Updated on Aug. 24
A group of Ball State students are on their third day in Ferguson, Missouri, investigating the media’s role in the protests following 18-year-old Michael Brown’s death.
“We think the issue is the press and there is nobody to report on them,” Alex Gracie, a senior video production major, said.
After seeing reports and photos from journalists who had written and captured the media around Ferguson, where they were seen outnumbering the protestors two to one in some cases, Gracie and his friends decided to focus their efforts on how the media may be making the situation worse, he said.
“Who keeps a news organization in check? Some guy can’t go to his editor and say, ‘Hey, I think the press is the problem and I want to make a story about it,’” Gracie said. “Because, you know, you can’t air that on CNN because you are the press.”
On Aug. 9, Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson shot Michael Brown, 18, six times, twice in the head, according to a federal autopsy ordered by Attorney General Eric Holder.
Police said Wilson shot Brown after a scuffle over the officer’s weapon.
Brown’s death has led to two weeks of protests and riots in the Missouri town.
Ferguson and county police have responded with riot gear, employing military-grade equipment and issuing curfews.
Gracie got the idea to take a trip down to Ferguson Monday evening, after all of the restrictions were placed on the city.
“I’m looking over the news articles and I’m just wondering, ‘I wish there was something I could do,’” he said. “For the sake of kicks, I look how long it is to Ferguson, Missouri? It’s about a five hour drive, 310 miles.”
Over coffee the next morning, he mentioned his desire to do something about the situation to his friend Wes Lorenz, a senior video production major, who initially snickered at the idea but finally said he would go with him.
Originally, they planned to just take some photos of the protests, said Gracie.
“Our big passion is videos and documentary work, so we decided to go down there and shoot a video documentary,” he said. “Something short and brief, 10 or 15 minutes.”
The focus of their film is the opinions of storeowners and protesters and how the media has affected their situation there.
“We want to talk to them about, ‘If the press weren’t here and it was only a small amount of press obeying the regulations, do you think your store would be affected like this?’” Gracie said. “We want to talk to the protesters. The media is a double-edged sword. Without the media they have no voice, with too much their voice is only being misconstrued.”
Robert Connett, a senior journalism news major, is one of the four students in Ferguson. He has been live tweeting the experience from @RobertConnett, some of them have been from interviews.
He tweeted a quote from one of his interviews, “.@CaptainRayLewis: ‘this is not how the police should’ve handled it. You don’t shoot a kid for stealing ANYTHING.’ #Ferguson”
In another interview, a woman praised the students.
“Woman after we interview her: ‘you guys trying to get the word out, that we want peace, not riots... we need more like you.’ #Ferguson,” Connett tweeted.
Protests have been relatively peaceful the past few days with tensions rising late Saturday evening.
However, even with the protests growing more peaceful , the group of students hesitated on taking the trip because of safety and ethics.
“It’s hypocritical to go down there with cameras and say we are anti-media or anti-press,” Lorenz said.
Two other students – Connett and Tony Sandleben, a sophomore journalism news major – have joined Gracie and Lorenz on their trip.
The students will return today following Brown’s funeral.
Connett posted on Facebook, “After talking it out, we have decided to stay an extra night in #Ferguson as tomorrow is Mike Brown’s funeral. We feel like we can’t pass up this event.”
Gracie and Lorenz will be live tweeting their experience. Their twitter handles are @wes_lorenz and @eicarg_xelA. Updates will be posted on ballstatedaily.com as well.
Aric Chokey contributed to this article.
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