Crisis in Venezuela deepens

Posted on February 15, 2019 by Shanika Isaacs

By SHANIKA ISAACS

As Venezuelans struggled to meet their daily needs, President Nicolas Maduro continued to block passage for humanitarian efforts of supplying food to the public. For the government not to take the responsibility of assisting his suffering people, this in-turn spoke depth into the type of president he represented.

With the country facing the backlash of a heavily depreciated dollar, the cost for basic living skyrocketed, making it very hard for people to get find or get food. Jobs in the country depreciated to the point of no existence which made it very hard for anyone to make a living.

Thus, the crime rate was recorded as the highest in the Western Hemisphere, as new born babies faced a higher chance in being malnourished. Health care and medicine became scares as elders suffer the most. Imagine living in a country that did not provide the necessity of filling a prescription, while in America pharmacists cater to their patients as a norm.

The UN estimated that there will be more than 5.3 million Venezuelan refugees and migrants by the end of 2019. Around three million people were said to be displaced and found in nearby countries like Colombia and some as far as Spain.

Why would President Maduro allow the country to get to such a state? As a result, why does he not allow Juan Guaido to take over? Is this a matter of power or humility?

12 killed in California shooting

Posted on November 9, 2018 by Nicole Lembo

By NICOLE LEMBO

A gunman walked into Borderline Bar and Grill in Thousand Oaks, Calif. on Wednesday. He set off smoke bombs in order to create confusion before shooting a security guard at the entrance and opening fire into the crowd.

Authorities identified the gunman as Ian Long, 28, of Newbury Park, Calif. Long was found dead at the scene after killing 12 and wounding about 15 people.

Long was a Marine Corps veteran who had served in Afghanistan, and while investigators say there was no clear motive, he had apparently been struggling with mental health issues.

The shooting was the nation’s deadliest attack since Parkland, Fla. in February.

Among those who died was Sgt. Ron Helus, who was only one year from retirement. Another was Cody Coffman, 22, who planned to join the Army. Aliana Housley, 18, was a student at Pepperdine University.

In response to the shooting, President Trump tweeted, “I have been fully briefed on the terrible shooting in California. Law Enforcement and First Responders, together with the FBI, are on scene. 13 people, at this time, have been reported dead. Likewise, the shooter is dead, along with the first police officer to enter the bar. Great bravery shown by police. California Highway Patrol was on scene within 3 minutes, with first officer to enter shot numerous times. That Sheriff’s Sergeant died in the hospital. God bless all of the victims and families of the victims. Thank you to Law Enforcement.”

Major news outlets such as Fox, CBS, and CNN have been extremely objective when reporting on the shooting. They have all done a superb job at reporting the facts and honoring the victims and their families.

From stardom, to prison, to freedom

Posted on October 26, 2018 by Tyriq McCord

By TYRIQ MCCORD

Life can really hit you fast when you are hauling in touchdowns on Sunday afternoons one day and serving up to a 20 year prison sentence the next.

But former Carolina Panther Rae Carruth is now a free man after being behind bars for 19 years. Carruth hired a hitman back in November 1999 to murder his then 24-year-old girlfriend Cherica Adams. Adams was eight months pregnant at the time when Carruth conspired the plan.

Adams and Carruth went to see a movie and when the movie concluded both parties were leaving in separate vehicles. When Adams was trying to leave, Carruth pulled up blocking Adams car in so she could not move. The hitman made his move, firing four shots that all struck to Adams. She had enough strength to call the authorities as well as a hospital where they performed a C section and save her child. Unfortunately Adams did not survive, passing away four days later. Carruth was convicted in 2001 for conspiracy to commit murder.

The NFL has already banned Carruth jerseys that some people are trying create through custom jerseys on NFLShop.com. Attempts to enter the jersey as a custom order are now met with an immediate warning that reads “We are unable to customize this item with the text you have entered. Please try a different entry.” It’s the same safeguard the site has put in place to block Aaron Hernandez and O.J. Simpson jerseys as well as those created with swear words, or hate terms.

Carruth is now currently in Pennsylvania under Pennsylvania Parole Board supervision, adjusting to life as a free man.

Man who killed officer remains on the loose

Posted on October 21, 2018 by Noa Israel

By NOA ISRAEL

A man who shot and killed a police officer in Georgia Saturday is still on the loose after evading police capture.

Gwinnett County officer Antwan Tony was responding to a suspicious vehicle call along with another officer when 18-year-old Tafahree Maynard fired a weapon from within his approaching vehicle. Tony was struck by the bullet and, after the second officer returned fire, Maynard sped away.

After returning fire, the second officer pulled Tony to safety and attempted to keep him alive until medical personnel arrived. Unfortunately, Tony died from his wounds at a hospital soon after.

The vehicle driven by Maynard and his acquaintances was found crashed about a mile away from the scene of the shooting, all of the members inside the vehicle had fled. One of the suspects, Isaiah Prestlow, was apprehended in connection with the shooting and charged with aggravated assault but Maynard still remains on the run.

Police continue the search for Maynard and have charged him with aggravated assault and felony murder.

Stephon Clark shooting sparks outrage

Posted on March 29, 2018 by Sophia Constantino

By SOPHIA CONSTANTINO

The March 18, 2018, police shooting of unarmed Stephon Clark has sparked outrage throughout Sacramento, Calif.

Earlier this month, a 22-year-old black man, Stephon Clark, was shot and killed by two Sacramento police officers in his grandmother’s lawn. The officers approached Clark regarding a call about breaking car windows. They proceeded to shoot him with no less than 20 bullets, killing him at the scene, according to The Washington Post. The police claim they thought Clark had a gun, only a cell phone was found at the scene. A video capturing the incident can be viewed on CNN.com.

The shooting has since sparked protest, demonstrations and calls for prosecution of the officers responsible. In a meeting on Tuesday set to discuss the incident, residents packed Sacramento City Hall. The meeting lasted 2.5 hours, as it was continually interrupted by chants and emotional demonstrations of outrage. In a CNN.com video, Clark’s brother, Stevante Clark, can be seen standing on the information desk and beginning a chant of “Stephon Clark,” during the meeting.

In a now viral demonstration, activist Berry Accius held up his cell phone in similar fashion to Clark, encouraging the council meeting attendees to do the same. He demanded of Mayor Darrell Steinberg, “Does this look like a gun?”

Body camera footage shows the officer’s yelling “gun,” in response to their allegedly thinking Clark held a gun, though footage shows that the officers failed to declare themselves as police before firing 10 lethal shots each at Clark. According to The Washington Post, more than five minutes passed before police called for medical attention, allowing Clark to die on the scene.

The California Department of Justice announced Tuesday that it will oversee a police investigation into the shooting, while Steinberg stated, “A 22-year-old man should not have died that way,” according to The Washington Post.

News media are still trying to piece together the details of the incident, releasing updated content as promptly as new details come to light. As the case progresses, news media attention shifts to the suspicious delay in calling for medical attention. On a national level, it brings the Black Lives Matter movement back to the media forefront.

Times compares nations’ gun rules

Posted on March 6, 2018 by Allie Simon

By ALLIE SIMON

The New York Times just published an article titled “How to Buy a Gun in 15 Countries” highlighting the different ways a person can buy a gun in 15 countries. The article by Audrey Carlsen and Sahil Chinoy passively emphasizes the lack of gun restrictions in place for Americans to buy guns.

The article is in a list format in which the steps for how to obtain a gun in each of the 15 countries mentioned are laid out in numerical order. Among the 15 different countries, the authors highlight the 13-step-process to get a gun in Japan.

The very first step is joining a hunting or shooting club, while the second to last step is allowing police to inspect a personal gun storage unit. Japan’s restrictions include obtaining doctors notes, permits, personal history and opinion of friends and family in order to reach the possibility of owning a gun. These elaborate rules have created one of the lowest gun violence rates in the world in Japan.

Carsen and Chinoy put the U.S. gun restrictions at the top of the article, presumably to show how easily obtainable a gun is in America. According to the article, “roughly a third of American gun owners buy guns without a background check, which federal law does not require when buying directly from a private seller.”

While Carsen and Chinoy do not offer any commentary in the article, the format in which the United States lack of gun restrictions is at the top speaks for itself in showing how much harder it is to obtain a gun in the majority of countries that proceed the U.S. in the list.

According to the article, only Yemen, one of the poorest Middle Eastern countries and a country that has been war-stricken since 2015, has slightly less gun restrictions than the U.S. The authors want readers to see the scary reality that the United States is not far from becoming a country controlled by violence and terror.

There is middle ground when it comes to gun restrictions. In America, we often are torn between wanting heavy restrictions in which it would be hard for almost anyone to obtain gun, to extremely lenient restrictions in which most people could obtain a gun. After mass shootings, much like the one that occurred less than a month ago in Parkland, Fla., the country polarizes and our government often enters into a gridlock when it comes to changing gun laws.

What this article stresses most, without even saying it, is that there are so many alternatives to creating suitable gun restrictions without making them too tight or too lose. In almost every country mentioned in the article, including India, Canada, Austria, and Australia, a person must have proper storage for the gun. While this small regulation seems simple, in America, many school shooters are kids who have easy access to a weapon.

The article does not say how American gun laws should change, but merely shows that in other countries with less gun violence, there are regulations in place that protect and save the lives of civilians.

Carlsen and Chinoy present this list as considerations for our law makers. The article can be read in the New York Times at https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/03/02/world/international-gun-laws.html.

Vigil at UM honors Parkland victims

Posted on February 22, 2018 by Andrea Illan

By ANDREA ILLAN

After the shooting massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School (MSD) that took place on Feb. 14, the University of Miami organized a candle light vigil on Feb. 20 to honor the 17 victims.

This took place at the Rock Plaza at the Coral Gables campus and according to The Miami Hurricane, “hundreds” attended the event.

During the ceremony, UM students and faculty gathered to listen to different student speakers speak on the matter. Additionally, attendees were encouraged to write letters to the school and the families affected as well as sign a banner that will be sent to the High School on UM’s behalf.

The Miami Hurricane’s coverage of the event focuses on UM’s strong connection to the Parkland tragedy. Not only is MSD geographically close to Coral Gables, but many UM students attended the high school. Some of these students, who also lost family members last Wednesday, spoke out during the vigil.

The article highlights the words by sophomore Ally Rosenberg, who lost her cousin, Alex Schachter at the shooting. Rosenberg spoke to the attendees about the hardships this has created for her family, but also used her platform to advocate change in gun control laws.

The article also makes note of UM senior Matthew Labkovski, who also lost his cousin, Meadow Pollack. It also mentions the loss of UM’s own alumnus, Scott Beigel, who was a teacher at MSD.

Additionally, the article mentions that 128 MSD students have attended UM since 2006 and that the school has 27 currently pursuing their education.

By taking this focus, The Miami Hurricane not only reports on this vigil but also demonstrates the toll that this tragedy has taken on this campus. This coverage shows that events like the ones at MSD can happen to anyone in this country and further demonstrates the importance of policy change when it comes to firearms.

The article can be found here: http://www.themiamihurricane.com/2018/02/21/please-let-your-voice-be-heard-a-call-for-change-as-hundreds-gather-for-campus-vigil/

The school shooting epidemic

Posted on February 16, 2018 by Drew Cohen

By DREW COHEN

When the Sandy Hook Massacre occurred, I froze in disbelief. It was one of those moments where “you remember exactly where you were.” I was 13 years old at the time and in eighth grade and, boy, was I scared to go back to school the next day. I kept on asking myself, is school safe?

My answer every time was yes, because I grew up in a affluent town with good people, crime was extremely low. I kept on obsessing about the massacre and thinking of all those young kids in that small, thought-to-be safe town, and started to realize that maybe no school is safe. I thought that after Sandy Hook, something of this magnitude would never happen at a school ever again.

Just two days ago, a 19-year-old gunman with mental health issues took his loaded AR-15 style rifle and shot more than 30 people, killing 17 of them. Families were shattered, people were left lying on the classroom floor in cold blood, and America now reels from another school shooting. This shooting wasn’t like any other shooting and it hit close to home for me.

This one was different because it seemed so preventable. The school was an excellent, “A” grade school. The community was dubbed “the safest city in Florida.” How could something at this magnitude happen again, in a community of this type? In all honesty, I don’t have any answers to this question because, clearly, a shooting like this can happen anywhere. A mass shooting could occur on the bustling Las Vegas Strip, in the wooded hills of Connecticut, or in the densely populated suburbs of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

What can we the public do about this? How can we make sure that something like this doesn’t happen again? Will more people continue to support the NRA and Second Amendment rights?

These are the questions that have been running through millions of American minds this past week and action needs to be taken. Nothing has effectively been done to prevent school shootings and it has become an epidemic. Rallies need to be held, celebrities need to speak out, and Congress needs to agree on rules.

This is no longer a Republican versus Democrat issue, rather, it’s a humanity issue. It’s time Americans band together for mankind and human safety.

Mass shootings lead to difficult choices

Posted on February 16, 2018 by Patricia Santana

By PATRICIA SANTANA

On Feb. 14, a gunman entered Broward County’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and started shooting. There were 17 fatalities, making it one of the top 10 deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history.

The gunman, identified as 19-year-old expelled student Nikolas Cruz, used an AR-15, the weapon of choice for many mass shooters. His motives are still unknown. He confessed in court to the shooting.

Much of the early information around this shooting came from social media posts by students trapped inside the school. Students barricaded in classrooms would tweet out safety updates or videos of the chaos. This ability to get live updates from inside a situation was unthinkable just a few years ago and allows for reporters and the rest of the outside world to have more information sooner.

However, there are many possible problems over reporting from these social media posts.

One possible problem is in regards to fact-checking. Much of what a student tweets could potentially be based off of incorrect assumptions or limited knowledge of the situation. In a situation such as this shooting, a news reporter needs to take extra care to not cause panic by disseminating false information, especially since social media allows for that false information to make its way back to other students in the same situation.

There is also the question of whether news media coverage is over-exposing people to violence.

Since the Parkland shooting, many people have questioned how necessary it is to see every dead body and puddle of blood. Some worry that it’s a violation of privacy and an act of disrespect to victims and their families. Many psychologists raise concerns that over-exposure to graphic images could worsen cases of acute stress disorder or post-traumatic stress disorder. There is also concern over people becoming desensitized to horrific violence.

However journalists decide to handle the inclusion of social media posts and graphic images in their reporting of mass shootings, I feel that the most important thing is to balance the need for truth and facts with respect for the tragedy.

Parkland focus turns to mental health

Posted on February 15, 2018 by Andrea Illan

By ANDREA ILLAN

On Feb. 14, 17 people were killed at yet another school shooting by former student of the school. This time it was Nikolas Cruz at Stoneman Douglas High School. This is the 18th one of the kind this year and Americans are getting fed up of the gun violence and wonder when it will end.

An image has been circulating on social media in which the words “thoughts & prayers” are crossed off and replaced by the words “policy & change.”

This differs greatly from the way America has responded to these incidents in the past.

Rather than the usual tone of remaining positive, people are calling out politicians and demanding change. The president, along with many news media outlets, has decided to, once more, ignore the gun issue and give the incident the completely wrong focus.

As reported by The New York Times, POTUS tweeted about the mental state of the shooter a few hours before he formally addressed the public.Later during his formal speech, he also failed to mention gun control. Instead he continued to focus on mental health.

Similarly, an article on the Miami New Times the next day makes mention of the mental state of Cruz.

Although the article mainly focuses on how someone in that psychological state is able to get their hands on such deadly weapons, the mention of his mental health seems unnecessary when there are bigger problems at stake.

In this instance, the shooter had mental health issues but the reality of it is that many of the people responsible for these types of massacres do not. While mental health should be addressed when looking at these issues, that is an issue in itself that should not obstruct the gun debate.

Both the news media and American politicians need to focus on the real issue instead, which is the unnecessarily high accessibility to weapons in this country.

Parkland coverage turns to when to talk

Posted on February 15, 2018 by Sophia Constantino

By SOPHIA CONSTANTINO

It seems near impossible to analyze how the news media are responding to the high school shooting that took place on Feb. 14, 2018 in Parkland, Fla. It is unarguably necessary to discuss the way how news media portray such horror contributes to a cycle of perception to representation and back again.

It almost feels inappropriate, which is ironic given the justification often used for prolonging talks— that it’s too soon.

In terms of briefer forms of news media, the cycle prevails through social media; users send thoughts and prayers, share articles, and debate whether or not now is the time to discuss gun control.

Posts have gone up of pro-gun rights users prepping themselves with arguments against gun control for the predicted debates. Conversely, Democratic Sen. Chris Murphey tweeted “Don’t tell me tomorrow isn’t the appropriate time to debate gun violence.” And thus ensues the “should we talk about it or shouldn’t we?” narrative.

Higher profile news sources, such as The New York Times, The New Yorker, BBC, and nearly every other news medium is serving hard and fast facts as new developments emerge, as well as arguments regarding when is the time to discuss the problem. The constant theme, aside for the sentiments of regret and tragedy, is deciding when is appropriate to begin talks.

The over-used argument for prolonging gun control discussion focuses on not using a tragedy as a means for furthering a political agenda. This case is essentially arguing for victim sensitivity, which could perhaps be valid, if only the talks were to take place in given time and more often than not, they don’t.

Half the news media say we should talk about it and the other half uses victim sensitivity as a means to put off hard talks. As a result, we only ever talk about talking about it until we get tired and then quiet down until the next “biggest mass shooting in history” graces our headlines.

This, in turn, undermines both major angles of prevention- the mental health angle and the gun control angle- as both sides perceive the other to be solely agenda-pushing.

When shooting dialogues only take front seat when there is a tragedy, too many valid arguments from both sides are lost in the chaos. Perhaps if the serious discussions were to remain steady and progressive through news media representation, rather than urgent and reactionary as they are often portrayed, our country could actually get somewhere.

Times reporter unveils Alt-Right mask

Posted on February 13, 2018 by Allie Simon

By ALLIE SIMON

Emma Cott, a New York Times reporter, sat down with one of the primary leaders of the white supremacist group, the Alt-Right movement, and uncovered the key to their success.

Cott interviewed Elliot Kline, an Alt-Right leader who goes by the pseudonym Eli Mosley, after British fascist Oswald Mosley who tried to bring Nazism to England. Mosley made his transition from a Twitter-troll to a leader of the alt-right movement when he helped plan the ‘Unite the Right’ rally in Charlottesville, Va., in August 2017. The rally ended in one fatality and more than a dozen wounded and was considered a success by the alt-right standards.

Eli Mosley, one of the Alt-Right movement leaders.

At an Alt-Right member’s home in Alexandria, Va., Cott did an on-camera interview with Mosley in which he told her that there is a huge connection between the military and Alt-Right. He said that he served in Iraq and found it “boring.”

According to Mosley, lots of alt-right members served in the military and were “disillusioned with the American political system,” including himself.

Cott’s in-depth research following her sit-down with Mosley led her to ask questions. She contacted the Army for confirmation of Mosley’s deployment and to not much surprise, she found he had never actually been deployed. Cott’s strong reporting skills led her to conclude that Mosley’s identity in the Alt-Right movement was based on a lie.

Not only did Mosley lie about going to Iraq, but he refused to admit it was not an internal computer error that led the Army to tell Cott that he was never actually deployed.

Because Mosley’s position within the movement is to help bring people together who share a common goal of becoming so-called “activists” in the white supremacist community, he pretends to be apart of the target audience: veterans.

Cott pieced together the fraudulence within the alt-right movement by concluding that the movement is filled with “Holocaust deniers and pseudo-intellectuals who spout unsubstantiated theories about the science behind racial difference.”

Mosley’s trick of lying to gain entrance and ranking within the white supremacist community does not differ from the strategies of his fellow Neo-Nazis. Cott claims that alt-right is merely a place, “where a weekend warrior can pass himself off as a disillusioned veteran of war.” The interview is merely a spotlight on Mosley caught in a lie.

Child shootings occur daily in America

Posted on November 10, 2017 by Veronica Spagna

By VERONICA SPAGNA

We already must be concerned with protecting the children in America from attackers, drugs and numerous of the other constant dangers in the world. Just last week last Sunday, eight children were killed, a part of the biggest mass shooting in Texas history. But children should not be presented with danger just because of an adult’s irresponsibility.

Thursday afternoon, a 2-year-old toddler shot himself in the head and was found dead in a basement of a home in Philadelphia’s Olney neighborhood. The police recovered the handgun, but have still not shared the identity of the owner.

Just in 2016, 318 incidents occurred where someone under the age of 18 had access to a firearm. A total of 21 adults were shot by kids and 121 kids were killed by self-inflicted wounds or were shot by another kid.

As of this month, the data of children unintentionally pulling the trigger and shooting themselves, other children and other adults is shocking and just disgraceful. A total of 116 kids have already been killed this year by another child or by a self-inflicted wound.

A new study on gun violence with the objective to examine fatal and nonfatal firearm injuries among children aged infant to 17 in the United States was published in the Journal of Pediatrics. This study was conducted by statisticians at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the University of Texas. With results showing that 19 children are shot every single day in the United States.

This means that an average of 3.5 children is killed by guns each day.

A part of America believes that guns are needed for safety, although they seem to be a constant danger. If adults make the decision to possess firearms for their own safety, as they believe it is their right as written in the constitution, then they should also have the decency to be responsible with its power. It is not fair that children who can grow and live a life, are unable to because of their own curiosity and an adult’s carelessness.

Why have mass shootings increased?

Posted on November 9, 2017 by Anael Gavizon

By ANAEL GAVIZON

After the Texas shooting last week, many of us kept wondering what is going on in the country. Why are the shootings in the U.S. gradually becoming more deadly ? All we have seen in the news lately include shootings, injured and people killed.

During the week, I read two different articles that somehow tried to address the issue with a lot of facts, information and in an appealing way. Both, The New York Times and BBC News, wrote an article on their websites titled: Why are U.S. mass shootings getting more deadly? Why U.S. mass shootings?

It seemed really interesting to me as a reader not only for the timing of the subject but also because it is such a controversial, broad topic about which it is hard to write .

The article in the NYT explains how America is different to any other country when the issue involves a gun and gun policy. The article stated that one of the main reasons the mass killings in the U.S. have been constant is because of the gun regulations. Although the newspaper explains fairly enough how it reached that conclusion, statistics and facts are presented vaguely. In my opinion, the story and analysis is really good but the newspaper could have presented the data more effectively using more than two simple graphics. Moreover, the newspaper fails to include multiple sources and just uses information provided by Adam Lankford, a professor from the University of Alabama.

On the other hand, BBC News did a similar piece in which it explained how the frequency of mass shootings has increased during the years. The news network gives us a little background to each of the shootings in modern history and dismantles factors that have changed during time. For this article, BBC News engages the attention of the reader in any way possible. The BBC offers various facts and information through explanatory videos, graphs, videos of each event, etc. Readers can even keep listening to the videos while they see other pictures or read the article. The network offers a really good analysis and provided evidence and visuals that help the viewer imagine the full context.

Helpful Links:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/07/world/americas/mass-shootings-us-international.html?rref=collection%2Fbyline%2Fmax-fisher&action=click&contentCollection=undefined&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=collection – What Explains U.S. Mass Shootings? International Comparisons Suggest an Answer- By Max Fisher and Josh Keller
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-41890277 – Why are US mass shootings getting more deadly? By Tara McKelvey

Manhattan attack leaves eight dead

Posted on November 1, 2017 by Ben Ezzy

By BEN EZZY

Eight people were killed and 11 injured Tuesday in Manhattan after a driver ran them over in his pickup truck. The lone driver then ended the rampage after crashing into a school bus and shouting “Allahu akbar” as he ran around the road with a pellet gun and a paintball gun. He was later identified as 29-year-old Sayfullow Saipov, after being shot by police in the abdomen.

Investigations following the incident have revealed that Saipov spent weeks planning the attack and that it was tied to directives he received from the Islamic State. The instructions were to carry out an attack with a truck and leave a note behind that praised the group and its philosophies. Crime scene investigators found an assortment of knives around the truck, along with a note as described.

As the story has developed and more information has become available, news media outlets have done a good job handling and dispersing the material in a way that keeps details from becoming confusing. This is a sensitive topic and, in organizing information for readers, this has allowed for order in the face of chaos.

The New York Times, for example, has published several pieces on the attack, including angles relating to the potential motivation behind the attack, the state of affairs as they stand, and what is happening in the aftermath of the incident. The newspaper also published one story online that was simply a list of facts that “we know” and “we don’t know” at this point. In doing so, readers can quickly understand where the story is and how it is developing.

Other outlets, like CNN, placed an emphasis on the use of images and video to complement the written articles. A slideshow that is part of the latest CNN article allows readers to visualize with the current situation is like. There are also links to “related articles,” which give viewers a complete picture of what is happening and what the effects will be for the people of Manhattan and the United States at large.

Woman is killed in boy’s suicide attempt

Posted on November 1, 2017 by Nina Garza

By NINA GARZA

Marisa Harris, 22, was killed instantly when a 12-year-old boy jumped off an overpass above a Virginia interstate highway in a suicide attempt, falling onto her car.

The 12-year-old was rushed to the hospital with life-threatening injuries and is currently being treated.

Police are still investigating suicide attempt.

Harris was driving while her boyfriend was riding in the passenger seat when the boy fell onto the car. Harris’s boyfriend immediately took control of the steering wheel to get off of the interstate. He suffered no injuries.

Harris was a graduate student studying mental health counseling in pursuit of helping children battling depression. Her uncle spoke to reporters telling them it was ironic that the boy who killed Harris was someone she could have helped.

When this story first came out, news articles stated that Harris’s mother and father had declined to speak to the news media. Due to this, her uncle talked to reporters instead. I know that it is the news media’s job to contact family members during a tragedy, however it is really hard for a mother and father to want to immediately talk to the news media when their child just died.

It has now been several days since this incident and Harris’s mother has said a few words to the news media about her daughter. She told reporters that her daughter had graduated from Towson University and was currently getting her master at Marymount University.

What happened in Las Vegas?

Posted on October 27, 2017 by Danny LaRose

By DANNY LAROSE

Conspiracy theorists rejoice — Fox News’ Tucker Carlson is making waves.

The popular talk show host recently held a segment covering how little we know of what occurred leading up to, during and after the Las Vegas shooting from earlier this month. Carlson specifically attacked the story of the only eyewitness Jesus Campos, revealing that Campos left the country days after the shooting and is not in fact a licensed security guard as his testimony to police stated. Carlson raised many unnerving questions and pointed out that as this investigation proceeds, the information — or lack there of, for that matter – becomes more unclear.

Carlson’s assessment of events in Las Vegas is necessary. Falling short of conspiracy theorizing and speculation, he points out the shortcomings of the information received by the public and the misinformation that has been espoused. Most importantly, however, is the fact that Carlson is covering the story at all.

There has been what some have called a news media blackout in regard to the Las Vegas Shooting over the past few weeks. Most likely this is because no new, concrete evidence has turned up since the shooting, but the lack of attention the media is giving the largest mass shooting in modern American history is particularly surprising.

Looking at what information authorities and the public have, we should be increasingly aware at how little we know, despite many logistical questions and a substantial period of time. The current news media are no strangers to speculation or calling into question missing pieces of an investigative puzzle; they have been harping the same Donald Trump collusion with Russia in the 2016 election for about a year now. But the Las Vegas story is not receiving the same treatment. That is not right.

I am wary of even writing on the lack of attention given to this mystery out of fear of riling conspiracy theory and government sabotage, etc. Conspiracists will jump on anything if you give them the chance. Thankfully, Carlson does none of that. He merely reminds viewers that there is more we don’t know about Las Vegas than is typical or justified. And after seeing his segment I have to wonder, why isn’t this receiving more attention?

It is a difficult story to develop, no doubt, as many people are directly affected by the tragedy and the risk of spreading rumors is great in an event of this proportion. However, silence is also not appropriate. The news media used to be on the ground floor discovering new leads when they broke, but for this story it seems we are stuck with speculation and unanswered questions.

DIGITAL NEWS REPORTING

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

Tag Archives: Violence