Teaching with the News
Interrogation Tactics in the News
Torturing Democracy: Film Guide & Media Literacy Activity
Dramatization stills by Washington Media Associates
On April 22, 2009 the New York Times reported on the CIA's adoption of the Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape (SERE) program as an interrogation technique in the article "In Adopting Harsh Tactics, No Inquiry Into Their Past Use." Stories on this topic are appearing in multiple media sources around the world including Fox News' article, "Report Links CIA to Military Harsh Interrogations."
The documentary film, Torturing Democracy (available for free online), tells the inside story of how the U.S. government adopted these techniques as official policy in the aftermath of 9/11. The Choices Program developed the Study Guide to accompany this film. In April 2009, the film won the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award for domestic television.
We invite you to use the Study Guide and Media Literacy Activity below to explore this complicated and politically-charged issue in your classroom.
Resources:
Study Guide: Torturing Democracy
Torturing Democracy can be used along with these curriculum units from the Choices Program:
