial case such as Ferguson.
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I agree with your comments and like how you gave us a bit of background knowledge of the case so even someone who may be reading this and not be fully aware of the entire story can know what we are discussing. Overall, I definitely agree with you that media is not taking the right position in mainly focusing on the riots and protesting because it just gives a negative image of the citizens in Ferguson. I also like how you incorporated the fact that many citizens are involved in citizen journalism because it gives us an idea of how far this situation is going and it has become so intense that citizens want to be a part of letting the world know how and where things are happening.
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