So what happened to MDC?

Posted on November 13, 2015 by Anastasia Mechan

By ANASTASIA MECHAN

At the end of last month, Miami’s Dade Medical College closed the doors of its six campuses that ran from South Florida all the way to Jacksonville, leaving thousands of students with anger and questions. However, the only answers that were given to students was that the school was struggling financially and with the poor performance of the students on the certification exams. Really?

Management of the college stated: “Today it is with great sadness that I must announce that Dade Medical College and the University of Southernmost Florida will be closing effective October 30, 2015, across all of our campuses and our corporate offices.

“So my friends, I want to thank each and every one of you for believing in us every time we may have faltered and for being a part of this journey.” (Source: MSNBC).

So what do the students do now? How do they get their transcripts? What is DMC or the Department of Education doing now? Did everyone forget about the students who threw time, money and dreams away?

Well, on Thursday a town hall-style meeting was held at Shenandoah Middle School in Miami to give answers to the students regarding their education and their future. However, according to The Miami Herald report, it seems like the students left with more questions and no hope.

But first, let’s talk about why did it close in the first place? Well, according to an investigation conducted by The Herald, it was revealed how DMC was using political connections to fuel its growth through for-profit strategies.

Ernesto Perez, the owner and a high school drop out, was the very own guilty person behind this horrendous business. He pleaded guilty Monday for making illegal campaign contributions. The contributions won’t hurt his pocket and reputation, but have damaged many students’ dreams because, unfortunately, Dade Medical College doesn’t fulfill all academic requirements to transfer to other universities.

The media and the Mid-East conflict

Posted on November 6, 2015 by Anastasia Mechan

By ANASTASIA MECHAN

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is one of the most easiest conflicts to explain, yet the most difficult to solve. It is a conflict that many people across the world are bored of because they do not understand it. So how are the news media helping this? How are the news media informing and educating the world about it? Through non-sense. That’s right.

I have seen different reports and documentaries about the Palestinians as well as the Israelis, yet if I wasn’t well informed and if I didn’t go to Israel, maybe I wouldn’t even care about it. I would think that this conflict has to do with the random hate Arabs have against Jews, or oil, or because of land, or simply because of terrorism. We are talking about the Middle East anyway ….

My point here is that the news media are doing, have been doing, is to rely on one side, attack one of the sides, which leads to the people to judge. Comments like “Jews are evil,” “The Palestinians are terrorists,” among others are the cruel result of these ridiculous, ignorant, and hatred reports.

It is true that time on television is limited. But it is also true that a news reporter must do his/her job to inform people in seconds. I mean, what else do they go to school for? To learn and do the job right? But maybe it is not the reporter’s fault. Perhaps, maybe the news media need ratings, they need to catch the attention of thousands of viewers, they need controversy and drama in order to keep running the show and that’s why sometimes they need to misinform and brainwash minds of audience members in order to make them dependent and seek more information.

This is how the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is happening throughout the news media: “Cut what is boring even if it’s accurate, make one side look bad — we need the ratings.”

Do the media know who is fighting ISIS?

Posted on October 2, 2015 by Anastasia Mechan

By ANASTASIA MECHAN

Two days ago president Barack Obama sat down, after nearly two years, with Russian leader, Vladimir Putin. The encounter of both political icons was not just surprising to the world for the shared time, but for the topics they discussed. One of the main issues was the fight against ISIS.

President Barack Obama said that the fight was going to be a long-term campaign, but not impossible. He also affirmed that his supporters such as Iran and Russia will help through this. Even British minister David Cameron supported Obama’s thought and talked about the Islam.

However, Putin disagreed. He insisted that Syrian president Assad must stay in power. He believes that the world should help the Syrian government now more than ever, since they are the ones facing the battle face to face.

The news became the subject of the day until the next morning. Russia was reported firing missiles at a training camp in the north Syria.

So now, most people would be like isn’t the point to put a stop on the war on Syria?

Well, Russian warplanes bombed a camp run by rebels trained by the CIA, which puts Russian and Washington on opposing sides in the Middle East conflict.

Now the question is why does the media still focusing on just Obama and Putin sitting together and discussing about the fight against ISIS at the UN and White House? Why isn’t the media reporting about what is happening in the Syria right now and how Iran randomly is sending its troops to join the Syrian war?

These are the news that we need to hear, read and see, not just Obama sitting with the Putin and hear what he thinks we should do, instead of what are we doing.

Can a woman become president?

Posted on September 17, 2015 by Anastasia Mechan

By ANASTASIA MECHAN

Would Hillary make a good president? Who is her strongest opponent in the presidential race? Can a woman even be a good president?

The elderly and wise say that if a woman manages her own household, well, then she can handle anything in life. Meaning, a woman can definitely make a promising leader. Great examples of successful women leaders are Veronica Bachelet, president of Chile, and Angela Merkel, chancellor of Germany. However, the opposite is true in regards to Dilma Rouseff, president of Brazil, and Cristina Kirchner, president of Argentina. Both are facing serious corruption scandals and leave questions.

So, how would Hillary face such problems? Would she be ready to face the comments about her husband’s infidelity during her campaign? How would she deal with terrorism? Would she act cold-blooded and put emotions aside or would she negotiate with terrorists?

Some believe that a woman’s more emotional nature could affect her decision making.

Now, let’s remember. Hillary Clinton ran for presidency once before and there is no doubt that her failures and the experience she gained from them will only help her now. She knows that if she doesn’t win this time, it won’t happen. As a mother and grandmother, she has said that she wishes every child in the country the same possibilities of success her granddaughter will have.

Lastly, Bill Clinton’s presidency worked well not only due to his friendliness and good use of the press, but also because of his wife’s contributions. I am sure many Americans have tons of questions and wonder what it would be like for a woman to run this nation. For now, we can only sit back and wait to see what happens.

“When families are strong, America is strong,” — Hillary Clinton.

For the love of journalism

Posted on September 10, 2015 by Anastasia Mechan

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.

DIGITAL NEWS REPORTING

Journalism and Media Management Department, School of Communication, University of Miami

Category Archives: Anastasia Mechan

So what happened to MDC?

The media and the Mid-East conflict

Do the media know who is fighting ISIS?

Can a woman become president?

For the love of journalism

By ANASTASIA MECHAN

Lamar Odom was and is an NBA champion twice (2009 and 2010) and was named the NBA Sixth Man of the Year in 2011. But, his name became even more popular after marrying Khloe Kardashian in 2009.

I am not saying that the Kardashians don’t care, but all I see is Kylie and Kim K., tweeting and blogging about it, along with their famous “celfies.”