Undergraduate Educator Resources


This curriculum, which draws from InvestigatingPower.org as well as other respected sources, is recommended for use in undergraduate courses in journalism, media history or communication studies. Whether used in  introductory/survey, ethics or investigative classes, these guides will allow students to engage in meaningful debate about the role of the press in our democracy.

Recommended Books

"935 Lies: The Future of Truth and the Decline of America’s Moral Integrity"
By Charles Lewis
Public Affairs Books, 2014

"Watergate’s Legacy and the Press: The Investigative Impulse"
By John Marshall
Northwestern University Press, 2011

"Stories That Changed America: Muckrakers of the 20th Century"
By Carl Jensen
Seven Stories Press, 2000

"Feet to the Fire: The Media After 9/11, Top Journalists Speak Out"
By Kristina Borjesson
Prometheus Books, 2005

"All the President’s Men"
By Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein
Simon & Schuster,1974

"The Race Beat: The Press, the Civil Rights Struggle, and the Awakening of a Nation"
By Gene Roberts
Vintage Books, 2007

Module #1: Reporting from within the Civil Rights movement

Analyze the role African-American journalists played in advancing the Civil Rights movement.

The Black Press

Gene Roberts, former newspaper editor of The Philadelphia Inquirer and author of "The Race Beat: The Press, the Civil Rights Struggle, and the Awakening of a Nation," the Pulitzer Prize-winning book on press coverage during the Civil Rights struggle, talks about the importance of the black press as the conscience…

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Reporting Little Rock

Moses Newson remembers covering the 1957 desegregation of Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas where he and fellow black reporters were assaulted by an angry white mob outside the school.

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The Emmett Till Murder

In August 1955, a 14-year-old black boy named Emmett Till from Chicago visited his relatives in Money, Mississippi, and was brutally murdered by whites, who said he whistled at a married white woman. Moses Newson, an African American reporter, covered the Till trial and subsequent not-guilty jury verdict. Newson says…

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The Freedom Rides

Moses Newson, a journalist who covered the Civil Rights movement for black-owned newspapers, remembers riding on a bus of black and white "Freedom Riders" in 1961 as they traveled through the South and encountered violence in Alabama.

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Module #2: Reporting about presidential corruption

Evaluate the role a free and robust press has in protecting a country’s democratic ideals.

Watergate

Bob Woodward, Carl Bernstein, Barry Sussman and Ben Bradlee reflect on The Washington Post reporting that uncovered the Watergate scandal and brought down a president.

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J. Edgar Hoover & the Enemies List

Daniel Schorr was investigated by J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI and placed on President Richard Nixon’s enemies list.

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Module #3: Reporting during the 'War on Terror'

Analyze news coverage leading up to the war in Iraq and evaluate the depth and breadth of this reporting.

Uncovering CIA Secret Prisons

Dana Priest explains how difficult it was reporting on secret CIA prisons.

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National Security Concerns

Dana Priest talks about the challenges of reporting on suspected al-Qaida terrorists in the controversial process called “rendition,” in which they are taken to CIA prisons in foreign countries for interrogation.

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Reporting Torture

Dana Priest wrote stories about post-Sept. 11 detainee abuse that raised questions about whether or not the Bush administration was in fact torturing those they held.

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Module #4: Reporting in the wake of 9/11

Students will examine post-9/11 investigative reporting during a time of heightened patriotism in the country.

Enablers of War

The ABC News and CNN correspondent Christiane Amanpour talks about how the American media failed to question President George W. Bush's justifications for going to war with Iraq.

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Brokers of Truth

Helen Thomas talks about how the role of White House press secretary has changed over the decades.

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John Walker Lindh

Seymour Hersh talks about how American John Walker Lindh, who was captured in 2001 by the U.S. military in Afghanistan while fighting with the Taliban, signaled the way detainees in the war on terror would be mistreated.

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The Art of Manipulation

Bob Woodward talks about the White House manipulation of the press.

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Supplemental Resources

Newspaper Front Pages of 9/11 Coverage From Around the World

Washington Post Homepage Screen Captures from September 12, 2001