For this assignment, I decided to follow Professor Zuckerman's advice and expand upon the data/assignment from the precious week (Explainer). To do this I had to greatly expand my data base, in the hopes of creating a well-sourced timeline of the Ferguson, MO Shooting (08/2015). I used Timeline JS and Weebly to compose my project, and below is an analysis of the information I discovered:
What I have deducted from the data:
What I have deducted from the data:
- Different News stations (i.e. Fox, CNN, ABC, USA Today) convey similar timelines but stress different segments of the story. For example, Fox News had two different timelines of the story, the day of the shooting, and the events that occurred after the death of Michael Brown. Fox News also stressed how a major eyewitness' account of Michael Brown running away after he put his hands-up, was indeed proven false by the autopsy and other various eye-witness accounts. It was interesting to note that this fact was left out of USA Today's timeline. USA Today also had aspects of the story that were absent in Fox News' timeline, such as the online funds set up in honor of both Michael Brown and Darren Willson. USA Today also stressed the appearance Al Sharpton.
- To me, the information stressed by certain News Stations, and the correlation to their well known political undertones, is apparent in each of their timelines (albeit subtle). In other words, each timeline had about the same sequence of events, collected and referenced the same sources (i.e. St. Louis Police Records), yet amongst the timelines were little tidbits of reporting that managed to vary among the different News Corporations. For example, The Examiner reported on the presence of communist party members. The members were leading the protests in November, opening calling for a "Communist Revolution" and "disseminating literature for their cause" amidst the chaos. The report also mentioned the protestors calling for the murder of Darren Wilson.
- ABC News' most relevant timeline of the incident was "What's Happened in Ferguson Since Michael Brown's Death: A Timeline", covering mostly the events that have transpired after the shooting (in picture and video form).
- Yahoo News also has a detailed timeline that spans until the grand jury decision of November 24, 2014.
- All major news outlets stressed the importance of the media's role in the story.
- All major news outlets conveyed the pressing issue of police brutality and the incredibly well armored and militarized police force.
- All major news outlets addressed the constitutional rights of both the protestors and journalists on scene.
- All major news outlets addressed the harm that was caused to businesses and the community due to looting and vandalism.
- NBC created a "Storyline Chronology" compiled of nearly all videos with aligning text
- MotherJones.com created a great visual representation for the Michael Brown shooting the the form of a timeline.
- Most relevant to my project, The Huffington Post actually utilized Timeline JS to compose their own timeline of the chaos in Ferguson.
- One of the most intuitive and visually pleasing timelines of the Ferguson Shooting was created by the New York Times.
- A viewer can start to see that most of these timelines end at the grand jury's decision on November 24, 2014. Its an interesting take on the timeline, as news and events have yet to cease from the area.
- CBS, released a video timeline amidst their vertically written timeline. This timeline ends on November 21, 2014, with the FBI arresting two men for allegedly planning to detonate pipe bombs during protests in Ferguson. The grand jury's decision was not made part of their timeline.
- The Independent released a timeline as well. Within the first sentence of their timeline the issue of race is overwhelmingly present "AUG 9 - Brown and a companion, both black, are confronted by an officer as they walk back to Brown's home from a convenience store." Their timeline continues to pronounce the officer is white, and fails to report that the two men were walking down the middle of the street when the officer engaged with them. This report also fails to mention that the body lay in the street at the scene for four hours, but rather reported that "Neighbors later lash out at authorities, saying they mistreated the body."
- CNN has a timeline that focuses on "what happened when Michael Brown met Officer Darren Wilson." (See link in fist bullet point).
- The Washington Post also released a timeline that stopped at the grand jury's decision on November 24, 2014.
- Stopping the Michael Brown Shooting timeline at the grand jury decision seems to be the overwhelmingly chosen course of action. Yet, it is important to note that the issues within Ferguson continue to hit the national headlines nearly eight months later. Below are some links to the most recent articles and issues emerging from the Michael Brown Shooting and the chaos of Ferguson, MO (including "Black Lives Matter/Die-Ins," "Hands-up, don't shoot," racial strife, media/journalists, militarization of the U.S. police force)
- USA Today | April 6, 2015 | Ferguson voters to make history in election Tuesday
- The Guardian | March 24, 2015 | Detained Ferguson journalist to appear in court
- Boston Globe | March 15, 2015 | Man charged in Ferguson police shooting
- The Guardian | March 13, 2015 | What next for Black Lives Matter in Ferguson after city's police shooting?
- The Daily Caller | March 1, 2015 | Whites Excluded From 'Black Lives Matter' Forum On Angelo West Shooting
- Blog: Washington Post Fact Checker | March 19, 2015 | 'Hands up, don't shoot' did not happen in Ferguson
- The Huffington Post | March 24, 2015 | States Face Uphill Battle Over Growing Militarization Of Police