Our recent speaker Jamie McIntyre referred to conspiracy theories in relation to 9/11 that questioned that events had occurred as we believe generally them to be. You can see his thesis work summed up on his website, here: http://elementsofdisbelief.blogspot.com/ (Links to an external site.)

Identify another example of a conspiracy theory/claim unsupported by evidence that has appeared in the media (please choose relatively recent stories/issues). Comment on the factors in American society that cause people to have faith in such theories as well as how you believe the media should handle them. In other words, should journalists try to ignore such theories, debunk such theories or cover them and hope that audiences can see the light themselves? What are the potential pros and cons of each approach?

Possible examples to choose from are (this list is not exhaustive):

the Ebola crisis
climate change denialism
Sandy Hook