Research Questions

Question 1: What are the similarities between the New York Times and the Jackson Daily News coverage of the Freedom Riders?

Question 2: What are the differences between the New York Times and the Jackson Daily News coverage of the Freedom Riders?

Question 3: Determine if the coverage was presented to the public in a non-bias way and if it contributed to a well-educated public on the issues of the freedom riders and segregation problems in the South.

Codebook for Research: 

Headlines- Are the headlines effective for the story. Was it sensationalized or did it serve its purpose?

Tone- How did the writer handle the story? Was it negative or positive?

Lead sentences- The first paragraph of any story. Notice for any special punctuations or wording in the sentence.

Coders will say if the article is either negative, positive or neutral.

Videos Related to Freedom Riders

History of the Freedom Riders provided by Smithsonian Magazine. Freedom Riders recount their experience during the Bus Fire in Anniston, AL. (Courtesy of CBS) Students from Vanderbilt University go on another Freedom Rider with former riders. Governor Hayley Barbour remembers the Freedom Riders movement from 1961.

Research Field So Far

This is my first post on my multimedia site about the Freedom Riders and how the press handled the events. This site will house some of the articles that I've found on the topic and included some of the observations that I have made from reading them.

In my research, I have found numerous articles from the New York Times, Greenville Delta Democrat Times and the Jackson Daily News that I feel will help me putting out a thoughtful research paper/analysis of this period.

I will included all of these articles on the site very shortly.

For now, I encourage you to view the film , Freedom Riders by Stanley Nelson . The film was released last year on PBS and it's available to view from free on their website.

Freedom Riders Documentary (PBS)