Monthly Archives: September 2015

For the love of journalism

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By ANASTASIA MECHAN

Journalism is a difficult profession for those who think we just sit down and read off the teleprompter. It is a profession that welcomes insane individuals as bright minds who have an incredible desire to be known as saints, political analysts, artists, fashion gods and goddesses among other unknown wishes. A profession that talks about you, judges you, stalks you in order to write about what is #trending. It can seduce you to drag you in, but without sex. Believe it not, journalism is one of the few professions that offer a great initiative, creativity and independence.

There are no superior or inferior topics, just better or not-so-good abilities to get the dry truth from a story. The wonderful things about journalism is that it also makes you a brave human. That’s right. You are not influenced by friendships, nor live afraid of any enemy, even if he or she threatens you. You will dare to travel across the world just to get the best stories and the unique features.

In this profession, no one looks for favorites, nor accepts gratifications. It is a profession that survives off passion, survives off feeding the public’s need to know, datelines, and highlights the bad habits of people. The definition of journalism comes in many ways, but if I could hashtag the perfect keyword for it, would be #authenticjournalism.

For this and many other reasons I respect my future colleagues and this profession that risks it all just to bring out the news.

Brazil’s media morals — Facts vs. news

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By ISABELLA MESQUITA

One of the greatest and most admirable roles of the news media is to unveil the truth and shine light on hidden and misrepresented facts. However, news media and journalists don’t always honor this role.

Many times what we call news is actually a warped story written on behalf of one’s economic, personal and social interests.

Born and raised in Brazil, I have seen this happen daily on television and other media outlets as the country undergoes a severe and aggravating political and economic crisis.

Amidst the rising wave of opposition against Brazil’s current government and its leader Dilma Rousseff, Rede Globo, the country’s main over-the-air broadcasting network, clearly took its side with the opposition.

Last month, Globo’s director Erick Bretas quoted singer Bob Marley, saying “Get up, stand up” on Facebook and Twitter in an attempt to encourage people to be a part of the uprisings in favor of the president’s impeachment.

In addition to that, Globo interrupted its transmission schedule and left almost 100 percent of its reporters on duty in order to bring about a greater attention to the outbreaks – an effort not seen in Globo’s coverage of other events of the same and/or greater magnitude.

Despite my beliefs that Dilma’s government is highly flawed, corrupt and is headed in the wrong direction, the way these events have been covered by the country’s main TV channel, as well as the statements posted on behalf of its staff have clearly shown bias and a lack of professionalism.

As a matter of fact, I do agree that the country is collapsing in Dilma’s hands, however her impeachment and any other uprising should never originate from the media or be manipulated by it.

Regardless of a specific economic, political and social scenario, media outlets should maintain their integrity and honor their role as informants, not opinion-makers.

Images of refugees in Europe unsettling

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By SAMANTHA COHEN

For the past week, news organizations around the world have been covering the ongoing Syrian refugee crisis in Europe, all of which are highlighting the differences among countries who either welcome these desperate migrants or those who don’t. More recent news stories have been covering the somber deaths and despair of these refugees. These stories have brought up the issue as to whether or not the U.S. should be doing more in its efforts during this European crisis.

What I found most interesting about this coverage is that, it lies parallel to the ongoing issues our country is debating at the present time during the 2016 political campaign. I’m talking about the controversial issue of the Mexico and U.S. border. News coverage has been all over this issue but we are seeing that the biggest migrant crisis is not happening in the U.S., but the European Union.

One story in particular drew attention to the migrant crisis in Europe not only for me but the entire country. Images of a 3-year-old refugee washed ashore lifeless. I found it inhumane to post these images for the world to see. While others had hoped that the images of the boy would be a turning point in the debate over how to help during this crisis.

This issue brings up the debate on what one will do in order to send a message. This crisis has spurred a variety of responses throughout its coverage. Many news organizations from The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal has been debating on whether or not to use the jarring images. Its editors opted to go for a less jarring image, but one that was powerful and brings enormity to the tragedy. This has been and issue for news publications since the beginning. How far can you go for a story without it being offensive, yet will create an impact and emotion? We will continue to see more images and news on this crisis. It will be interesting to see the different opinions on this issue in the coming weeks.