MURFREESBORO (AP) — The challenges of reporting on the Ferguson, Missouri, shooting death case and the sometimes-violent protests in its aftermath will be the topic of a panel discussion at Middle Tennessee State University on Tuesday.

"From the Front Lines of Ferguson: Covering the New Civil Rights Movement" is set for 7 p.m. at MTSU's Tucker Theater. The event is free and open to the public.

The killings of two unarmed black men by white police officers in Missouri and in New York this summer touched off protests and a national debate over police conduct that intensified after grand juries declined to indict the officers.

Tensions escalated further after two New York Police Department officers were killed in December by a man who suggested in online posts their slayings were in retaliation for the deaths of the unarmed men.