Seven months after regular protests started in Ferguson, Missouri, over the fatal shooting of an unarmed black teenager by one of the city's police officers, two other officers were shot and wounded this week in Ferguson during a protest over police reform, and a search for a suspect continues. The shooting happened hours after the resignation of Ferguson's police chief.

Two professors in the University of North Texas' Frank W. and Sue Mayborn School of Journalism are available to discuss mainstream newspaper coverage of the events in Ferguson since last August and the use of social media by online activists. Meredith Clark, an assistant professor, and Tracy Everbach, an associate professor, focused on the hashtag #IfTheyGunnedMeDown, which they say was used primarily by people of color to draw attention to what they perceived as negative stereotypes perpetuated by the news media. The professors say this hashtag, however, was not the first tool to be used in what played out as a clash between the news media and the online protestors.

Clark wrote her doctoral dissertation on Black Twitter, a social media identity that focuses on issues related to the African American community. Everbach regularly teaches a course on race, gender and the media.

Everbach may be reached at 214-995-8464. Clark may be reached at 805-559-1839 or on Twitter at @meredithclark.