Coverage from around the country about Michael Brown and Ferguson

The New York Times, "Ferguson reveals a Twitter loop:" "What I 'saw' were thousands of one-sided accounts, many of which were grossly inaccurate. And I was reminded that when it comes to real time and social media, more is definitely less."

The St. Louis American, "National march on Ferguson set for Saturday:" "Now this movement with multiple leaders is producing multiple lists of demands and presenting them more or less independently of each other and not always to the same authorities."

Mayor Francis Slay's blog, "Regional review is an idea to consider:" "Building on those examples, I wonder if it is time to consider a regional approach to civilian oversight of policing?"

The New Yorker, "Between the world and Ferguson:" "There is a disturbing sense that this is how we spend our summers now, submerged in outrage, demonstrating, yet again, the hard parameters of public sympathy and the damnable, tiresome burden of racism."

Locally owned bookstore Left Bank Books put together a reading list "in an attempt to add some civility and context to the mix." The list includes books, poems and a list of online articles: "Invisible Man" to books about local issues like "Grassroots in the Gateway," the Langston Hughes poem "Consider Me" and a blog post titled "A Mother's White Privilege."

Politico: "After Ferguson:" "This is life in Ferguson, Missouri, in late August 2014: a media circus in which the complicated racial politics of St. Louis County’s 90 municipalities are parsed by pundits who, weeks before, could not have found Ferguson on a map."

Rapper Tef Poe in The Riverfront Times: "Tef Poe On Ferguson, His Hometown: 'The Mike Brown Rebellion Has Begun:'" "Missouri is one of the most racially backward places in the United States. The scales of power in my city are completely unbalanced, and the poverty gap is irrefutable. St. Louis County stays afloat through the revenue collected from speeding tickets. These tickets stockpile and turn into warrants."

Pew Research Center, "Where was Ferguson in my Facebook feed?" "Given the kind of differences that occurred on the Ferguson story, the implications are highest for those who identify a service like Facebook as their primary news source if the measure is the delivery of hard news. The data suggest that this describes a tiny portion of the U.S. population. But that could change as younger generations — at home on the social web — engage with the outside world through these kinds of networks."

Previously

The Root, "Ferguson opened the door to a discussion of black equality:" "Black enslavement created this nation and in the process reinvented global capitalism. Our national heritage includes deep and enduring patterns of institutional racism that haunt us all even as some deny its very existence. Contrary to popular opinion, the civil rights movement did not save America’s soul. It merely ushered us into a new, uneasy phase of national race relations, where transcendent black achievement co-exists alongside staggering black disadvantage."

The Washington Post, "Will Ferguson be a moment or a movement:" "For black Americans, the outrage against the police that we’re seeing in Ferguson has appeared in roughly 10-year intervals — from the 1979 beating death of Arthur McDuffie by police, which sparked protest and violence in Miami; to the attack on King, which led to more than 50 deaths and several days of unrest in Los Angeles; to the 2001 shooting death of 19-year-old Timothy Thomas in Cincinnati, which also erupted in protest and rioting and produced a costly economic boycott against the city."

A phrase in this story caused controversy: The New York Times, "Michael Brown spent last weeks grappling with problems and promise."

One reaction, from The Washington Post, "Michael Brown's hip-hop dreams had nothing to do with his death:" "But as someone who writes about culture, I am particularly frustrated by one part of the piece: the idea that dabbling in hip-hop represented something about Brown’s character."

The National Review, "An open letter to the residents of Ferguson:" "Just as you do not want whites to judge law-abiding people like yourself because of the actions of some looting thugs, you have a responsibility not to judge all of the police by the actions of one officer. Failure to do so would invite even further destruction and death in your neighborhood, as, without fear of the law, the people who are looting and devastating stores will turn to robbing your homes and stealing your cars, because they know the police will not respond."

The Weekly Standard, "No law, nor order:" "It was in this context that Holder made his bizarre visit to St. Louis. Bizarre in the sense that he intervened, in the name of the federal Justice Department, in a case already before a grand jury, without making even a feint at blind justice. The Los Angeles Times reported that Justice Department officials attributed Holder’s concern to 'the continuing violence and apparent mishandling of the case by local officials.' Without making any judgment about whether the local officials mishandled the case, it is worth noting that the federal intervention has taken the side of those committing the continuing violence."

FiveThirtyEight, "The poorest corner of town:" "The two sides of Ferguson are best illustrated by the city’s two main business districts. West Florissant Avenue, the scene of most of the protests, is a bleak stretch of payday loan stores, nail salons and half-vacant strip malls. But South Florissant Road — which, somewhat confusingly, runs parallel to and west of West Florissant — is home to a small but pleasant downtown that has enjoyed something of a revival in recent years. It features a coffee shop, a wine bar, a brew pub and even a handful of newly built, loft-style apartments — enough that the city last year put together an 18-slide Powerpoint presentation titled “Ferguson: 10 Years of Progress.”

Previously

The Washington Post, "How Facebook and Twitter control what you see about Ferguson:" "Social media is controlled by algorithms – a mathematical formula that dictates what you see and when. In the past week, people have noticed something curious about the way these algorithms have filtered news about protests in Ferguson, Mo., over the fatal shooting of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown."

The New York Times, "Poll shows broad divisions amid Missouri turmoil:" "The issue at the heart of the unrest in Ferguson — the suspicion among some that a white policeman was trigger-happy when faced with a young black man — is also at the heart of what divides black and white Americans. An overwhelming majority of blacks say they think that, generally, the police are more likely to use deadly force against a black person; a majority of whites say race is not a factor in a police officer’s decision to use force. Forty-five percent of blacks say they have experienced racial discrimination by the police at some point in their lives; virtually no whites say they have." The Post-Dispatch has teamed with The Guardian to collect some stories of racial profiling. Click here to submit yours.

The New York Times, "Among whites, protests stir a range of emotions and a lot of perplexity:" "Even among those who are more sympathetic to the concerns of the protesters, there is a striking language gap, with whites asking why demonstrators are not letting the justice system simply do its work and blacks saying the way the system works is exactly the problem."

Time, "Inside Ferguson with photographers from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:" "And yet, for the past 10 days, the Post-Dispatch has offered unprecedented visual coverage of a neighborhood in crisis—with some of their images ending up in newspapers and on websites across the world, including on Time.com’s homepage."

Politico Magazine, "Why Jay Nixon missed his moment:" "For three nights, St. Louis County police engaged in aggressive confrontations with protesters. It wasn’t until four days after the shooting and subsequent protests that Nixon ordered the Highway Patrol, operated by Nixon’s Missouri Department of Public Safety, to take the lead."

Chris King, managing editor of The St. Louis American, at BookForum.com, "News from home:" "When I am totally without sleep, I feel fearful and defeated, like the military-industrial state is about to start a wasting operation that knocks flat this protest movement, and then the next one that gets in its way. I’d say that sounds paranoid, but we have now seen police in riot gear marching down on peaceful protestors, bearing assault rifles aimed at the people. The worst dreams of a paranoid person like me came true on national television, shot live in our backyard."

The New Republic, Jeff Smith (the former Missouri Senate member who pleaded guilty to two counts of obstruction of justice, resigned and served time in federal prison) writes: "You can't understand Ferguson without first understanding these three things:" "They want white St. Louis to quit it with the knee-jerk paternalism and actually hear their message. They want white St. Louis to finally make an effort to grapple with its shameful racial history, a history in which a complex alchemy of private decisions and public policies conspired to leave north St. Louis County divided by race and class. They want to win some agency of their own lives instead of being at the mercy of forces that have so often let them down—or actively impeded them."

The New Yorker, "I love Ferguson:" "Last night, I Love Ferguson met en masse, for the first time, at the First Baptist Church of Ferguson. The audience represented a demographic that, as one young audience member pointed out, did not exactly represent “the class of 2006;” more noticeably, the attendees were, overwhelmingly, white."

Previously

The New York Times, "Ferguson, Mo., under siege after police shooting:" mixes narrative and infographics to explain the situation.

Poynter, "Notes from Ferguson: The city has 'never seen such glare of the national media:" an interview (via email) with Gilbert Bailon, "Social media gives all of the local media great access to convey information, photos and other content in real time. The challenge is that the non-journalistic postings that muddy the public understanding and perception of some aspects of this story. Anonymous misidentified the name of the police officer involved in the shooting, for example."

Poynter, "Notes from Ferguson: ‘I get it, but everybody overdid the jailed journalist story:’" interview with Chris King, with The St. Louis American, "Our web editor Kenya Vaughn and I are behind the scenes, using social media to guide people to protests and provide facts we know off the record before they are announced publicly. That is valuable. The downside is there are so few of us we leave most of it on social media and don’t get up web stories."

Poynter's Jill Geisler has done several interviews with local journalists in their "Notes from Ferguson" series.

Politico, "Politician tweets Jay Nixon: 'F---- you, governor:'" "Chappelle-Nadal’s tweet came as the protests in Ferguson, Mo., escalated after the shooting death of an unarmed black teen, Michael Brown, at the hands of a police officer. The state senator has had tear gas thrown at her during the protests, according to local news reports."

The Daily Beast, "The day Ferguson cops were caught in a bloody lie:" "He was driven back to the jail, where he was held for several days before he posted $1,500 bond on four counts of 'property damage.' Police Officer John Beaird had signed complaints swearing on pain of perjury that Davis had bled on his uniform and those of three fellow officers."

The Riverfront Times, "Honoring Michael Brown: Why one man marched in Ferguson on horseback:" "Django and Shiloh quickly became crowd favorites as Thursday's protests took on the tone of a "partest," a term coined by a St. Louis Post-Dispatch photographer combining a "protest" and a "party." Finally it was safe enough for Django to ride without fearing for the flash-bangs of tear gas canisters and sound cannons."

An open letter from David Simon to the Ferguson police chief, "The endgame for American civic responsibility, part III:"Your department has shown that you do not trust the public with the basic information about who specifically has, in the performance of his or her duties, been required to take a human life in Ferguson. And that same public is now in the street demonstrating that they do not believe that Ferguson law enforcement can therefore be relied upon for anything remotely resembling justice. How could it be otherwise?" (Written before the release of the officer's name on Friday.)

The Root, "Stay alive, black men, stay alive:" "The reason I go through such painstaking efforts when I deal with police is because I learned from my parents and through experience that you want that officer to feel as calm, comfortable and safe as possible. You don’t want him on edge, nervous or agitated. Stay calm. Breathe. Don’t get animated. Don’t get loud. Don’t be a smart-ass. Don’t even move. Don’t do anything."

The Daily Beast, "'Go ahead and shoot me': The veteran who defied Ferguson's cops:" "'I came out here to say what’s right and what’s wrong, and this is wrong,' Sharon Whitaker said. The 57-year-old Gulf War veteran at one point knelt on the pavement in front of police, who were in a protective position behind two SWAT trucks. 'We got to watch these kids die and it don’t make no sense. Just because they live in a certain neighborhood doesn’t mean they shouldn’t have a chance.'"

A Mother Jones infographic about Ferguson's population and police force: "Ferguson Is 60 percent black. Virtually all its cops are white."

The Washington Post's reporter Wesley Lowery was arrested Wednesday afternoon. Here's his account of the arrest. The National Association of Black Journalists issued this statement about the arrests.

Freedom of the Press Foundation, "Lessons from Ferguson: Police militarization is now a press freedom issue:" "The arrests were undoubtedly a gross violation of the reporters' First Amendment rights, and both the attempts to stop them from filming and their assault by police officers were downright illegal. But there’s another issue at play here, an issue which has led to the environment in which cops think they can get away with these acts: the militarization of local police."

The New Yorker, "What I saw in Ferguson:" "The message of all of this was something beyond the mere maintenance of law and order: it’s difficult to imagine how armored officers with what looked like a mobile military sniper’s nest could quell the anxieties of a community outraged by allegations regarding the excessive use of force. It revealed itself as a raw matter of public intimidation."

The Atlantic, "The difference between Ferguson and #Ferguson:" "As the Ferguson protests get national attention, though, it's worth remembering that the tragedy that brought the hashtag could have happened in many other American cities."

The Washington Post, "Tear gas is a chemical weapon banned in war. But Ferguson police shoot it at protesters:" "The first thing you hear is the bang. Then the clatter of something metallic hitting and rolling across the pavement. Then, out of the black of night, come the screams."

Newsweek, "How America's police became an army: The 1033 Program:" "America has been quietly arming its police for battle since the early 1990s."

The St. Louis American, "For the sake of Michael Brown:" "As for our youth, many of them may not be properly educated, but they are not stupid, and it is not difficult for them to hear what they are being told in the cold language of unaccredited districts and transfer students. Michael Brown graduated in the much-discussed Normandy School District, an unaccredited school district that expired not long before he was killed. He and his peers – specifically, those strivers willing to transfer to a better school district – were told they were not wanted by many other districts in the region, once those districts were no longer required to accept them."

The Washington Post, "President Obama's vision of post-racial America faces another stress test with Ferguson:" "In many ways, Obama's difficulty in navigating matters of race as president mirrors his struggles in other areas as well. He has repeatedly and eloquently spoken about race — and his own experiences in navigating the world as the son of a white woman and a Kenyan father — over the past decade. But those words have done little to heal the racial wounds that exist in the country."

The National Journal, "How police are keeping journalists from doing their jobs in Ferguson:" "Police had used intimidation, threats of arrest, and claims of impending violence to keep us away from covering the news.

"At one point, police tried to tell us that the demonstration was over when it wasn't."

Wednesday

Poynter (a journalism think-tank), "How the Post-Dispatch's photo staff is covering Ferguson," "On assignment for the fourth day was veteran photographer Robert Cohen, who earlier in the day told Poynter, 'This was the most violent coverage that I have been a part of my 27 or so years in the profession.'"

The St. Louis American, Ishmael Sistrunk "Walking while black: Michael Brown, black men and white police officers:" "The tension between police officers and young, black men is nothing new. It’s not isolated to Ferguson or North County or even St. Louis. Though slavery ended nearly 150 years ago, young black men have been treated as second-class citizens by politicians and police ever since. You would think the election and re-election of our first black president would’ve signified that the United States has defeated racism and prejudice."

The L.A. Times, "Protesters use hands-up gesture defiantly after Michael Brown shooting:" "The hands-up — a sign of surrender and submission black men and boys here say they learn early on when dealing with police — has been transformed into a different kind of weapon."

CNN, "Missouri shooting furor shows how social media users help and harm," "For every cool-headed account from a reporter, there's been an impassioned Facebook post or Instagram photo from a community member that illustrates, I think, strengths and weaknesses of both traditional and social media."

The St. Louis American, Lizz Brown "Anger this time:" "Fact is we simply can no longer afford to waste time engaged in defense or apology about a fire that burned a building. Because every moment we do so is a moment spent looking away from the tinder that feeds the flame and the match that ignited it."

The Washington Post, "Mike Brown notched a hard-fought victory just days before he was shot: A diploma:" "But he got his diploma. And 10 days after that, he was to start at a local technical school to learn how to fix furnaces and air conditioners."

The Root, "After Michael Brown's killing, echoes of the '65 Watts Rebellion," "On this score, Brown is simply the latest son of Watts—collateral damage in a war against the black, brown and disenfranchised faces that populate America, increasingly at their own peril."

Previous articles

From Todd C. Frankel, previously a reporter with the Post-Dispatch, now with The Washington Post, "Why the police-shooting riots in Ferguson, Mo., had little to do with Ferguson: "St. Louis doesn’t riot.

"That has long been part of the city’s lore. During the 1960s civil rights era, this city along the Mississippi River stayed calm — even as Baltimore, Chicago, Detroit and Washington all burned. St. Louis was in their league back then. The nation’s 10th largest city. A sizable black population. And after Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968, tens of thousands of people marched through the city streets. But St. Louis suffered no widespread violence.

"It was one of those hard-to-explain moments. St. Louis doesn’t riot.

"And then, Sunday night, it did."

The Guardian, "The ghost of Mike Brown: why must a dead black child defend his right to life?" "The Ultimate Defense is the final step in how black men (or, in the cases of Trayvon Martin, Jordan Davis, Mike Brown and many more, black children) try to navigate this uneasy relationship with law enforcement in the United States, which collectively assumes our guilt before, during and after alleged crimes occur. This presumption doesn’t die – even when one of us is killed by law enforcement."

MSNBC, "Eyewitness to Michael Brown shooting recounts his friend's death: "'After seeing my friend get gunned down, my body just ran,' [Dorian Johnson] said. He ran to his apartment nearby. Out of breath, shocked and afraid, Johnson says he went into the bathroom and vomited. Then he checked to make sure that he hadn’t also been shot. 

"Five minutes later, Johnson emerged from his apartment to see his friend Mike dead and in the middle of the street. Neighbors were gathering, some shouting, some taking pictures with their cell phones."

L.A. Times, "Protesters and police face off in St. Louis suburb over shooting:" "Ferguson’s police chief and mayor are white. Of the six City Council members, one is black. The local school board has six white members and one Latino. Of the 53 commissioned officers on the police force, three are black, said Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson.

"Blacks in Ferguson are twice as likely to be stopped by police as whites, according to an annual report on racial profiling by the Missouri attorney general. Last year, 93 percent of arrests following car stops in Ferguson were of blacks. Ninety-two percent of searches and 80 percent of car stops involved blacks, the report said."

The New Yorker, "Why did Michael Brown die in Ferguson:" "From a teen-ager’s walk to the firing of a gun and the smashing of windshields: it will take hard questioning in Ferguson to put those pieces together. But it is clear that the community’s trust was broken before any windows were."

Maynard Institute, Richard Prince's Journal-isms (The institute works to help news organizations "accurately portray all segments of society, particularly those often overlooked, such as communities of color"), "Editor says inclusion could increase community contacts: "[Deputy Managing Editor Adam] Goodman said he would not attribute the attacks [on journalists covering looting in Ferguson] to race, noting that police did not like journalists, either. But, he said, 'Certainly, it is unfortunate that our numbers are not higher in that regard.' Asked to elaborate, he said, 'In terms of sourcing and getting out in the community and talking to people. It was a dangerous scene last night. It doesn't matter who it was. Unfortunately it was pretty unpredictable.' But having more black journalists might mean 'better ideas on following up, and just in terms of ideas and coverage.'"

BuzzFeedNews, "How a local politician emerged as the key chronicler of the unrest in Missouri:" "French has provided amazing coverage, posting photos and Vines with updates or just the words 'Right now in #Ferguson' since the shooting happened on Saturday."

The St. Louis American, "We need justice, not more violence:" "However many frustrated teens and ill-willed opportunists may have turned to senseless violence last night, we know that the majority of our community wants justice, not more violence."

The New York Times, "Ferguson police cite safety risk in decision not to name officer in shooting:" "The latest demonstration — this one in Clayton, Mo., the county seat of St. Louis County — attracted about 150 people, who waved signs, shouted slogans and raised their hands over their heads in a pose adopted by protesters during three days of sometimes violent protests and looting, which have rocked the St. Louis area since Saturday’s shooting."

Previously

The Riverfront Times, "Family of Michael Brown, teenager shot to death by Ferguson police, talks about his life:" "He wasn't a violent person. He was peaceful," said Elizabeth Spivey, Brown's aunt. "He was a gentle giant. He looked like he could really do something but he wouldn't. He was a big teddy bear."

The St. Louis American, "West Florissant explodes in protest of police shooting, more than 30 arrests:" By 10 p.m. the Ferguson QuikTrip – initially thought to be the catalyst for the turn of events that led to Brown’s death- was targeted. Before night’s end, it would be up in flames."

St. Louis Public Radio, "Deadly Force: What does the law say about when police are allowed to use it?" "The police account of Saturday's events is that Michael Brown fought for a gun in a police cruiser before being shot dead a short distance from the car. Given that account, one question in Brown’s shooting death at the hands of Ferguson police is whether Brown would be considered a non-dangerous suspect."

Fox 2 Now, KTVI, "Hacker group 'Anonymous' threatens Ferguson Police Department:" "The hacker group Anonymous has posted a video showing their support for the demonstrators. They have threatened to hack the Ferguson police department if any protesters are harmed. The group says they will release personal information from members of the police department and dump it on the internet."

The Washington Post, "After Michael Brown's killing, #IfTheyGunnedMeDown shows how selfies shape history:" "Black users shared pictures of themselves at their best — in uniforms or caps and gowns — juxtaposed with images that would garner less sympathy and perhaps paint more tawdry pictures of their lives."

Vibe, "Celebrities react to the police-related death of Michael Brown: "Popular figureheads from Al Sharpton to Young Jeezy to Chingy have taken to social media to speak out against the trend of innocent African Americans being killed by armed 'enforcers.'" 

JimRomenesko.com, a blog that covers media news, posted photographer David Carson's Facebook post about his experience covering looting and violence in Ferguson Sunday night, Post-Dispatch photographer: 'I was assaulted by a group that took objection to my work': "Few bruises, torn pants, glad I was geared up so over all not too bad."