Tag Archives: Television news

Lahren is (sad) future of journalism

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By ZACH STUBBLEFIELD

Tomi Lahren is a conservative news reporter who hosts the show “Final Thoughts” on TheBlaze on the Web. It is a show where she gives her three-minute “thoughts” on an issue happening in America every couple days.

These boil down to her yelling off her imaginary high horse and saying controversial things that may or may not be true.

One of her latest “thoughts” are on professional soccer player Megan Rapinoe taking a knee during the anthem.

“Hey Megan, do you know what they do to women and gay people in many countries around the world,” Lahren said. “They stone them and throw them off buildings!”
Lahren’s argument about Rapinoe taking a knee during the anthem boils down to her saying Rapinoe should be grateful that she isn’t being stoned for being gay.
That’s awful. What’s even more awful is America’s cutest ball of hate routinely gets over six million views on these Facebook videos.

While I hope she crawls back to whatever hole she came from. I think the opposite is going to happen; more of her are going to be crawling out.

Shows like “Final Thoughts” are the future of journalism. They are perfect for the digital age. They are short. They have a couple phrases you can remember. And they generate interaction on social media.

So get ready. Because Tomi Lahren is only the beginning.

NFL debuts with Super Bowl rematch

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By NICHOLAS BRUENS

The Denver Broncos and Carolina Panthers faced off at the NFL Kick Off in a rematch of Super Bowl 50.

This game was much anticipated as these teams played a gritty, grind-it-out game in the Super Bowl.  Many were expecting a similar game in the rematch.  But despite these anticipations, quarterback Cam Newton did not share these feelings.

“It’s not a rematch,” Newton told the Associated Press, “It’s just our next opponent.”

Despite Newton’s feelings, he played the Broncos, the same team that beat him for the Lombardi trophy, on NBC in Primetime.

The high amount news media attention drawn to this event was expected due to the importance of this game.  It marks the beginning of the 2016 season of the NFL which is the highest grossing professional sports league in the United States.

Also, the game features Newton, who is arguably the most marketable player in the league and reigning MVP.  A player of his charisma is bound to draw attention and therefore media.

Finally, media was tuned in to see if any players would partake in the Colin Kaepernick’s demonstration of not standing for the American flag. Linebacker Brandon Marshall was the only player to do so.

The Broncos released a statement acknowledging there stance on the matter.

“While we encourage members of our organization to stand during the national anthem, we understand and respect it being a personal decision,” said the Broncos in their statement to NBC.

The multiple personalities and story lines heading into his game have created a perfect melting pot for media follow.

Cam and the Panthers were unable to change the outcome as the Broncos repeated their success with a 21-20 victory.

Shooting headline made ‘unique’

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By COURTNEY CHENNAULT

On Thursday, Sept. 8, 2016, a shooting at Alpine High School in Texas left one dead and two injured. Sadly, shootings in America have become so commonplace, that people aren’t surprised and hardly bat an eye when one occurs.

For a news network like CNN, which survives on viewership and popularity, that fact is somewhat problematic. The news media must determine how to recapture America’s interest in shootings or else there is no point in reporting them at all.

In an attempt to catch the public’s eye today, CNN chose to sensationalize the Texas shooting by emphasizing one main aspect.

The headline reads:

screen-shot-2016-09-08-at-10-03-32-pmWhen I first read this headline, one word leaped off the screen: “girl.” “Girl shooter?” I thought to myself. Since when do we identify shooters by their gender in headlines?

Other headlines rarely have the shooter’s gender.

For example, this Jul. 9, 2016 CNN headline reads, “Dallas sniper attack: 5 officers killed, suspect identified.” There is no gender stated.

A Jul. 25, 2016 CNN headline reads, “Fort Myers shooting: 2 dead outside teen party at club.” There is no gender stated.

Even the word “gunman” is ambiguous without clarification. For example, in a Dec. 5, 2015 CNN broadcast, the reporter referred to the shooter as “the female gunman,” to clarify her gender.

In a country where hundreds of shootings happen every year, it is easy for citizens to read the headlines monotonously. But, this shouldn’t be the case. A shooting should get someone’s attention not because the shooter is a female, but because the shooting happened at all.

Today’s headline should have been just as devastating and shocking without the word “girl” in it.

Video obtained of missing Chibok girls

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By VICTORIA DE CARDENAS

Tragedies in Africa rarely capture the attention of anyone in the U.S. But when women in Nigeria spoke out two years ago after terrorists kidnapped hundreds of girls from school, they stirred a sense of global outrage.

Two years later, #BringBackOurGirls social media campaign took off, but the girls from the town of Chibok are still missing and still causing outrage.

The captor, Boko Haram, forbids modern education, particularly for girls, and enslaves and sells women, forcing them to live by 7th century norm, according to CNN.

Before the anniversary of the capture, CNN obtained a video showing 15 of the more than 200 girls that remain in captivity from the mass abduction. It was sent by Boko Haram as “proof of life” in negotiations with the government.

While I applaud CNN for obtaining this video and sharing it with the parents of the girls, I have the issue that no other news station seems to be covering this as extensively as CNN.

If the social media campaign was so successful in shining light onto this tragedy, why aren’t other stories coming out of this video? It is a compelling video and reminds those who are here in the U.S. to continue to fight for human rights, but I do not see another major news network picking it up.

It upsets me to see these girls being taken against their will and choosing to be suicide bombers to get out of the situation they are in, but I have yet to see someone else cover this as headline news.

We as global citizens cannot be so oblivious to what is happening across the world and to prevent the oblivion it starts with news networks talking about the stories that matter and shape our everyday lives.

Former CBC host acquitted in assault

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By MIA POLLACK

Jian Ghomeshi has been no stranger to the spotlight in the last few years. Cameras have consistently been on his trail, as well as his family, since news broke from the Toronto Star that he allegedly assaulted three women, including one of his co-workers at the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. The former CBC host was charged with four counts of sexual assault in 2014.

Following the speculation, the CBC dismissed Ghomeshi from his high profile position, in which he got to interview actors, musicians, politicians and other public figures. As a one-time listener, he was good at his job, but leads me to wonder, especially with his female guests and coworkers – maybe he was a “little too good” at his job.

On March 24, Ghomeshi was acquitted of his charges, following his first court date in early February in Toronto. He plead not guilty to assaults that supposedly taken place in 2002 and 2003. The trial lasted eight days.

According to CBC News, his team of lawyers released a statement saying that he had been “rightly acquitted of his charges” and that “our system of justice, that is what must happen in every case regardless of who is accused or what crime is alleged. That is precisely what occurred in this case.”

Since CBC was Ghomeshi’s former employer and the crimes he had committed to these women took place in the public-broadcaster’s headquarters in Toronto, they had the best coverage of the events. The CBC was there every single step of the way.

Screen Shot 2016-03-25 at 12.44.01 AMIn the light of the events that took place on Thursday, Ghomeshi’s acquittal comes as a shock.

It had been revealed that the witnesses gave inconsistent testimonies; ZK2the only testimony that remained somewhat accurate was Lucy DeCoutere, leaving the judge to believe that her statements undermined her credibility.

Screen Shot 2016-03-25 at 12.51.29 AMAccording to the Toronto Star, the key factors that led to Justice William Horkins to letting Ghomeshi go included:

  • The unnamed witnesses claimed that they did not know how to navigate the Screen Shot 2016-03-25 at 12.51.56 AM“proceeding.”
  • Justice Horkins said, “all 3 witnesses had similar stories’, but the ruling had to made individually rather than a part of a pattern.
  • In the end, all Justice Horkins had for evidence were the three witnesses accounts, if he couldn’t believe them true he could not convict Mr. Ghomeshi of his crimes.

Screen Shot 2016-03-25 at 12.52.20 AMAs mentioned before, due to Ghomeshi’s high profile career, he had the opportunity to interview several actors, politicians, and other public figures on his radio show.

Zoe Kazan, an actress Screen Shot 2016-03-25 at 12.52.42 AMGhomeshi interviewed back in 2013, opened up on her Twitter about the treatment she received from the now “free man” and how she now feels about it.

It is truly absurd in my opinion that the judge felt there was not enough evidence to indict Ghomeshi on his crimes. There is evidence from the CBC that he did commit these acts, even from the witnesses, but maybe from these women, they did not speak up enough during the trial to put their assaulter away.

World terrorized following Brussels

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By ETTY GROSSMAN

After a week full of politics, terrorism hit the news again.

This time, ISIS, who claimed responsibility for the attacks, sent two suicide blasts on Tuesday morning; one to Brussels’ airport and the other one to the Metro station.

Even though news channels still providing updates of the situation, at the moment 30 people were reported as dead and 230 were wounded in both attacks.

After Belgian police released a notice that includes a photograph of a suspect “wanted for terrorism,” it went viral. Not only news media exposed the image with the intention of collaborating with the country but social media also used it to promote a bunch of support hashtags. #jesuisbrussels, #prayforpeace, #prayforbrussels, are just a few.

The majority of the news media attributed the attacks to links of the city to extremism and terrorist plots and the recent capture of a terrorism suspect Salah Abdeslam in Brussels’s predominantly Muslim Molenbeek quarter.

Others blame Belgium’s intelligence and the lack of sharing important information with their citizens, but CNN made a completely different accusation. In it’s claiming “ISIS noted that Belgium is ‘participating in the international coalition against the Islamic State.’ Belgian warplanes flew 796 sorties and launched 163 airstrikes over Iraq from September 2014 to July 2015, according to the U.S.-led anti-ISIS coalition, and were set to resume these operations this summer.”

What they intended to say is that Belgium, although it is the victim right now, is also responsible in some way.

However, for me, The New York Times is the newspaper with the best coverage. Updates are uploaded within every three minutes, what proves that they are completely committed to the situation. They also created a link where people with no idea about what’s going on can enter and rapidly understand the issue. Questions such as: What happened? Was it ISIS? Where is the investigation heading? Why Brussels? are answered.

What I found really intriguing is CNN’s attempt to add the political process in this hurtful scenario.

Is this the accurate time to do this?  Do people care more about what Trump thinks about the attack than human sorrow?

Maybe they do and that’s the reason behind these attacks; there are many humans but little humanity.

Bias, opinions of political news coverage

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By BREANA ROSS

Most news viewers are aware that different news stations have different political views that affect the way they report news. MSNBC tends to lean more towards liberal and Democratic views while Fox tends to support conservative and Republican views.

The news from these stations is reported in such a way that reflects these views. For example, one MSNBC talk show host had no problem sharing her political opinion as she discussed her analysis of Donald Trump’s recent violent rallies.

After a series of clashes between protestors and supporters at Trump’s rallies, Rachel Maddow decided to break down the events on her MSNBC show. The way Maddow chose to discuss and present the information was an interesting approach. Her overarching point was that Donald Trump’s rhetoric during his rallies led to the recent outbursts in Chicago and elsewhere. Maddow takes many pieces of factual information and connects them together to support her opinion.

First off, Maddow points out that the last three stops on Trump’s campaign trail, Chicago, Cleveland, and St. Louis, all contain a great deal of racial tension. This tension stems from the recent police killings of unarmed black teens in these areas.

Maddow points out that many of the recent instances of violence at Trump’s rallies seem to be racially charged. She then begins showing clips from Donald Trump’s speeches at his rallies, where he calls for “a tougher America” where protesters should face consequences, possibly violent ones.

Trump also mentions that he would pay the legal bills for anyone who beats up a protester. Maddow uses factual traces of racial tension and clips of Donald Trump’s speeches to convince viewers of her opinion that Donald Trump’s rhetoric has led to the violence that has erupted between his supporters and his opponents.

Although Rachel Maddow is a talk show host and is allowed to insert her opinion in discussions about politics, her presentation of the information is an example of how news stations can present biased news. Connecting facts to form what is ultimately an opinion is dangerous when presenting news to viewers.

And now, h-e-r-e’s Donnie!

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By JEAN-PAUL AGUIRRE

Well, another day of the news media’s time spent on Donald Trump. This election campaign is turning into our reality, or should I say, our reality show.

I am writing this on March 2, 2016—the day after Super Tuesday, which so happened to fall on my birthday — and who did I spend my birthday with, you ask? Well, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, of course.

Clinton and Trump won the day for their respective parties; each earned the delegates of seven states to take even larger leads in the race to become their party’s nominee.

All I have heard today from the news media has been arguments for and against Trump and the strategies that the establishment group of Republican Party leaders should implement to prevent Trump from becoming their nominee.

There has been little to no mention of Clinton, Bernie Sanders or the Democratic Party, if only to show the results from last night and compare them to Donald Trump, who I am now going to refer to as “Donnie” because I am bored from hearing his name everywhere, all the time.

The news media have been so saturated with Trump that most of my social media is inundated with articles involving the controversialist. I feel as though the news media are trying to suffocate me with all things Trump.

As I was watching CNN, I saw some scrolling text at the bottom of its graphic, which showed that the culprit behind the murders of the two Virginia college students, Jesse Matthew Jr., has been sentenced to four consecutive life sentences after pleading guilty.

You would think that such news would at least garner a minute, or two, of screen time to be addressed to the public, but no, the news media have opted to focus on Donnie once again.

It has become abundantly clear that this is our reality, our reality show.

News media fuel Trump’s campaign fire

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By BREANA ROSS

Donald Trump’s campaign for president started out as a mere joke to some, but not for him. People laughed and took a shot at guessing how long it would be until the radical billionaire would drop out of the election. It was even a joke to the news media, which made it a point to cover Donald Trump’s latest offensive comment or outlandish statement every single week.

Whether it was negative publicity or not, Donald Trump was getting publicity. Publicity that would seem to have discouraged voters from supporting Trump actually helped to build his popularity. Now here we are, just days after Super Tuesday, and it appears as though Donald Trump will be the Republican nominee for president of the United States.

From name-calling to false accusations, Donald Trump made his way into the news media spotlight right from the beginning of the campaign. At the beginning, it was his comment calling Mexicans “rapists” that sent the news media into an uproar. Then it was his statements on his plans to require Muslim-Americans to register with a government database and carry around identification cards that brought him to the center of media attention.

While the Trump’s constant news media coverage seemed to just point out his extreme views and that he was unfit to be president, it actually helped him in the long run. Trump was getting attention and publicity that no other Republican candidate was receiving. When you turned on your television to a news station, chances are Trump was the first face you saw.

The news media actually helped increase Trump’s popularity by covering him so much.

Now, as the campaign gets down to the wire, the news media have switched their approach with coverage of Trump. The news media are starting to portray Trump as a true presidential contender and focus more on the Republican Party’s plan to stop Trump from getting the nomination. Information about Republican senators’ ideas on how to stop Trump from getting the nomination are starting to surface. It is becoming a reality that Trump could actually be the Republican nominee.

In retrospect, Donald Trump’s case shows how crucial the news media are when it comes to swaying the public. When the news media constantly cover someone, it forces people to pay attention to them and form an opinion about them. Donald Trump’s case is also a prime example of the popular phrase, “No publicity is bad publicity.”

Has Trump sealed the deal?

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By ROXANNE YU

When Donald Trump filed his statement of candidacy a few months ago, no one would have expected him to go very far, much less sustain a significant lead among Republican candidates.

Now that it’s dawning upon the country that Trump actually has a shot at becoming the next president, CNN is already commenting what’s next if Trump takes over the White House.

Trump, who won the Nevada caucuses on Tuesday night, is unsurprisingly under the spotlight for his recent success. When the results showed how his percentages compare to that of the other candidates, the businessman turned presidential candidate has distinctly marked New Hampshire, South Carolina and now Nevada, to be “Trump states.”

From one state to the next, Trump is consistently pulling further away from his fellow Republican candidates and it’s looking more likely that there is a big possibility for Trump to heighten his momentum come Super Tuesday.

Alongside Trump’s efforts to power through the Republican polls, it’s also interesting to read about what the news has to say about this Trump frenzy phenomenon going on.

CNN has just released a number of news stories entitled What would Trump’s be first day in office look like and Trump’s Day 1-to-do-list. With the release of these web stories, it appears as though what’s being presented to the audience is an indirect opinionated piece that can influence public opinion.

Although CNN has not shown any support for Trump in any regard, it’s almost doing the same as straightforwardly subjecting the public to count Rubio and Cruz out.

Personal stories are newsworthy, also

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By ETTY GROSSMAN

In our days, there’s a common thought about the lack of humanity among the news. People believe that the news media are only interested in breaking news about prominent or public figures. However, if we do a deep search we can find many news sites focused on real life stories about ordinary people.

CNN is one in many news channels that opens the door to its public to express themselves and share their stories, which are very interesting and touching.

In the case of CNN, there are established categories from which the person can choose to write about: Overcoming anxiety, your “Aha” weight-loss moment, how you found happiness or your journey to body acceptance.

At a first glance, the topics might seem a little controversial, but the way in which they are addressed tend to seek for social justice. The stories selected do not promote anorexia, unhealthy methods to lose weight or physical beauty as an important value; instead they ask people to tell their stories to help others to overcome this type of problems that were probably caused by societal pressures.

The assignments not only values people it also encourages them to serve as inspirational models.

Weight gain and obesity trends often make headlines, but many people have found a way to lose weight and get fit by healthy methods and this are the type of stories they are looking for.

Personally, I believe these testimonies are very useful and should be valued. We live in a world where instead of sleeping an extra hour per day, women decide to spend three hours and 19 minutes each week in front of the mirror.  I’m pretty sure that it is not to enhance their beauty, but because they don’t feel comfortable with themselves.

Instead of reading about Kim Kardashian’s new surgery, stories such as “how one woman learned to love herself” should hit the front page of every news channel because they really teach us how to recover from daily problems by natural, real and accessible methods.

Snowboarding video gets attention

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By SARAH BRANDT

Casey Neistat is a 34-year-old American film and YouTube content creator. He currently has two million subscribers and 459 million views on his YouTube channel. On an everyday basis he films everyday vlogs, in which he shows his viewers his daily activities and his family.

About two weeks ago, New York City was struck with a gigantic blizzard and snowstorm. News reporters and police were warning citizens not to drive around because it was too dangerous. This, however, did not stop Casey and he got out his truck, attached chains and a rope to the back and decided to snowboard throughout the city.

He had cameras all over, which allowed him to get footage from many different angels. He collected the clips and uploaded the video to his channel. A few days later his video was broadcast all over the world. It was shown on newscasts in Germany, Switzerland, England, Australia and many other countries.

Even news network Web sites such as CNN and ABC did stories on his video. A lot of news media decided to cover Casey and his video, and it was all in a positive light.

The reason for so many news sites covering this specific video was because as you can see in the video that Casey is the only one driving through New York. This is a very rare occurrence, as the city is always full with lots of cars and people.

New York City is also a city known to many other countries around the world, and they were also aware of the big blizzard going on. Therefore, it is no coincidence that various countries decided on reporting on Casey Neistat’s video, which brought much attention and enjoyment to most readers.

With this Neistat has without knowing produced a viral video. The fact that his video was covered by so many news sources boosts his YouTube channel and the video now has 1.5 million views. And, of course, it gave a tremendous boost to his career as a filmmaker .

Big boys don’t cry?

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By BREANA ROSS

When the final seconds on the clock ran out at Super Bowl 50, not everyone was smiling and celebrating. The CBS Sports camera switched from an excited, smiling Peyton Manning to a devastated Carolina Panthers player. This player was Cornerback Josh Norman and he was less than thrilled by the outcome of the game. The camera zoomed in for a close-up shot as Norman bawled into his hands, realizing his hope of winning the Super Bowl had now vanished.

As soon as the camera showed Josh Norman, devastated and in tears, everyone with whom I was watching the Super Bowl yelled, “Why are they showing him like this?” and “They should leave him alone!”

To an average viewer, it seems outrageous for the news media to show someone in such a state of distress, especially someone normally portrayed as tough. In many ways, it can appear disrespectful and even invasive for the news media to have a camera in the face of someone who is crying. After all, the news media could have shown other members of the football team who were, perhaps, not quite as upset as Josh Norman. However, as a journalist, I began to reflect on the other side of the argument.

The goal of the news media is to show a story from as many aspects and angles as possible. Only showing the excited and celebratory Denver Broncos players would only be showing half of the story. In any championship game, there are winners and losers. As much as people want to see the reactions of the winners, they also want to see the reactions of those who lost. Josh Norman’s reaction was a visual manifestation that summed up the emotions of most players on the Carolina Panthers team, thus golden for the news media’s coverage.

Media coverage of ISIS stokes fear

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By XIAO LYU

Terrorists live among us? According to CBS12, U.S. National Security officials said there are more than 900 active ISIS investigations in 50 states — including Florida. After the terrorist incident happened last week, news coverage was full of  ISIS’ s recent status, they said that they were in South Florid, in the Washington, D.C., in the Massachusetts.

“They are amongst us. Believe me, they are amongst us here in South Florida,” Chad Jenkins told CBS12. Jenkins is a former counterterrorism agent with the FBI and a former US Army Ranger who served in Iraq. He also said that the reason terrorists chose South Florida were the weather and international makeup.

Moreover, Emily Miller, the chief investigative reporter for Washington, D.C.’s Fox 5 publicized an internal police document about the Metro Transit Police Department (MTPD) seeking information on four men who appear to be Middle Eastern engaged in “suspicious activity” on D.C.’s rapid transit system on Nov. 18.

The news quickly spread and is drawn attention on internet about danger in the Washington, D.C., area. After then, the Metro Transit Police proved the police just did a routine check and the news sparked unnecessary concerns about danger.

“The kind of document is shared internally with law enforcement every day and that doesn’t necessarily mean there is anything of concern for the public and caution any reporter that the individuals here are not suspected of any criminal activity,” said Dan Stessel, chief spokesman for Washington’s Metro Transit Police.

The latest news from CNN said that new ISIS video warns of attack on United States and makes threats against New York. Mayor Bill de Blasio responded promptly that NYPD was prepared to respond to up to 24 incidents simultaneously and the people will not live in the fear. However, social media spread the attack and raised fear about an Islamist terror attack in D.C. and New York, and even made derogatory comments about Syrian refugees.

Stoking fear is the goal of terrorist organizations, however, some media coverage just abet it.

‘Baby Hitler’ goes viral on social media

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By XIAO LYU

Reuters reported on Tuesday that Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush said if he had the opportunity to kill Adolf Hitler when the German autocrat was an infant, he would. The White House later tweeted the article featuring his answer with a comment, “Gotta do it.”

In an interview with the Huffington Post series that covers the campaign trail with the candidates running for president, this former Florida governor’s responded “Hell yeah, I would!” to the question: if given the opportunity, would you go back in time to kill baby Adolf Hitler?

“The problem with going back in history and doing that, as we know from the series — what’s the name of the Michael Fox movies? It could have a dangerous effect on everything else. But I’d do it, Hitler,”said Bush.

This odd question was picked via the e-mail address that Bush distributes widely to public audiences, and in fact, it had already become a controversial question when The New York Times Magazine ran a poll over the weekend last month asking readers if they would go back in time and kill baby Hitler. The result showed that 42 percent of respondents said they would, 30 percent said they would not and the left respondents were not sure about it.

The response on social media to Bush’s comments and The New York Times Magazine went viral. Most of them were comical, but it is still a sensitive question involved an adult kill an infant. Therefore, on Wednesday, when Ben Carson was asked the similar question, but there was a slight difference. The question was whether or not he would “abort” a baby Hitler and he responded that he was not in favor of aborting anybody.

In that case, whatever the respond to that question is, it will lead a new roar on the internet.

The media and the Mid-East conflict

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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.”

Raven-Symone: The saga continues

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By ELAYNA PAULK

To follow up my earlier blog regarding the coverage of of Raven-Symone and the series of unfortunate events that came with it.

Raven Symone has struck a chord with us all — again, but this time it’s not without serious consequences. After her statement on the young girl in South Carolina that got brutally assaulted by a police offer, which blamed the young girl for being “on her phone” during class, there has been a petition to remove Raven Symone from “The View.”

The Washington Times, Huffington Post, NBC, as well as many other news outlets, have since reported on the petition, on Change.org that addresses the petition to Barbara Walters, that says:

“Raven Symone has been spouting her ignorant and self hating spiel on the view for long enough, from stating that she wouldn’t hire somebody for having a ghetto name, to openly complaining about reverse racism, the final straw was her comment about the recent viral video of the school police officer assaulting the student, where Raven Symone said “get off your phone in school then.” African Americans and black people around the diaspora need a voice representative of their views and not a voice representative of what white people want us to say. We need strong black role models in prominent positions on television an Raven Symone cannot provide that. That is why I ask that we petition to remove her from The View.”

The news media coverage has played a major role in the success of this petition, which currently has 106,185 out of the 150,000 signature goal. The coverage of issues, such as these, and the persistent conversations on social media outlets can finally put an end to the disaster that is Raven-Symone.

Joe Biden and CBS’ ’60 Minutes’

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By XIAO LYU

Vice President Joe Biden made an announcement last week that he will not seek the 2016 nomination of the Democratic Party for president. Although it ended the subject about whether he will step back or not, the speculation of the reason came as follow.

On Sunday, Vice President Biden and his wife, Dr. Jill Biden, appeared on CBS “60 Minutes,” telling about the reason he decided not to seek the nomination: the impact of the loss of his son, Beau, and his views on Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.

The vice president said in the interview that he knew he couldn’t win because he thought he and his staff couldn’t put together the campaign that their supporters deserved and contributors deserved. He also explained the reason — “the single most important thing in deciding not to run” is the loss of his son, Beau. The loss overturned the schedules.

Beau Biden supported Joe Biden to run for the president and thought he could win, while Maureen Dowd in The New York Times wrote about it and described Beau on his death bed said to his father, ”Dad, you’ve got to run.” This description was proved false in the interview.

Biden also discussed his comments reported by The New York Times last week that he didn’t mean to aim at Hillary Clinton herself and that they are friends.

“Go back and find anybody who says, for the four years we worked together, Hillary and I weren’t friends,” Biden said.

Moreover, Biden addressed his disappointment with Donald Trump directly and called him a showman. He wanted Trump to reconsider his remarks on immigrants.

CNN, NBC, The New York Times and many mainstream media covered this interview and they put particular emphasis on a different aspect of the story. CNN mostly covered “no Hollywood Moment” and the headline from NBC referred to Biden’s comment that he couldn’t win. The New York Times, which was mentioned twice in the interview, tells more about his family concerns. However, none of them made a comment about Biden’s disappointment with Trump.

Coverage of Joe Biden’s announcement

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By SAMANTHA COHEN

Joe Biden finally spoke on the sought-after decision as to whether or not he would be running for president in the 2016 election.

That answer is No.

The press conference at the White House Rose Garden was a sudden event with no prior knowledge given to the public or press that it was happening. The press was contacted mere hours before the statement took place. All press at moments notice ran to The White House to try and capture live shots moments before the start of the statement.

All online news organizations put breaking news messages on their website to alert readers. Live coverage was immediately available on every site. With the announcement of the statement, live coverage replaced set programs on each of these news television stations.

After the statement, coverage took place and every online news site had lead breaking news stories on Biden’s decision and what was said. There was discussion on the event thereafter in which we were able to hear opinions on the news. The manner in which news organizations were able to speedily obtain coverage of this event after not getting any notice that it was even happening is highly commendable and just goes to show how fast one has to react as a journalist.

I am interested to see how the discussions continue on this decision and how it will affect the rest of the political campaign.

NBA champ Odom deserves respect

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By COLIN DAVIS

Lamar Odom is a two-time NBA champion. He was the sixth man of the year just four years ago. Currently, he is fighting for his life in a Nevada hospital and, although he is showing some positive signs, his outlook is not good.

There have been many reports on the Lamar Odom story by members from all walks of the media due to his relationship with Khloe Kardashian. Yet instead of referring to Lamar as an NBA champion, he is simply referred to as a reality television star as if he has only earned his celebrity through his interactions with the Kardashian family.

There have been very few media members that have given Lamar Odom the respect he has earned, and even less have done it as succinctly as Scott Van Pelt. After recently returning to SportsCenter, Scott Van Pelt did his minute and a half long segment, “One Big Thing” and assessed the situation through the lens of a sports fan.

While Scott Van Pelt makes a few jokes during his monologue, he makes a serious and simple point. Lamar Odom is more than just a plot line in a sad story; he has earned more respect than to be referred to as a Kardashian reality star, in such troubling times for Lamar Odom it is important to remember he was a star before he ever met Khloe.