Why should media cover Ultra?

Posted on March 30, 2015 by Shakira Molet

By SHAKIRA MOLET

Every year, Ultra Musical Festival invades downtown Miami during the month of March, bringing with it celebrity DJs, crazy parties at South Beach, neon costumes and, of course, electronic/dance music.

But why do news outlets bother covering this three-day musical festival at all? Well let’s look at what else Ultra brings with it other than a good time.

One major complaint residents always have when it comes to Ultra, besides the loud music, is the chaos of downtown traffic. Major streets are blocked off so that Bayfront Park can accommodate the 80,000+ people that attend Ultra, which causes in a drastic increase in traffic for the duration of the festival.

In addition to traffic, Ultra Music Festival also brings safety concerns. Last year, a security guard working at the festival was trampled and was immediately sent to urgent care after receiving severe injuries all over body, especially her head.

On top of that, many attendees find themselves in need of medical care every year during the festival, resulting in hundreds of fire rescue calls.

It is because of this that Miami-Dade and residents made efforts to prohibit Ultra from returning the following year; however, their efforts proved to be a waste of time when a public uproar convinced officials otherwise.

Like it or not, Ultra has been bringing millions of tourism dollars for years. Though it is true that hosting the music festival costs Miami quite a lot of money and festival organizers pay for much of it, it seems that Ultra, at least for now, will be returning every March as long as those in charge of the event continue to take safety measures and pay for various operating costs.

Though all these issues are indeed worthy of coverage, there is another surprising reason why the media covers Ultra as well as any other musical festival and that is because it gives the public an inside look of today’s youth. For obvious reasons, the media is obsessed with what interests today’s young adults and how this generation continues to change. In response to this, some news and media outlets decide that it is necessary to report what goes on.

Ultra Musical Festival has made Miami its home for 17 years now and with no definite end in sight, it looks like we will be seeing it, and the resulting coverage, for years to come.

Women in media: Where are you?

Posted on March 28, 2015 by Chelsey Sellars

By CHELSEY SELLARS

Don’t get me wrong, Anderson Cooper is one of my favorite players in the news game, but where are the female reporters?

In the studies conducted by the Women’s Media Center, there was a huge lack of representation of women in the United States media industry in 2014.

“The American media have exceedingly more distance to travel on the road to gender-blind parity,” said Julie Burton, president of Women’s Media Center.

The studies included all aspects of media: newspapers/magazines, TV/digital news, sports journalism, and entertainment/film to name a few.

Amongst all categories, men ruled the media. More specifically, white men were the largest represented demographic.

Gender representation in a newspaper newsroom, years 1999-2013

As an Hispanic, female reporter, what does that mean for me? I already have two strikes placed upon me; right off the bat, I’m at a disadvantage.

Gender disparity in journalism leads to a loss in content quality. For a media company to best serve its audience, it needs to appeal to the public with a variety of voices and topics.

An article on the winged-eyeliner or ailments to menstrual cramps just doesn’t seem as credible coming from a male than a female.

The way a news story comes together is also heavily affected by the gender of the reporter. For example, the University of Nevada at Las Vegas analyzed how many front page stories of The New York Times included female sources in January and February 2013. A whopping 19% of the sources came from females. Nothing shocking here; with such a high volume of men in the media, it only seems natural that they would gravitate towards a male source.

So, to put this in perspective, imagine a headline about a treatment for hair loss. If all the sources for this headline are male, how will this article appeal to women? This privation of women sources can lead to bias in the media; as if there wasn’t enough already.

Media get us closer to social causes

Posted on March 22, 2015 by Diya Vasudevan

By DIYA VASUDEVAN

I am a Feminist. It is not something that just happened, I think I was a Feminist for a long time and just didn’t have a word to express how I felt until very recently. In September 2014 Emma Watson gave her famous speech for the United Nations ‘He For She’ campaign.

HeforShe event sponsored by UN Women with Goodwill ambasador Emma Watson
New York, USA -20/09/2014/SIPA_SIPA837.01/Credit:UN Photo/SIPA/SIPA/1409230856 (Newscom TagID: sfphotos325055.jpg) [Photo via Newscom]

She defined Feminism as “The belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities. It is the theory of the political, economic and social equality of the sexes.”

She gave light to a very misunderstood word, opening it up to males and not just females, to her Feminism was equality for both sexes not just women.

Since then I have actively kept up with the facts, stories, events regarding a cause I feel so strongly about and there has been no shortage of ways in which to access this information. There are not only numerous organizations supporting this cause but also multiple ways in which you can recieve information whether it is through Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat etc.

I even had the opportunity to see Secretary Hillary Clinton and her daughter Chelsea Clinton speak on the issue of women’s rights on our campus for the Clinton Global Intiative University less than one month ago.

Chelsea Clinton introduced a newly created website that held all the data possible on issues pertaining to women’s rights. It covered statistics on the number of rape cases in the United States and countries across the world like India as well as the pay gap across the world between men and women. Aptly named No Ceilings the website has all the information you can get your hands on, whether you wish to talk about the data or act on it.

In addition to having all these platforms, Facebook collaborated with ‘He For She’ campaign and planned a live chat with Watson, that was held on March 8th ‘Women’s Day’. Comments posted and questions sent had a chance of being asked during the course of the conversation.

Not only is it becoming easier to access the information we require, it is becoming easier to engage with the information we are receiving, and that is exactly how media is changing the world.

Innocent until proven guilty?

Posted on March 20, 2015 by S. Molly Dominick

By S. MOLLY DOMINICK

Often times in the news, victims of a crime remain unnamed. Ethical practices dictate that journalists must help shield victims from the unfavorable limelight of the media and the unforgiving public eye.

But what about alleged perpetrators? Their names are always included in the news, no questions asked — even when their involvement is not yet confirmed.

Whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty?

Having the story of your victimization published in the news will likely be traumatizing, understandably. But less often acknowledged is that having your name plastered on headlines for a crime you didn’t commit will absolutely shatter your world and all of your connections. Your name will be stained forever because of the association now drawn between you and the incident, even after being proven innocent.

Take the story of Jordan Johnson, for example. He was a University of Montana student found not guilty of rape in a 2013 decision. According to the justice system, this young student is innocent. But look when you type “Jordan Johnson” into Google:

Three of the five pictures loaded first by Google are this student on trial.

Largely due to the media coverage he received, these false allegations will follow him for the rest of his life.

So, omit his name? But how do you avoid including his name when journalists are obligated to provide the public with thorough information? Seemingly, you can’t … yet journalists have collectively decided leaving this informational hole is okay when it comes to the victim.

There is no right answer to what should be done here. Journalism ethics, like any other form of ethics, is a wishy-washy mess of conflicting strong feelings and shaken fists.

But there needs to be some consistency. Either respect the lives of both victim and alleged perpetrator by including neither name, or honor journalism’s obligation to thoroughness and include both.

Humans of The White House

Posted on February 6, 2015 by Diya Vasudevan

By DIYA VASUDEVAN

Humans of New York

If you have not heard of it before today, you will know about it soon. Brandon Stanton, the creator of the Facebook pages known as HONY, has forever changed the life of Vidal Chastanet, a young boy from a Brooklyn Middle School.

What was an extremely popular photo series blog created by Stanton, turned into a vehicle for change. Just by sharing a few kind words about a very important person in Vidal’s life, the lives of Vidal and those around him have changed forever.

Stanton’s blog shows ordinary people and gives insight into their extraordinary lives, and that is exactly what this story has become, extraordinary. After Vidal expressed his sentiments for his middle school principle Nadia Lopez on Stanton’s site, the photo went viral, and the viewers of HONY did what they do best which was to offer all they could to assist in the aims of Vidal’s principal, Lopez. With Stanton heading the fundraiser, the school managed to raise $1.2 million — far exceeding their initial aims.

One boy’s kind words helped raise $1.2 million, helped provide the additional support his principal needed to continue fighting for what she believed in and got him to where he was this past Thursday, The White House.

In perhaps the most important of Stanton’s photo stories, he captures President Barack Obama’s words “You don’t do things alone. Nobody does things alone. Everybody always needs support. For a young man like you, you should never be too afraid or too shy to look for people who can encourage you or mentor you,” Obama said. “There are a lot of people out there who want to provide advice and support to people who are trying to do the right thing. So you’ll have a lot of people helping you. Just always remember to be open to help. Never think that you know everything. And always be ready to listen.”

President Obama’s words could not be closer to the truth and Vidal’s story is proof of just that.

Legislation strikes at LGBTQ community

Posted on February 6, 2015 by Taylor Brotons

By TAYLOR BROTONS

As of this new year, many Florida conservatives were taken aback by the decision made by U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle. He has made it so each of the 67 Florida counties must issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. This is a huge step for gay rights, but as with most political happenings in Florida, we take one step forward and then someone decides to take two steps back.

Now a specific group of the LGBTQ community is being ostracized in a vindictive, hypocritical and very invasive way. The most intolerant and bigoted of our state’s legislators have proposed a bill that could have a trans-person charged with a first-degree misdemeanor by using a bathroom that the legislation determines is wrong based on their “biological sex.”

I would like to believe that by this day and age people are starting to be a little more accepting of others and understand that for the most part, gender is a social construct. Yes, you have a biological sex at birth, but what deems someone male or female has very little to do with their sex organs and much more to do with how they feel comfortable presenting themselves to the world.

Unfortunately, those in the state legislature do not see it the same way. This bill would basically put the power in the hands of the bully. If a trans-person is caught using a bathroom not matching their “biological sex” they can be sentenced up to one year in prison. If any non-trans-person finds a trans-person in a bathroom not matching their “biological sex” they can sue. If the business owner of where the bathroom is located does not actively prevent trans-people from using the “wrong” bathroom, they can be sued by customers as well and are liable for a civil suit.

It is as methodically spiteful and malicious as it is frustrating. The icing on the cake is that if sued successfully, the trans-person or the business owner, will have to pay the attorney fees of all parties involved.

This bill is a blatant discriminatory act against trans-people and those who support them. Not only does it condone the harassment of trans-people, but if also impedes on the rights of store owners to be non-discriminatory. The LGBTQ community faces constant violence, discrimination, humiliation and an overwhelming amount of hatred in this county, this bill takes a step even further and leaves them nowhere to hide.

Bill Cosby and his legacy

Posted on November 21, 2014 by Autumn Robertson

By AUTUMN ROBERTSON

Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock for the past two weeks, you would know that there have been several allegations from multiple women claiming that Bill Cosby has committed sexual assault against them within the past three decades.

This came as a shocker for many, as the general public looked at Cosby as “America’s Favorite Dad” — the G-rated comedian who’s claim to fame was a hilarious father with no-nonsense parenting skills on “The Cosby Show,” one of the most successful television sitcoms of all time.

Whether or not the allegations are true, the sexual assault news has caused much bad press for Cosby. Associated Press announced yesterday that TV Land, a cable network known for airing throwback shows, has pulled “The Cosby Show” indefinitely from its network in light of the allegations. Netflix has also announced that a Cosby special that it was to release in late November has been postponed, and NBC announced that a show that it had in the works with Cosby will no longer be moving forward.

It is incredible to see how something like rape allegations will affect the overall legacy of someone who was known for his positive image throughout his career. Cosby’s incredible achievements will no longer be highlighted as sexual assault will cover everything that he has ever done. Networks have snatched his projects up with a quickness and stories involving Bill Cosby after the scandal has blown over will always include that he has committed sexual assault.

Cosby, 77, is aging and will reach his final days sooner than later. Will he be remembered more so for his achievements or the negatives? Will he grace the covers of People or Time or will he just be a blurb within the first pages of the magazine? It will be interesting to see how the media will portray his legacy.