MLK Assassination
by: Teddy Ramsey
Who, What, Why, When, Where
Marther Luther King was shot at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tenessee on Thursday, April 4, 1968 by James Earl Ray. Ray was paid to assassinate King but no one knows why.
Perspective #1 media portrayed event
The Baltimore Sun wrote that the official story stated that James Earl Ray acted alone. Their was never a trial - Ray pleaded guilty. He recanted his story and said another man pulled the trigger prosecutors stated that their was no evidence that anybody else but Ray killed King.
perspective #2 media portrayed event
Andrew Ernett from the free thought project wrote after 50 years since the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The FBI and the Memphis Police Department released information implicating themselves on causing the death of Dr. King. A civil suit later determine that a Memphis cop was involved in a conspiracy to murder the civil rights leader.
media bias explained
The two articles showed bias by source selection because they only took one side of the facts. One only used sources that proved that Ray killed MLK and one article used sources that showed it was a conspiracy and the Memphis Police and the FBI were behind the assassination.
Criticism #1
Historical criticism was shown in the article The FBI and Memphis Police admit there involvement in the assassination of MLK. The article went back in time to show the events that followed MLK's murder and how they proved it was a conspiracy.
criticism #2
this is cultural criticism because in the 1960's racism was prominent. White people did not like when black people tried to stand up for themselves. You still see racism in today's world. Many people believe that Martin Luther king was assassinated because of his beliefs.
Martin Luther King, 1960's - Film 7907
Citations
Caldwell, Earl, 1998
Ernett, Andrew, 2009