Anahid Ali, an American University student in the Interactive Journalism program, is trying to make the world better one place at a time.
Anahid Ali is a cheerful student at American University, located in Washington, DC. Her studies revolve around the Interactive Journalism masters program at AU, but journalism wasn’t always her education focus.
Growing up in Baghdad, Ali dispels some misunderstandings of being a woman in the Middle East. She attended an all-female secondary school, the equivalent of high school in most areas of the United States. “Living in the city was different than living in the suburb areas,” says Ali. Living in the city meant that there was little opposition to her going to school because ‘to everyone, in the city, education was a big deal whether you were male or female.’
Ali’s upbeat personality and warm smile makes it easy for strangers to see why a communications-based study would come easily to her. However, she admits that even though she studied science in high school, English was her favorite subject.
With a degree in translation, Ali worked at the US Embassy in Baghdad, until it was proven unsafe for her, leaving her job and coming to the United States in 2007.
Ali says that she would like to use her degree from American University to unite communities in the Middle East, by providing an Internet outlet for the youth and community leaders to interact towards change.
Parent association petitions city school board to remove ‘filth’; school board plans to protect First Amendment right.
Today the city school board plans to extinguish a fiery petition presented by the group, Concerned Parents Association. CPA members petitioned the board two weeks ago, asking for public schools to remove a list of several books. Clara Warniky, head of CPA, said, “Some of these book print downright filth.”
The list includes some classics, such as “Manchild in the Promised Land” by Claude Brown; “Laughing Boy” by Oliver La Farge; “The Fixer” by Bernard Malamud; “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain; “Portnoy’s Complaint” by Philip Roth; and “Down These Mean Streets” by Piri Thomas.
It would be a crime to keep it from our children.
Five of the seven city school board members agree with a statement released today concerning their decision about the list of proposed banned books. In the announcement, the board states, “ We agree that some of these books are realistic.” However, this realism the city school board refers to includes the periodic references in opinions and language for the author. With respect to the petitioners and supporters, the school board cites a federal court decision, stating that a library is ‘a storehouse of knowledge’ and ‘an important privilege created by the state for the benefit of the students in the school.’ In addition, banning books would violate the First Amendment, freedom of speech, if the school board do away with books presently on library shelves.
Reba Carvel, a teacher at Colony Elementary, says that she would continue her fifth-grade students reading “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”. “This is great literature. It would be a crime to keep it from our children,” says Carvel.
One of the five members issuing the statement, Mimi Lieber, asks, “Yet, what good is served by censoring these books?” Lieber also addresses some of the association’s concerns, “I’d agree that small children have no business reading Manchild.”
Warniky says, “Our group will continue to fight to ban this filth from our schools.” Warniky contends that she will take up the task to fight the city school board. “I intend to make sure not one of them is re-elected,” says Warniky.
Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president and CEO of the National Rifle Association, is sworn in before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary on Jan. 30. (Photo: Jack Gruber, USA TODAY) Audio Clip: Wayne LaPierre- Gun Laws
Today, Wayne LaPierre, the Executive Vice President of the National Rifle Associate of America, took the stand before a U.S. Senate Committee, at the Hart Senate Office Building, for a judiciary hearing regarding “What Should America Do About Gun Violence?” This is the first congressional hearing after new proposals for gun control made my President Obama. LaPierre provided a voice for 4.5 million members of the NRA and their concerns about gun control law proposals. His speech included support for education, awareness of mental illness and the effects of previous gun control laws. In attendance were Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont), Senator Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), retired astronaut Mark Kelly, and his wife, former Representative of Arizona, Gabrielle Giffords. Each were allowed to make statements prior to the hearing. Giffords was not scheduled to give testimony, however, provided a brief statement.
Giffords, who survived an assassination attempt two years prior, stated clearly about the quantity of children as victims to gun violence as “too many children.” While the NRA has programs to educate children about gun safety, the “Eddie Eagle” children’s safety program is not available in all school districts, including low-income districts. Schools are looking for new ways to protect the children attending their facilities, including hiring armed security personnel. LaPierre stated that one-third of American schools have armed security, with the numbers increasing. Some school districts, along with local law enforcement and state officials, have flocked to hire armed guards as security to protect the children from active shooter scenarios, after the events of Sandy Hook. However, some armed guards have been leaving their service weapon in the restrooms, to be found by the young people they are hired with protecting. Just two weeks prior, on January 14, in a school in Lapeer, Michigan, an armed guard’s weapon was discovered in a bathroom. Despite the irony of the situation, school officials mentioned that the weapon was not loaded and the gun was not out of the guard’s possession for long.
LaPierre distracts from gun control laws by implying that mental illness is the culprit for events similar to Sandy Hook and that legal law-abiding citizens are being punished for criminals breaking the laws. Senator Grassley previously agreed with statements of refraining from knee-jerk reactions to the tragedies of Newtown and Tuscon and reexamining mental health relations to mass shooting. LaPierre disregarded the push for universal background checks because criminals would circumvent these checks. Currently, medical and health records are not allowed to be used in the National Instant Criminal Background Check system. Mental illness diagnoses and treatment fall under those health records regulations. In addition, with the ease of obtaining a gun, Mark Kelly mentioned closing the private sales loophole, which these sales evade the background checks and include straw-purchases. The excuse of mental illness is considered the straw man argument to gun control laws.
Without having to submit to a mental evaluation, a “sane” person has the ability to purchase semi-automatic firearms. Semi-automatic firearms have the capability of rapidly loading the weapon to repeatedly shoot a target. President Obama proposed a reinstatement of a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines. There are multiple YouTube videos of semi-automatics. One in particular shows a 100-bullet clip for a Glock. Keep in mind that is 100 bullets. A lot of gun enthusiasts protect their semi-automatics by claiming their use for hunting. LaPierre defends semi-automatic weapons, stating hunting as a reason why semi-automatic weapons are the most popular. A running joke at a Georgia gun shop has been that if a hunter comes up stating their desire for a pistol to go hunting, then they are mentally ill.
Despite current gun laws and proposed reinstatements of bans, gun ownership in 2011 was six percent from a decade ago. Also, the public opinion of gun laws has changed drastically from that same decade. Since 2008 Gallup polls have indicated there has been a steady increase to maintain or relax current laws. An evaluation at The Harvard Injury Control Research Center found no substantial evidence for a connection that more guns mean there will be more murders.
January 22, 2010, was an electric night for music at Mike’s Down Under in Jefferson, Georgia. Yepo headlined the show. A quartet of friends creates the rock and country sounds of Yepo. Andy, lead vocalist and guitarists describes the band as “always local”, mentioning that tonight they were a Jefferson band.
Location of Yepo
They don’t want to be classified as a sound because they play a little bit of everything. At one of their concerts, there is a list of various genres, ranging from country to rock. You really never know what you will hear at a Yepo concert.
We Play Some Songs
Is there anything they don’t play? There’s only one band that won’t make the request line.
We Don’t Play Any…
Prepping the stage for the leading band were two performances that really made us do a double take. Daniel Victorio, as a single musician, had ears perked. His mellow voice echoed to a nearly silent crowd. No one could take theirs eyes away. Also, no one went for a beer during his session.
Daniel Victorio
After Victorio, Michael+Matt+Zak+Michael took to the stage and performed a number of hits. However, from concensus of the applause level, “Cripple Creek” seems to have been the favorite from their roster.
Cripple Creek – Michael+Matt+Zak+Michael
Soon, Yepo took the stage and blew everyone away with their sound. The four friends rocked the night away with hits like “Low,” “Ring of Fire,” and “Copenhagen.” It all settled down to their long hit “Mary Jane’s Last Dance,” which fades into “Psycho Killer.”
Traditional journalists have already noticed the changes in journalism, as it applies to new media and social media. Trends in communications affect the media in which a journalist would have to diversify their skills. One assistant professor at Kennesaw State University agrees the diversification of skills could produce additional opportunities for a modern journalist. Mr. Matthew J Duffy of KSU attributes the following trends to the evolution of journalists:
A push to video
More Data Analysis
Freelancing
Online Education
Non-Profit
Push to Video
Points 2 Through 5 About Digital Journalism
A traditional journalist would now have to diversify their skills, becoming a one-man band, so to speak. A hybrid-journalist, meaning they are able to create, edit and produce their own packages, has the advantage in the marketplace. This is based on the fact that hybrid journalists, also known are preditors, are capable of producing news content, acting as the writer, the editor and the publisher. In addition, they now have to act as a videographer, producing visuals to accompany their stories. Video also acts as a verification of the news package. It resembles the phrase I hear amongst younger social media users, ‘No picture. Didn’t happen.’ Mr. Duffy attributes social media to the rise in video production, as supplemental to the news package.
Another trend that stigmatizes a lot of journalists is math. The amount of data that supports a news stories doesn’t always come clean and broken down for a journalist. This is where analytical skills come into play, a skill many journalists do not have. The running joke is that students go into journalism to avoid having to do math. A Columbia Journalism Review article expounds on the stereotype that journalists are bad at math and analyzing data. Journalists are no longer able to have their team of number crunchers in the new room. They now have to be the numbers cruncher. They have to now perform data analysis, do the math and be able to explain their math to their readers/viewers. Additionally, they are accountable for the analysis they are presenting.
Being able to stay mobile, arrive to the scene, and produce a story in a timely matter provide many opportunities for freelancers. A journalist, with hybrid skills, and a passport, could make a substantial living off of freelance gigs. Freelancers are not tied down to one news desk or organization. They are versatile and can blend in with any news organization. Truly independent freelancers can make a name for themselves and have no true obligations to any one particular news source if they can use their preditor skills and mobility to continuously create quality content.
Online education has drastically increased the convenience of becoming a journalist. Traditional brick-and-mortar schools are offering more and more online courses to compete with online colleges and universities, such as University of Phoenix. In addition, these facilities, as well as UoP, are competing with even lower costs certification programs, like those of Coursera, EdX and Udemy. Those traditional journalists who learned the basic of reporting, are now able to educate themselves, obtain training, to upgrade their qualifications into hybrid journalists.
Mr. Duffy also noted a trend to quality over quantity journalism in for-profit communications organizations, as well as an increase towards non-profit organizations entering the arena of multimedia and social media for communications. He references Kaiser Permanente as an example of the progress of a for-profit going with quality. The insurance company has gained media recognition for their journalistic progress in communications. Kaiser has gained recognition in radio, television and social media platforms for their contributions to medical journalism, analyzing the data and going globally with their reports. This also brings us to a point made by Mr. Duffy about jobs that were not available or thought of in journalism prior to the evolution of social media.
He sees differences in the jobs that are around now. Certain positions didn’t exist five years ago and yet, will continue to spring up as more industries will see a need for media skills.
Jobs That Weren’t There 5 Years Ago
While Mr. Duffy doesn’t specifically know what’s in store for digital journalism, he does know he has read about it. He referred to an article he browsed on The Awl. The article pertained to wealthy California venture capitalists looking for the next big media thing. He does see more fact-checking in our future, especially when it comes to the 24-hour news channels. However, he see bloggers as a push toward the future of journalism. Also, more content management systems for journalists will be among the multitude of programs that will arise with needs from the media.
