Will ‘Get Out’ become the best?

Posted on March 3, 2017 by Andrea Huete

By ANDREA HUETE

By now, you might’ve heard of Jordan Peele’s intellectual thriller, “Get Out.” It’s been a trend on the news, social media, and even celebrities like Chance The Rapper and The Game are igniting conversation surrounding the film by giving out free tickets. I’m here to break down not only the finances, but the incredible intellect that went into creating this film. Note: spoilers ahead in chronological order of the movie.

Right now, according to Box Office Mojo, the highest grossing horror film of all time is M. Night Shyamalan’s “The Sixth Sense” at $293,506,292 in it’s “lifetime” of 18 years. You may have heard of Shyamalan earlier this year for his horror film “Split.” Opening weekend in 1999, “The Sixth Sense” made $26,681,262. “Get Out” made $33,377,060 opening weekend. Over the course of 18 years, will “Get Out” surpass “The Sixth Sense”?

The thing that is the most terrifying about “Get Out” is that it conceptualizes the actual reality of racism in America all while entertaining you for 103 minutes. If you look for the subtle foreshadowing from the beginning, you’ll see a bunch of clues leading up to the bigger story line.

In the opening credits of the movie, they show a bunch of black and white photography, representing the initial contrast between colors, drawing you to think about the lines between black and white society. They show these images as Childish Gambino’s “Redbone” plays in the background. Lyrics state:

n***** creepin’,
they gon’ find you,
gon’ catch you sleepin’,
now stay woke,
n***** creepin’,
now don’t close your eyes

The lyrics alone play into the idea of staying “woke” in a white America as a black person. The lyric of sleeping and closing your eyes connects to the movie from the very beginning. The two main characters are Chris, the black boyfriend in an inter-racial relationship with white girlfriend, Rose.

The couple goes to visit Rose’s family. On their way there, they hit a deer and the police are called. The police officer gives Chris a hard time. This represents subtly the police brutality and differences in treatment due to race.

Upon arrival to the house, we learn that Rose’s family has a black groundskeeper and a black maid. Upon Chris’s initial bonding with Rose’s father, he learns that Rose’s grandfather was a white supremacist who was beat out in the track finals to be invited to the Olympics by a black man. This is foreshadowing for what we learn down the road about Rose’s grandfather switching minds with the groundskeeper, who is shown doing sprints in the middle of the night in the back yard.

This ties into black athletes having an outstanding natural athletic ability. Which is actually blatantly said by Rose’s brother at the dinner table with Chris. This “natural” ability is still currently showing in numbers in basketball, track, tennis and American football. I feel like Peele was tying athletic ability in relation to race in with the 2016 Olympic games when Usain Bolt proved he was truly the fastest man in the world. I think this also subliminally sheds light on athletes speaking up against racial injustices such as Colin Kaepernick and the Black Lives Matter movement during the 2016 NFL season.

Other points within the conversation that Chris has with Rose’s father is that Rose’s white father would have “voted for Obama for a third term.”

If you’re a person of color, some white Americans will use Obama to discredit the reality of racism in America. I’ve heard the words “but how can racism still exist when we have a black president?” come out of the mouths of white Americans way too often.

Jordan Peele is stating very clearly, voting for Obama does not mean you care about the black struggle or that you are not racist. Actually, after Obama was elected in 2008, KKK submissions grew tremendously.

From 2014 to 2015, active hate groups had a 14 percent increase. There are 917 active hate groups in America to date, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

During the couple’s visit at Rose’s parent’s house, they announce a party that they’ll be having for her grandfather, that includes many friends of Rose’s family.

Rose proceeds to introduce Chris to all her family friends, almost all of which are white. They each had something to ask him that is stereotypical to the black community, athletics, art, and even if the sex is better.

New England Patriots tight-end, Martellus Bennett, touched on this earlier in the year with a series of tweets capitalizing on the fact that black children too often are pushed into thinking being a pro-athlete or a rapper is the only way of life.

And too often you hear the phrase “once you go black you never go back” putting potentially unattainable sex standards on black men.

Chris decides he needs a breather, and goes out into the woods to photograph. While this is happening, he and Rose have a conversation about the strange events happening at the house. While they are having this conversation, the movie switches to the father auctioning off Chris to his party goers. There is a photo of Chris and they are auctioning his body off without him knowing in complete silence.

This silence represents how quiet society and the government is in regards to the treatment of black life. That even in modern day, black people are still considered property by some and are in less control of their own life.

They are hosting a modern-day auction of Chris’s body to their guests, just as what was done in slave days, tying in black history.

Within the group of people at the party, there are two people of color. One Asian man, and one black man. The Asian man represents the blind eye that other people of color have towards the black community. The black man’s demeanor represents how it seems white people would prefer blacks to be in America to gain respect.

Once Chris flashes the camera towards the black man, character name billed as Andrew Logan King, he warns Chris about the mental manipulation that is taking place. The camera flash eventually saves Chris’s life at the end of the movie as well. The flash triggers their true self. This represents people being able to “see the light” and “be enlightened.”

Near the end of the movie you learn that Rose’s mother has hypnotized each black man and women that they have kidnapped and enslaved, and brainwashed them into believing that they are doing these actions out of their own free will. Meanwhile, their soul is in “the sunken place” longing to “get out.”

This represents the brainwashing of black America into believing that the system is truly set for everyone to succeed, and that all men are treated equal, as well as believing in “truth liberty and justice for all,” when there are so many injustices done to black America on the daily.

The reason why the family kidnaps, brainwashes, and experiments on black people is because there is an obsession in the white community with certain aspects of black culture. There is a fear of greatness in people of color and a need to continue to suppress and yet attain themselves. There is such a power within, that there are continual campaigns to diminish it.

This continues in society, and we must truly “stay woke” and fight against this oppression and division within society.

CNN, Fox offer different views of speech

Posted on March 1, 2017 by Erykah Davenport

By ERYKAH DAVENPORT

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump indicated his interest in seeking to help pass an immigration reform bill.

In CNN’s coverage, this new source referred to it as his “great immigration fake-out” in an article titled “Trump cruel bait-and-switch on immigration.” CNN also reported that another one of Trump’s interests were to propose and potentially pass a bill that could grant legal status to millions of undocumented immigrants. This would allow for those individuals to gain the opportunity to become legal citizens of the country of their desire.

CNN’s outlook on Trump’s address was seemingly more focused on the shortcomings of anything that was discussed. While emphasizing such limitations, this was said: “While Trump stopped short of endorsing a path to citizenship for the undocumented, this was nonetheless a startling break with his past hard-line stance on immigration.

A senior administration official also told journalists that Trump would be open to legalization for undocumented immigrants who have not committed serious or violent crimes.” This statement portrays the idea that Trump is only willing to consider being open to legalization if the person is accompanied by a clean slate.

Fox News’ approach on his address was more pro-Trump. Some of the political language used in the article titled “Mr. Trump’s very expensive address” delineates Trump as a more conservative president.

The article stated that “compared to his campaign filled with “Trumpisms,” this address was the more positive and optimistic, telling of his new nationalism. He added grace notes about minority groups, shied away from taunting or tormenting his rivals, and summoned his countrymen to the project of restoring, what else, American greatness.

Fox News tends to support the brighter side of things and hardly ever, if ever, mentions the downfalls associated with President Trump’s address.

Comments spark WNBA controversy

Posted on February 24, 2017 by Erykah Davenport

By ERYKAH DAVENPORT

“Me being heterosexual and straight, and being vocal in my identity as a straight woman, was huge,” Wiggins said in the San Diego Union-Tribune. “I would say 98 percent of the women in the WNBA are gay women. It was a conformist type of place. There was a whole different set of rules they [the other players] could apply.”

This statement was made by a former WNBA star, Candice Wiggins. News sources said that she said the lesbian culture broke her spirit. Wiggins told the Union-Tribune that the WNBA had a “very, very harmful” culture and that she was bullied throughout her WNBA career from 2008 to 2015. Wiggins allegedly was mistreated because she was straight.

This controversial stand made by Wiggins about the LGBT community was covered by Bleacher Report, ESPN, Pioneer Press, Sports Illustrated and the New York Post. Immediately after her comments were released to the news media, other reliable outlets shared the news as well.

Wiggins branded the WNBA culture as “toxic.” Many people, not only players and coaches were stunned, but fans as well. Maintaining a certain image for the WNBA is vital and from a media standpoint, Wiggins degraded it.

Even the WNBA president wanted her voice to be heard. In response to Wiggins’ remark, Lisa Borders released a statement about her experience in the league.

“When I first read the comments from retired WNBA player Candice Wiggins, I was stunned and disappointed,” Borders said. “In my time with the league and my capacity as a fan before that, I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know a group of highly competitive women who are driven to succeed at the highest level on the court and constantly striving to help create opportunity for all members of their communities.”

Wiggins received so much attention and publicity from the media that she was asked to do a follow-up story. In the Union-Tribune, Wiggins said she used the figure of 98 percent to be “illustrative.” “It was my way to illustrate the isolation that I felt personally,” Wiggins said. “I felt like the 2 percent versus the 98 percent. It felt that way to me. And it’s not just the players. It was the coaches. It was the leaders.”

Oscars try to shake things up

Posted on February 21, 2017 by Chelsea Lovell

By CHELSEA LOVELL

In 2016, a trending hashtag was #OscarsSoWhite.

Well, you might have noticed you haven’t seen it any more. This is not because the hashtag just went out of style. This is because the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’s voting board made some major changes. Along with the voting board being shaken up, this year’s nominees are showing a lot more diversity.

In 2015, all the acting nominees were white. “Selma” a drama about civil rights received nothing for its cast or for its director, Ava Du Vernay. Activist April Reign responded by tweeting “#OscarsSoWhite they asked to touch my hair.” This tweet catapulted a hashtag movement bringing a light to Hollywood’s diversity problems that the Academy could not turn a blind eye to.

For best actor Denzel Washington accepted his seventh for “Fences.” This nomination extends his record as the most-nominated black actor.

Oscar nominees Octavia Spencer, Emma Stone and Viola Davis at the Oscar nominees luncheon in Beverly Hills on Feb. 6, 2017 (Photo by Aaron Poole, courtesy of AMPAS).

His co-star Viola Davis was nominated for best supporting actress. With three nominations, she is now the most-nominated black actress.

Other black actresses getting their acknowledgements are Octavia Spencer for “Hidden Figures” and Naomie Harris for “Moonlight.” Mahershala Ali landed a nomination for supporting actor as well for “Moonlight.”

Also recognized in supporting actor was Dev Patel, a British actor of Indian descent, for “Lion.”

In the lead actress category, Ruth Negga was nominated for her work in “Loving.”

Acting wasn’t the only category where colored people got acknowledged. “Manchester by the Sea” was nominated for best picture. Kimberly Steward is only the second black female to be nominated for producing. The first was Oprah Winfrey for “Selma.”

The Oscars will take place on Sunday, Feb. 26, 2017, at the Dolby Theatre at the Hollywood & Highland Center. It will be aired live on ABC.

NBA logo honors Black History Month

Posted on February 17, 2017 by Erykah Davenport

By ERYKAH DAVENPORT

Black History Month, or African-American History Month, is a time for influential people and change makers to be recognized for their impact on the world. Initially labeled, “Negro History Week,” this annual celebration has manifested over time. Evolving into an entire month of historic celebration, black Americans and their achievements are recognized.

This second month of February is responsible for such a prestigious time. Hebru Brantley is responsible for redesigning logos for every basketball team in the NBA in honor of Black History Month.

“Everything the happens historically doesn’t necessarily translate within one small design,” Brantley said. “History is long and long-winded sometimes so it’s hard to pick apart a moment and make it clear from an aesthetics standpoint, but I looked at pivotal moments and certain individuals that can be represented with these teams and logos and become sort of the re-branded version of this team.”

Black history is so empowering and inspirational that more news outlets should have made it more of a priority to make people aware of this creative logo enhancement done by Brantley. Although covered by CNN, the overall awareness of this shift was not awarded with a justifiable amount of credibility.

“Still wanting to capture the feeling of what these teams are about and say as I can from a historical context within this very small design”, as Brantley mentioned, he designed some very intricate logos.

For example, the Atlanta Hawks logo pays tribute to two very important and historic institutions in Atlanta. Formerly referred to as “the richest Negro street in the world,” Sweet Auburn is home for the Hawks. In the logo, the idolized bird is wearing sunglasses similar to those of Ray Charles, the music legend.

Fox News’ Smith criticizes Trump

Posted on February 17, 2017 by Amanda Prats

By AMANDA PRATS

Fox News anchor Shepard Smith surprised many with a biting criticism of President Donald Trump on his show Thursday. Smith’s comments were in response to the president’s continued criticism of the news media, most recently during his Thursday press conference, which Smith described as “absolutely crazy.”

During the press conference, President Trump berated CNN’s Jim Acosta, averting his question and going on an extensive, dizzying rant about the news media.

Smith was critical of the president’s response to the question, defending Acosta and the news media as a whole.

“We’re not fools for asking the questions and we demand to know the answer to this question. You owe this to the American people,” Smith said on his show, pressing the president to take reporters’ questions seriously.

“We have a right to know. You call us fake news and put us down like children for asking these questions on behalf of the American people,” Smith said, referring to the president’s habit of referring to widely regarded organizations as “fake news.”

Smith’s response is only the latest in the saga of conflict between the president and the news media. Throughout his campaign, President Trump has repeatedly alleged that a plethora of news outlets are dishonest, ineffective or failing. The only program spared from the criticism seems to be the morning show “Fox & Friends,” for which the president has previously expressed his praise, and which he specifically mentioned during the press conference for being “very honorable people.”

Despite the president’s many attempts to discredit CNN, the news organization has not suffered, according to CNN President Jeff Zucker. In a state-of-the-company luncheon on Thursday, Zucker and other top executives from CNN and Turner announced that ratings are high, no advertisers have pulled out, and there has been no harm to the CNN brand.

Penn State bans alcohol for greeks

Posted on February 10, 2017 by Alison Goebel

By ALISON GOEBEL

A 19-year-old student, Timothy Piazza, who attended Penn State University, died on Feb. 3 after falling down a set of basement stairs at a fraternity party.

It was reported that he fell down the stairs around 11 p.m. on Feb. 2, but the police weren’t notified until 11 a.m. the next day. Piazza was eventually taken to a medical facility and died later that morning.

The former student had recently accepted an invitation to join Beta Theta Pi where the tragic incident took place. It was announced that in response to the death of Piazza this week at a fraternity, university officials have placed a moratorium on all social gatherings at on- and off-campus fraternities and sororities.

This being said, all of greek life is being revealed in a very negative light now that this happened. Several news articles focus on the actual incident that happened and the current investigations that are currently taking place due to the fact that the police were called nearly 12 hours after the accident.

The next big problem with this situation is that all of greek life is banned from having any social events. I have a friend who knows a lot of people at Penn State and she was describing to me how greatly impacted they were due to the death.

The news, I believe, does a great job of covering what the news organizations can do with this story. But even with these news stories and incidences occurring, it doesn’t seem to actually effect the greek life at other schools whatsoever.

So, I come to this conclusion that although there are very tragic deaths due to alcohol and hazing, fraternities still partake in these sort of events because, well, they always have.

Unfortunately, even with all the coverage of this accident, the news media and journalists have not been able to change this aspect of greek life or perceptions and mindsets about hazing.

There was only one article that I saw that covered the other side of the story, not what happened directly to Piazza but how it affected other students in other fraternities. I found this to be interesting.

All in all, I think journalists covered this breaking story well. Negative perceptions of outside greek life members will prevail and inside greek life students will have the same mindset as always; the more booze, the better it is.

Journalists confront Trump’s claims

Posted on February 10, 2017 by Amanda Prats

By AMANDA PRATS

In response to the White House’s list of 78 terror attacks that President Trump said were unreported by the news media, journalists have taken a direct approach in shutting down Trump’s claims.

The list included events that were reported nearly ad nauseam, including even the 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting and the November 2015 Paris attacks. These events and many of the others listed dominated news coverage for weeks, filling hours of air time and countless articles in print and online.

The list seems to have been primarily released in an attempt to support Trump’s repeated assertion that the media is dishonest and ineffective; the focus on terrorist attacks that were apparently influenced by radical Islam seems to be an effort to validate Trump’s recent policies regarding Muslim-majority countries.

In response to the list, journalists from news organizations across the nation and abroad have chimed in. CNN’s Anderson Cooper clarified on air that many of the attacks mentioned in the list he personally reported on, playing clips of him reporting from San Bernadino, Orlando and Paris, among many more.

On screen, the lower third read “WH releases list of undercovered attacks,” and in parenthesis, “(We covered many).” The New York Times published the list from the White House along with links to its own articles on nearly each attack.

Business Insider Australia reported on the five Australian incidents mentioned on the list, one of which was the fatal stabbing of two Australian backpackers. The incident was never determined by Australian police to be related to terrorism.

The family of one of the deceased reacted to the list with an open letter to Trump on Facebook, in which she shared that she began blogging to dispel what she called the myth that Islamic fundamentalism was the driving factor behind her daughter’s death.

The victim’s mother ended the post by denouncing Trump’s actions and framing of the attacks, writing “This vilification of whole nation states and their people based on religion is a terrifying reminder of the horror that can ensue when we allow ourselves to be led by ignorant people into darkness and hatred.”

Simple works best for Valentine’s Day

Posted on February 10, 2017 by Chelsea Lovell

By CHELSEA LOVELL

Valentine’s Day is on the way. Feb. 14 holds an annual VIP spot on the calendar. Many people exchange cards, candy, gifts and flowers with their “valentine.”

This day of romance dates all the way back to the 5^th century and was named after the Christian martyr St. Valentine. That’s a fun-fact that a lot of people, especially college students, don’t know. In fact, for most college students, especially freshmen, Valentine’s Day is a huge gray area. Everyone has only known each other for a short amount of time and probably have not been dating their valentine for long either.

This can lead to students wondering what exactly is appropriate to do and buy for their valentine. Do they do the standard dinner and a movie? Well the day of love falls on a Tuesday this year so that isn’t ideal. What about gifts? What is too much and what is not enough?

No need to worry. Here are a few ideas for a perfect Valentine’s Day, college edition. First off is to keep things simple, but special. Food is the key to everyone’s heart.

Candy and chocolate are easy and thoughtful. Because Valentine’s Day falls on a Tuesday it is a good idea to plan the actual celebration for the weekend. “Fifty Shades Darker” has opened in theaters. There are always the classic movies you can watch in your dorm room such as “Sleepless in Seattle,” “The Notebook,” “Titanic” or even “50 First Dates.” You can find these all online and have a romantic movie night without spending money.

If you really want to make someone feel special you can have your school send them a Valentine’s Day gram. Some fraternities are even willing to serenade your special someone.

These are simple ways to make your college Valentine’s Day thoughtful and romantic on a college student’s budget.

Super Bowl Ads send a message

Posted on February 10, 2017 by Chantal Alba

By CHANTAL ALBA

If you watched the 2017 Super Bowl LI, then you probably saw how some of the Super Bowl commercials took a political stance. It’s clear that President Trump’s policies and his overall views on politics, sparked ideas for many big-name companies to show which side they stand on.

Audi used its 60-second commercial spot to speak about gender equality. Starting the commercial off with the words “What will I tell my daughter?” with an image of the narrator’s daughter in a soap-box car race.

The commercial continues on with the young girl racing against boys and her “dad” doing the voiceover asking questions like “Do I tell her despite her education, her drive, her skills, her intelligence, she will automatically be valued as less than every man she ever meets?”, to bring up key issues with gender equal in America.

The commercial then ends with him saying “or maybe I’ll be able to tell her something different” and Audi stating their stance on equal pay by letting viewers know that “Audi of America is committed to equal pay for equal work.”

Airbnb decided to highlight Trump’s anti-immigration ban and show that they are against it. The commercial shows the faces of real human beings of different gender, race, sexuality, and religion with the words “We believe no matter who you are, where you’re from, who you love or who you worship, we all belong. The world is more beautiful when you accept.” When Airbnb originally purchased its ad-spot, it had a different concept in mind. But because of Donald Trump’s travel ban, they were inspired to take a stance and send the message “We Accept” to everyone watching the Super Bowl LI.

Despite everything that is going wrong in America, it is comforting to know that companies we know, love and trust, do not share the same views with a president who causes so much hate and mistrust in a country that is suppose to be free and full of love.

Cheers for a future fair wage

Posted on February 10, 2017 by Andrea Huete

By ANDREA HUETE

Four former NFL cheerleaders are tackling the league this week over unfair wages. The four women filed a lawsuit against the NFL and named 26 teams that they say planned to underpay and make salaries non-negotiable. They’re seeking between $100 million to $300 million worth of damages.

Cheerleaders appear in much more than just the games. Some teams plan multiple mandatory events throughout season, that the cheerleaders are required to be at. The routines for the games, as well as halftime performances, are all rehearsed at other points during the week. It is claimed in the lawsuit that there have been instances where NFL cheerleaders were not paid for their mandatory appearances nor their rehearsal time.

This lawsuit is not the first time the cheerleaders have targeted the NFL. In 2014, a class action lawsuit filed by members of the Raiderettes against the NFL’s Oakland Raiders resulted in $1.25 million worth of damages. This 2014 lawsuit also forced a new California law into effect, recognizing professional cheerleaders as employees and providing them with certain ethical benefits such as overtime and sick pay.

Let’s break down these numbers. The NFL has 32 teams that have a combined value of $74.8 billion in 2016 according to Forbes. NFL players made $6.4 billion of that value in 2016. NFL mascots are on salary with benefits and can earn between $25,000 and $60,000 per year. NFL cheerleaders are on an hourly pay, with the highest of that pay going to the team captains at $15 per hour.

It doesn’t stop there. Just as the players can get fined, the cheerleaders can get fined too. NFL cheerleaders receive a lump sum for their efforts at the end of the season with fines taken out. With such a small wage to begin with, none of the cheerleaders are pulling a Odell Beckham, Jr., and writing the NFL a check for $50,000.

Most of these beautiful girls are using this extremely demanding job as a supplement to another job, or even school.The 2017 Pro-Bowl cheerleaders contained graduates in industrial engineering (Ravens, Dana), business marketing (Buccaneers, Chelsea), psychology (Patriots, Hannah), music business (Titans, Anne), health science (Eagles, Amanda), and Toni of the Denver Broncos even has her masters in counseling psychology … and this is just the pro team! You go girls!

Now that the Super Bowl is over, hopefully the league can turn its attention to the channel of fair wage and equal pay for women.

Nickelodeon introduces new princess

Posted on February 3, 2017 by Courtney Adelman

By COURTNEY ADELMAN

Nickelodeon is now one of the top children networks surpassing Disney. The network has now decided to try something they don’t normally do. They are putting their weight behind a princess.

In past years, Nickelodeon has tended to leave princesses to Disney. But the Viacom-owned cable network is now generating $5.5 billion a year in merchandise alone for their new princess “Nella the princess Knight.”

“Nella the Princess Knight,” will be aired on Nickelodeon beginning next Monday in a programming block specifically for pre-schoolers.

There has been negative connotations towards Disney princesses in the past. Academics have used princesses like Snow White and Sleeping Beauty to make points about negative impacts on young girls. Will Nickelodeon now find itself in a similar situation?

“Nella” is a self- empowered girl who isn’t afraid to push boundaries. She is bi-racial with a white mother and a black father.

Studies have shown that by 2020 most children under 12 will be biracial. The character also mashes gender roles.

“Nickelodeon’s princess may strike some adults as subversive, particularly given the surge of conservatism that helped push Donald J. Trump into office. But children see mixed-race families and the blurring of gender lines as normal,” Cyma Zarghami, Nickelodeon’s longtime chief told The New York Times.

“Adults might say, ‘Oh, look — she’s biracial,’ but our viewers just say, ‘that looks like my friend,” she added.

Zarghami said that she led Nickelodeon to ratings strength in 2016 among all viewers. She is super excited about the new series because it is already taking a life of its own.

Texas gets transgender elected official

Posted on February 3, 2017 by Alison Goebel

By ALISON GOEBEL

A Collin County mayor in Texas came out on Feb. 1. This is historically significant given that Texas has never had a transgender elected official, nor did I expect it to any time soon.

The mayor, Jess Herbst, made the announcement that she was transgender in an open letter to the town’s residents.

Most of Texas is known to be very conservative. Issues such as the “bathroom bill” that Republicans proposed was set in place to ban transgender people from using public bathrooms of their choice. With this bill and large numbers of people to support it, it is surprising that the mayor of New Hope is transgender.

Collin County, where New Hope lies, is considered one of the most conservative suburban areas in Texas. To put it into perspective, President Donald Trump won this area by 17 percentage points in the general election.

I think that journalists who covered this story did an exceptional job. I first came across this story on BBC which is known to be a more liberal international news network. Once I read the story there, I searched for it elsewhere. Numerous smaller newspapers around Texas covered the story as well as the Huffington Post, CBS and other news organizations.

I then checked Fox News, already thinking that it might not even have the story about it, or, that it was skewed into something its targeted audience (conservatives) would appreciate.

I was pleasantly surprised when I found the story there with no apparent bias. It was in this moment that I was proud of the news coverage on this story.

Although it was covered well, I did run into an issue as I read the story from all the different news stations. It was a lot of recycled material. The direct quotations were the same, given she had only released just a few, but also the content was very similar as well. This is something people have to keep in mind when reading stories from various news stations.

We have to ask the question, are journalists becoming lazy? Is recycled information the new norm?

The dilemma with ‘alternative facts’

Posted on February 3, 2017 by Amanda Prats

By AMANDA PRATS

Anyone who considers themselves a fan of 1990s television knows it: The truth is out there. In 2017, however, the truth may be harder to find than it was for the “X-Files”’ Fox Mulder and Dana Scully.

For the past 100 years, since President Woodrow Wilson held the first one in March of 1913, the presidential press conference has been at the very least, credible. If the White House press secretary refrained from saying much, the little they did say was of significant news value to the journalists in attendance.

In one of the first press briefings of the Trump administration, new White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer accused the news media of misinformation while distributing misinformation himself. After the briefing, Kellyanne Conaway, one of Trump’s senior advisors, described Spicer’s blatant lies by using a phrase that has become infamous in the days since: “alternative facts.”

For members of the news media covering the Trump administration going forward, reporting on a White House that disseminates these falsehoods poses multiple major issues.

Since the beginning of his campaign, Trump has fueled the narrative that the news media has an inherent bias against him. If the news media chooses to continue to report on his administration’s lies as they are, he will continue to use it as evidence that journalists are against him. By doing their jobs, journalists will unfortunately encourage his narrative and as it is, much of the public already considers the news media to be biased against the president.

The government collects and reports an incredible amount of data, ranging from mundane to critical. While journalists have had to verify and check government data before, for the most part, journalists have never been in a position where questioning and vetting every piece of information from the government was necessary. However, when the line between fact and “alternative fact” becomes blurred, news organizations may have to rely on their own resources more heavily than the government agencies that they relied on in the past.

As the “X-Files” told us, the truth is out there. Finding the truth while reporting on an administration that completely disregards it, however, may pose a greater challenge than expected.

Get smart about the HPV vaccine

Posted on February 3, 2017 by Chantal Alba

By CHANTAL ALBA

Hey guys! So it’s time to drop some knowledge on you for your sexual health. I’m going to be telling you guys about HPV, otherwise known as the human papillomavirus. HPV is the most commonly sexually transmitted infection (STI).

How common do you ask? Well, so common that nearly half the people who are sexually active will contract the virus at least once during some point of their lifetime. There are different types of HPV too, some cause warts and others can cause cancer. That is why it is so important to get vaccinated.

HPV is spread when you have vaginal, oral or anal sex with someone who has the virus. Sometimes, when a person is infected with the virus, they may not even realize it because they can show no symptoms and may not even show symptoms until years later.

Typically HPV goes away on its own and doesn’t cause any health problems. However, if the virus doesn’t go away, it can cause genital warts or cancer. If you have the virus that causes warts, you experience things like a small bump or a group of bumps, that can be small or large, raised or flat, or cauliflower shaped in your genital area. If you have the type that causes cancer, then you are at risk of getting cervical cancer, cancer of the vulva, vagina, penis, or anus, and oropharyngeal cancer (cancer in the back of throat, base of tongue or tonsils).

It’s a pretty scary virus to think about ever having, especially since most people will have it in their lives. But there are ways to prevent yourself from being a statistic. Make sure you get vaccinated, if you aren’t vaccinated yet.

You usually receive the vaccination around 11-12 years old, but there are “catch-up” vaccines available for women under the age of 27. Currently there is no test that can determine if you have the virus or not. So most people do not know they have it, until they have warts and, for women, if they have an abnormal Pap test result.

So If you are sexually active, make sure you are using a condom, the right way, every single time you have sex because it can lower your chances of getting the virus.