The Conversation

Why the news media may not want to share Capitol riot images with the police

Written by Anthony Fargo, Director, Center for International Media Law and Policy Studies, Indiana University

Images taken by the media of the Capitol storming could help law enforcement identify participants.Evelyn Hockstein/For The Washington Post via Getty Images

The images from the Jan. 6 siege on the United States Capitol will likely be seared into the memories of many Americans.

Photographs and video published in print, online and on television...

Symbols of white supremacy flew proudly at the Capitol riot – 5 essential reads

Written by Jeff Inglis, Politics + Society Editor, The Conversation US

Rioters carrying white supremacist symbols were inside the Capitol on Jan. 6.AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta

Many Americans are trying to gain a deeper understanding of what was behind the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 and, most importantly, why it happened.

At The Conversation, we asked several scholars who study symbols – including...

White supremacists who stormed US Capitol are only the most visible product of racism

Written by Ursula Moffitt, Postdoctoral Fellow in Psychology, Northwestern University

Known white supremacists have been identified among the Trump supporters at the Capitol on Jan. 6.Probal Rashid/LightRocket via Getty Images

Among the Trump supporters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 were members of right-wing groups, including the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers and Three Percenters.

The increasing violence and visibility of these...

How Trump's language shifted in the weeks leading up to the Capitol riot – 2 linguists explain

Written by Roger J. Kreuz, Associate Dean and Professor of Psychology, University of Memphis

Trump addresses a crowd in Dalton, Georgia, on Jan. 4, the night before the state's U.S. Senate runoff.Photo by Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images

On Jan. 6, the world witnessed how language can incite violence.

One after another, a series of speakers at the “Save America” rally at the Ellipse in Washington redoubled...

Nonprofits helped organize the pro-Trump rally before the Capitol siege – but they probably won't suffer any consequences

Written by Ellen P. Aprill, Professor of Law; John E. Anderson Chair in Tax Law, Loyola Law School Los Angeles

Before hundreds of angry Trump supporters stormed the Capitol, thousands took part in a nearby rally. AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster

Editor’s note: Some of the money used to organize the Jan. 6 pro-Trump “March to Save America” came from social welfare groups. One of them, Women for America First, notably obtained a permit from the...

The Capitol siege recalls past acts of Christian nationalist violence

Written by Samuel Perry, Associate professor, Baylor University

Supporters of President Trump put up a cross outside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6,Win McNamee/Getty Images

Christian imagery loomed large on Jan. 6 as the “Stop the Steal” rally morphed into a mob siege. A group of Trump supporters prayed around a large wooden cross, and others carried “Jesus saves” signs and yelled...

Cities can help migrating birds on their way by planting more trees and turning lights off at night

Written by Frank La Sorte, Research Associate, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Cornell University

Tennessee warblers (_Leiothlypis peregrina_) breed in northern Canada and spend winters in Central and South America. Kyle Horton, CC BY-ND

Millions of birds travel between their breeding and wintering grounds during spring and autumn migration, creating one of the greatest spectacles of the natural world. These journeys often span incredible...

That time private US media companies stepped in to silence the falsehoods and incitements of a major public figure ... in 1938

Written by William (Bill) Kovarik, Professor of Communication, Radford University

Father Coughlin's bully pulpit.Fotosearch/Getty Images

In speeches filled with hatred and falsehoods, a public figure attacks his enemies and calls for marches on Washington. Then, after one particularly virulent address, private media companies close down his channels of communication, prompting consternation from his supporters and calls for a...

Francis Galton pioneered scientific advances in many fields – but also founded the racist pseudoscience of eugenics

Written by Richard Gunderman, Chancellor's Professor of Medicine, Liberal Arts, and Philanthropy, Indiana University

A man of genius – but his ideas were not to the benefit of all humankind.Mondadori Portfolio/Hulton Fine Art Collection via Getty Images

A popular pseudoscience was leaving its mark on American culture a century ago in everything from massive reductions in quotas for immigration to the U.S., to thousands of “fitter family” contests...

What you need to know about the new COVID-19 variants

Written by David Kennedy, Assistant Professor of Biology, Penn State

B117, the SARS CoV-2 variant that was first detected in the U.K., has been found to be 30%-80% more transmissible.Juan Gaertner/Science Photo Library via Getty Images

Editor’s note: Two new strains of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 called B.1.1.7 and B.1.351 have been found in the U.K. and South Africa and are thought to be more...