Tag Archives: Television news

Journalism, a career or a death wish?

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By AXEL TURCIOS

The practice of journalism in Central America has become more than a career choice, it is considered more of an attempt to find death in an intellectual way.

My country, Honduras, is not an exception for journalists, who fight for exposé of political corruption as well as other internal problems. While working towards the truth, these professionals put not only their lives, but also the lives of their families, at high risks.

Ramón Custodio, Honduran Human Rights commissioner, expressed his concern about the impunity that keeps the murders of 35 people linked to the news media recorded at their institution between 2003 and so far this year, only two of such cases have come to judgment.

According to the Citizen Council for Public Safety and Criminal Justice (a private organization and part of the Mexican Employers’ Association), for the second year in a row, San Pedro Sula, Honduras, remains at the top spot as the most violent city in the world, with 169 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants.

Such a ranking brings up the question of what is Porfirio Lobo, president of Honduras, doing to address the criminal crisis?

Juan Ramón Mairena, president of the Honduran College of Journalism, mentioned his sorrow towards the incompetence from President Lobo’s government to complete their promises to implement a protection program mainly targeted for journalists.

In the past year, President Lobo has maintained a confrontation with different media outlets, especially with the ones that criticize his administration by pointing out his security, economic and social failures.

One of the main causes for deaths in the Latin America country is the constant fight among the drug cartels and politicians who are related to extortion, corruption and money-laundering schemes.

A mass communication career is very difficult in a nation where drug trafficking has influenced many people to begin campaigns to stop journalists from denouncing the corrupt.

Journalists, in their attempt to portray the reality of things, lose their fear and end up throwing themselves into the enemy’s claws.

Believe it or not, if I had to live in Honduras again, my passion for journalism would still be the same. In other words, I’d still choose to communicate with others regardless the risks to which I would be exposed.

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Motorcyclists incident caught on video

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By ALEXANDRA SILVER

The concept of sharing the roadway with bikers has always been difficult to grasp for most drivers on the road. Motorcyclists, just like other drivers, must follow the “rules of the road” but we still find many cyclists breaking the law.

On Sept. 29, a man named Alexian Lein was driving on Manhattan’s West Side highway in a Range Rover with both his wife and 2-year-old daughter when they were slowed by hundreds of motorcyclists.

The incident has attracted national and international news media attention because there was video of the incident and it is being replayed countless times as part of coverage of the story. It’s another example of the pervasiveness of video today and how it impacts our ability to see and to understand dangerous moments such as this one.

Lein was waiting patiently as the motorcyclists fooled around, holding up traffic for no apparent reason. As Lein attempted to get past the cyclists, he accidentally hit one of the motorcycles and continued to drive away. This prompted the hundreds of cyclists to follow his vehicle until he was at a red light.

In a matter of minutes, a cyclist bashed the driver’s window with his helmet and proceeded to attack Lein, breaking his leg, but leaving his wife and daughter unharmed.

This situation is particularly frightening, seeing as Lein was simply trying to protect his family and the motorcyclists continued to threaten and eventually injure him. They proceeded to destroy property and cause physical harm in front of both his wife and daughter.

Police are now investigating the incident and two of the cyclists have already been arrested. Another cyclist that was struck by the SUV is now paralyzed and the charges against him have been dropped.

Despite the fact that Lein should have been cautious of the cyclists, he was threatened and any father’s first reaction would be to protect their loved ones when they are in need.

Murder cases a challenge for media

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By AXEL TURCIOS

As some of you may know, last Saturday morning the body of 18-year-old Tiffany Cabreja, was found at a construction site in the 28200 block of SW 144th Avenue in Homestead.

This is a typical local story, a homicide, that the news media would want to cover. Of course, the first clue that popped up was a surveillance video that showed a work truck passing by the scene where the body was dumped.

There were many questions that needed to be answered. However, how would a news reporter approach a victim’s family member in a case like this?

This scenario sounds a little bit disturbing for anyone and especially for reporters. Journalists need to find sensibility, humanity, respect and understanding deep inside, to seek the right way to interview someone who has very recently lost a loved one.

But why is it so hard to ask questions if you are a reporter, a professional who asks people questions every day?

As journalists, we must show compassion for those that might be affected adversely by any type of news coverage. In other words, step on that person’s shoes and think for one second about their sorrow.

Wednesday morning, Miguel Infante and Raquel Delgado, made headlines around South Florida. According to police, they were the main suspects in the murder of the teenage girl.

Investigators questioned the couple for hours, but ended up releasing both due to lack of evidence against them.

This is where the sense of sensibility comes back again; reporters must have to get a hold on any family member of the victim. In this case, the father who had already been interviewed by all local TV stations in Miami.

Would you really ask a father how he feels when what it seemed to be a final clue wasn’t it?

I don’t think we all have the nerve to step up and do it; it takes a lot more than courage. It takes caring and passion for what you love to report these types of stories.

What if the killer is located and this time it is the right person?

Friday was the day everyone was waiting for. 20-year-old Fernando Granados was arrested and charged with second-degree murder in the Homestead girl’s death.

In his confession, Granados stated that he and an unidentified man went with the teen to a park where they smoked crack. Later, they ended up in a construction site where the two men strangled Cabreja.

Despite the fact that the pieces of this puzzle might be difficult to put together, a long investigation is still underway.

The media in this case should follow the story until it’s finished, sending sensitive human beings to obtain needed information gathered in a sensible manner.

What Francis says, what media perceives

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By DANIELLE COHEN

Decades of popes have consistently been well spoken and have paid special attention on emphasizing the pastoral care of the Catholic Church. The current church leader, Pope Francis, does not differ from previous popes in his way off addressing his people. He is careful and has a very selective choice of words.

What the pope says is not always perceived the way it is meant to be by journalists and is released into the press with false statements that the pope did not actually say or mean.

Former Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio picked his words carefully as an Argentine priest and then prelate of Buenos Aires. He was impeccable in his word choice, especially with the politics that attacked Argentina for many years.

Journalists are very interested in what the pope has to say, knowing it could potentially make international headlines. With this, the problem of journalists misunderstanding and misdirecting the media was noticed last spring after Pope Francis’s installation. There was a report in USA Today, for example, about the pontiff’s supposed “obsession with Satan,” of which many Protestants, Catholics and other Bible readers were skeptical.

The newspaper stated that the pope “mentioned the devil on a handful of occasions.” The reporter took an incident where Pope Francis gave a blessing to a handicapped man and speculated the idea the Jesuit pontiff was an exorcist, or from the film “The Exorcist.” The Vatican then went further to tell the international press that no priest performs “ad hoc exorcisms” and the popes usually pray with and bless’ victims.

Any reporter covering this story could have flipped through canon law, the Bible or Catholic catechism, which are available to the public.

A couple of days later, reports came out that Francis declared that atheists would go to heaven as long as they did good deeds. The media took his words out of context when really Francis spoke of “ecumenical communion between believers and good-hearted atheists.” Nothing Francis said had contradicted the belief that work for the poor and downtrodden people would provide a meeting place in people’s hearts.

Two months following this false media report, the media then again reported something out of context. They claimed that Francis declared that the church would no longer “judge” homosexuality. What he actually said was “Who am I to judge” in response to a question about the “gay lobby” and focused on “lobbies” of all kinds focused on the segment of society destroying Christian unity and brotherhood.

Last week, a lengthy interview with American Magazine took place with Francis, which was published by and for the Jesuit Society in America. What the media got from this interview was that the pope was going to change the doctrine — or at least soften it up a lot.

ABC then went on to report this as the pope scolding the Catholic Church over “divisive rules.” A European wire service reported that the “pope seeks easing of rigid Catholic doctrine,” which references other media sources that states he was “pushing a shift” in the Catholic Church. The abortion rights group, NARAL, went on with this false information and published a thank-you note to the pope, only to find him excoriate abortion a few days after.

Continued media failure upsets Catholics who truly understand Francis’s true message. This brings up the question of media credibility on religious matters and even more broadly than that. Catholic documents are easily obtainable and yet the media doesn’t appear to be checking facts before publishing news stories that change the words of Francis and the Catholic Church.

To read more: http://theweek.com/article/index/250062/the-medias-mind-boggling-failure-to-understand-pope-francis.

What happened to real news?

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By MARISSA YOUNG

Yesterday, I attended a presentation by Alina Falcon, Telemundo’s executive vice president of News and Alternative Programming, in the School of Communication. She spoke about the changing role of the media, and one comment particularly struck me. She said that today, there is increasingly less unscripted, serious news; it is being replaced with straight talk, interviews, and other filler that costs less to produce.

Falcon’s remark resonated with me because, when I watch news programs, I feel uncomfortable during certain segments that can’t really be classified as news.

Though whether entertainment news is news is a controversial topic among journalists, that’s not close to what I mean.  I’m not saying that entertainment stories shouldn’t be on the news.  Some people really are interested in celebrities, TV shows, and the like. At least these stories deliver information to which the average person isn’t already privy. But news programs often take this too far, as in shamelessly plugging their own networks’ shows.  You’ll find stories raving about the “must-see” season of The Voice (does anybody even watch this, anyway?) on NBC, but the show isn’t so much as mentioned on ABC or CBS.

Then there are the stories that can’t be labeled “newsworthy” by any standard.  The kind entitled “Six Places You May Have Misplaced Your Keys” or “Eight Things You Shouldn’t Say to Strangers.”  These types of stories have literally no new or valuable information.  I mean, if a cameraman from the news station came up to me right now, I could cover the same story off the top of my head.

The best is when the programs show you teasers from upcoming stories. “What was the unbelievable item a student found in her lunch?”  “Coming up: You’ll never believe what happens in this video!”  “Stay tuned for the shock a mother got when she opened her front door!”

You wait a half hour to find out.  Sometimes, the story really is surprising, like if the girl found a diamond ring in her sandwich. Still, it’s cruel that programs leave you hanging for so long to hear about it. Other times, the content is just short of being as engaging as a black screen: the video is of a guy failing to balance on one foot, or the mother was checking her mail until she realized it was Sunday.

This kind of programming is embarrassing to watch, and should be infinitely more embarrassing to air. I challenge networks to spend some money and give us real news or to remove this façade by at least transferring these filler clips to differently categorized programs.  Otherwise, networks would be better off showing sitcom reruns during the time slots these stories waste.