Introduction
On November 19, 2008 Rebecca Heyse visited USF to discuss military public affairs reporting. She is a 2D Lieutenant who serves as the Public Informations Officer for MacDill Air force Base in Tampa, FL. During this discussion there were a variety of topics Rebecca touched on. She mentioned the process of entering people into the base, especially when there is a major event; how reporters should build a good reputation with the base; and, other important material for beginning reporters to know.
General Petraeus Visit
Just recently General Petraeus, a high ranking officer in the U.S. Army, and the Secretary of Defense visited the base. When these high profile types of events occur there are certain procedures Rebecca has to follow. Before the event, there was a media release sent out to inform all of the media outlets in their contact list and about thirty of them showed up. For them to enter they had to be at the base on time and park outside of the gate. After being approved by showing the proper identification, they were bussed in to where they needed to set up. The event ended and no interviews with General Petreaus were allowed; however, there were some of his fellow classmates from West Point and random people in the crowd who were available for comment.
Advice for Reporters
• They prefer to get to know reporters and build relationships before something happens, which will make it easier for everyone when crisis occurs.
• The base is always looking to give out stories, so it would behoove reporters to sometimes take the stories they don’t necessarily want to cover. This would perhaps them more access to the good stories when they come around.
• Should give the military your personal e-mail address, so you can get on the media contact list. This will allow you to find out everything that’s going on.
• Work hard to get information: We want to release the information to you, but it’s our commanders that keep a tight hold. Just because information is releasable doesn’t mean were going to release it…Don’t wait for them to release information, call and keep asking for it. The more questions you ask the more they are going to release.”
• Don’t get on the bad list by writing a horrible story or getting information wrong (such as titles.) Your credibility will go down the drain and she will make it hard for you to get information and access to places.
• Build relationships with civilians in the office because the officers don’t stay long. The turnover isn’t good for trying to build long term connections.
Miscellaneous Facts
No two days are the same, Rebecca mentioned. Her job is extremely diverse. New days bring new challenges and occurrences.
Most PIO’s will be officers that have four year degrees. Below them are the enlisted, which usually are those that came straight out of high school.
Lastly, the biggest mistake people make when dealing with MacDill is not knowing what they do. People will request to see a tank or some other contraption that is not housed by the base. This causes a lot of confusion.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Thursday, November 6, 2008
High voter turnout, yet low concern for local elections
November 4, 2008 is a singular day of infamy. The first African American was elected to the United States Presidency, the highest position in the land. Many voters came out, setting an unimaginable record for our country. People were engaged in the national elections, but didn’t show the same vigor for local elections. Across Hillsborough County, people of all ages and ethnicities cited that the local elections didn’t add to their motivation to vote this time around. A majority of the items on the ballot were local and statewide issues, yet voters didn’t have much to say about them. “I am ashamed to say that I really didn’t,” said Vanessa LaFrance, commenting on local candidates, “Because I was handed a paper that told me which candidates were in which parties; that’s how I based it off of…I’m ashamed to say that I really didn’t know anything about them.” People interviewed from churches, schools and other precincts near the University of South Florida campus all held a similar message of disdain for voting for the local issues and candidates. Mark Trubiano, an older voter, mentioned that he voted because he doesn’t believe in communism, but believes in freedom of choice. Although, he devoted little efforts to the local campaigns and said they weren’t a big factor in his voting. This raises many questions. Why aren’t people connecting with the local elections? Is it an issue in Hillsborough County? Are the candidates not getting out the message good enough? What role does the Supervisor of Elections office play? And does it matter more than national elections? All of these issues are tough to crack, but work needs to be put in to address them. It is plausible that a record number of voters came out this time around, yet the activism needs to improve for local elections.
Local Elections
The current United States Representative Kathy Castor was able to pull out another win. She defeated GOP candidate Eddie Adams Jr. with 67.21% of the vote. She tallied the most votes out of Hillsborough County for House of Representative candidates receiving a popular vote of 120,990.
Republican candidate Gus Bilirakis was able to maintain his seat. He defeated his opponents by a large margin gaining 64.58% of votes. Bilirakis first served as a Florida House Representative for eight years and used the mantra of being a family man as a campaign slogan.
One hard fought battle was that between Democratic candidate Kevin Beckner and GOP candidate Brian Blair for County Commissioner District 6. Beckner who was endorsed by both the St. Pete Times and Tampa Tribune won the race garnering 52.86% of the vote according to the Supervisor of Elections Office.
The controversial bill for Amendment 2 (Florida Marriage Amendment) passed slightly with 62.1% of the vote. The language of the bill reads, "This amendment protects marriage as the legal union of only one man and one woman as husband and wife and provides that no other legal union that is treated as marriage or the substantial equivalent thereof shall be valid or recognized." Florida now does not recognize same-sex marriages.
All together in the Bay area there is a registered number 701,464 voters. The number of ballots cast was 434,895 which was a voter turnout rate of 62.00%. “Election officials warned a massive flood of voters could overwhelm South Florida's election employees this year. Long lines during early voting stoked the fears. But the numbers show those fears were exaggerated. Florida's statewide voter turnout Tuesday was the third lowest in a presidential election since 1956, according to Florida Division of Elections statistics,” according to state news on tcpalm.com.
Local Elections
The current United States Representative Kathy Castor was able to pull out another win. She defeated GOP candidate Eddie Adams Jr. with 67.21% of the vote. She tallied the most votes out of Hillsborough County for House of Representative candidates receiving a popular vote of 120,990.
Republican candidate Gus Bilirakis was able to maintain his seat. He defeated his opponents by a large margin gaining 64.58% of votes. Bilirakis first served as a Florida House Representative for eight years and used the mantra of being a family man as a campaign slogan.
One hard fought battle was that between Democratic candidate Kevin Beckner and GOP candidate Brian Blair for County Commissioner District 6. Beckner who was endorsed by both the St. Pete Times and Tampa Tribune won the race garnering 52.86% of the vote according to the Supervisor of Elections Office.
The controversial bill for Amendment 2 (Florida Marriage Amendment) passed slightly with 62.1% of the vote. The language of the bill reads, "This amendment protects marriage as the legal union of only one man and one woman as husband and wife and provides that no other legal union that is treated as marriage or the substantial equivalent thereof shall be valid or recognized." Florida now does not recognize same-sex marriages.
All together in the Bay area there is a registered number 701,464 voters. The number of ballots cast was 434,895 which was a voter turnout rate of 62.00%. “Election officials warned a massive flood of voters could overwhelm South Florida's election employees this year. Long lines during early voting stoked the fears. But the numbers show those fears were exaggerated. Florida's statewide voter turnout Tuesday was the third lowest in a presidential election since 1956, according to Florida Division of Elections statistics,” according to state news on tcpalm.com.
Friday, October 31, 2008
True Enough Chapter 1
True Enough, written by Farhad Manjoo, is a narrative about how we view the world differently, especially because of the media that we consume. It takes a psychological and sociological viewpoint on how the news affects our lives. This book truly tackles a wide viewpoint, along with personal accounts to show how we conform as a society so easily. An excerpt from the book explains, “At the same time that technology and globalization has pushed the world together, it is driving our minds apart.”
The introduction was effective in communicating what the author wants to portray in this text. He mentions that we are divided; not only as a nation, but also as an entire world. We have our own truths and own realities. Involving news, we tend to watch what we want, which means whatever we believe and want to hear is what were going to get. Therefore, he uses the analogy that one can be “so far out you’re floating in an asteroid belt, among people who feel exactly the same way.” He continued to stress his point with the story of Eliza Jane Scovill, a 3-year-old who died from a tragic story. This young girl had a mother who was diagnosed with HIV back in the 90’s and became advocate for a cause that says HIV does not turn into AIDS. People with this ideology believe that medicines used to prevent a fetus from contracting HIV from their mothers are wrong. They do not believe in them. As Eliza became sick her mother brought her to three different doctors. Each mentioned it was a minor flu or ear infection. One doctor event prescribed a simple antibiotic. They were all wrong and unfortunately Eliza passed away. An autopsy showed that she had symptoms of HIV and AIDS.
In chapter one, Farhad used a familiar accident to show that perception is reality. He described the 2004 elections and how the “Swift Boat Veterans” personally ruined John Kerry’s run for presidency. This group of men was so bothered by Kerry’s actions back during the Vietnam War that they stood up against such a man that would sell out his fellow army men and country. What he did was testify to Congress about how American troops treated harmless and innocent citizens heinously in Vietnam. The point Farhad wanted to make is the Swift Boat Veterans had three decisions. Focus on attacking what he did in Vietnam (which was create heinous crimes himself) even though they did not have evidence he ever did anything; attack his actions after the war, which were true; or attack both. They decided to attack both. Farhad says by doing this the veterans successfully painted an image of John Kerry, whether true or not, that was negative thus pushing Bush ahead.
The introduction was effective in communicating what the author wants to portray in this text. He mentions that we are divided; not only as a nation, but also as an entire world. We have our own truths and own realities. Involving news, we tend to watch what we want, which means whatever we believe and want to hear is what were going to get. Therefore, he uses the analogy that one can be “so far out you’re floating in an asteroid belt, among people who feel exactly the same way.” He continued to stress his point with the story of Eliza Jane Scovill, a 3-year-old who died from a tragic story. This young girl had a mother who was diagnosed with HIV back in the 90’s and became advocate for a cause that says HIV does not turn into AIDS. People with this ideology believe that medicines used to prevent a fetus from contracting HIV from their mothers are wrong. They do not believe in them. As Eliza became sick her mother brought her to three different doctors. Each mentioned it was a minor flu or ear infection. One doctor event prescribed a simple antibiotic. They were all wrong and unfortunately Eliza passed away. An autopsy showed that she had symptoms of HIV and AIDS.
In chapter one, Farhad used a familiar accident to show that perception is reality. He described the 2004 elections and how the “Swift Boat Veterans” personally ruined John Kerry’s run for presidency. This group of men was so bothered by Kerry’s actions back during the Vietnam War that they stood up against such a man that would sell out his fellow army men and country. What he did was testify to Congress about how American troops treated harmless and innocent citizens heinously in Vietnam. The point Farhad wanted to make is the Swift Boat Veterans had three decisions. Focus on attacking what he did in Vietnam (which was create heinous crimes himself) even though they did not have evidence he ever did anything; attack his actions after the war, which were true; or attack both. They decided to attack both. Farhad says by doing this the veterans successfully painted an image of John Kerry, whether true or not, that was negative thus pushing Bush ahead.
Race and Religion Reporting
Times in America have changed. If we take a look back 50 years you will see a nation that truly has grown and become the land of opportunity. There are many factors that have a huge impact on the way we live today. Diversity/Race Relations and Religion are two that have been a large topic as of lately. On October 15, 2008 three gentlemen who have made strides in the Mass Media field came to speak on these topics. Ken Irby, Christopher Martinez and Eric Deggans all visited to discuss these controversial subjects.
Ken Irby, Director of Diversity at the Poynter Institute, talked about his experience as an African American in the media. As a black man reporting, there were times where he couldn’t report on issues involving men or minorities because he is “affiliated” with these groups. He combated that by saying the notion that we are “objective” in the media is crazy. This is because we all have subjective experiences. There is a distinct difference between objectivity and truth. “My truth is not everyone else’s truth,” he explained. He used the example of us (the listeners), if were doing a story on them, if one person focused on what Ken said and another focused on what Christopher said, then we would have two different stories and truths.
Christopher Martinez, a former religion reporter and current University of South Florida professor, had a little bit of a different message. He said that national media has a huge impact on localism. Many religion stories are tight-nit and community based, but the majority comes from national occurrences. For example, when the Pope came to the United States, the Catholic Church had a record number of attendances at mass. When there was a chain reaction of priests being accused of molestation there was a massive decline in attendance.
Christopher also stressed that you must “have tough skin because when you report on something people will be mad at you, especially in a close-nit environment. He told us a personal story that people all the time will walk around him and mention they better not say anything because he is a reporter. Christopher said he replies with you don’t have anything newsworthy for me to write anyways, which usually makes then indignant and change their attitudes.
Eric Deggans, who is a music critic for the St. Pete Times, also added his input. He thought it was interesting how black ministers for so long fought for equality and civil rights, although a majority of them are voting no on Amendment 2. Also, being that he is a media critic, he said he is bothered that no other minority groups other than blacks really receive attention as far as their religion is concerned. There are so many diverse populations, such as the Vietnamese, Chinese etc. that do not get any attention on their beliefs.
The best advice that I received from the three of them was to establish good relationships. You get the exclusive interviews when you are able to do so.
Ken Irby, Director of Diversity at the Poynter Institute, talked about his experience as an African American in the media. As a black man reporting, there were times where he couldn’t report on issues involving men or minorities because he is “affiliated” with these groups. He combated that by saying the notion that we are “objective” in the media is crazy. This is because we all have subjective experiences. There is a distinct difference between objectivity and truth. “My truth is not everyone else’s truth,” he explained. He used the example of us (the listeners), if were doing a story on them, if one person focused on what Ken said and another focused on what Christopher said, then we would have two different stories and truths.
Christopher Martinez, a former religion reporter and current University of South Florida professor, had a little bit of a different message. He said that national media has a huge impact on localism. Many religion stories are tight-nit and community based, but the majority comes from national occurrences. For example, when the Pope came to the United States, the Catholic Church had a record number of attendances at mass. When there was a chain reaction of priests being accused of molestation there was a massive decline in attendance.
Christopher also stressed that you must “have tough skin because when you report on something people will be mad at you, especially in a close-nit environment. He told us a personal story that people all the time will walk around him and mention they better not say anything because he is a reporter. Christopher said he replies with you don’t have anything newsworthy for me to write anyways, which usually makes then indignant and change their attitudes.
Eric Deggans, who is a music critic for the St. Pete Times, also added his input. He thought it was interesting how black ministers for so long fought for equality and civil rights, although a majority of them are voting no on Amendment 2. Also, being that he is a media critic, he said he is bothered that no other minority groups other than blacks really receive attention as far as their religion is concerned. There are so many diverse populations, such as the Vietnamese, Chinese etc. that do not get any attention on their beliefs.
The best advice that I received from the three of them was to establish good relationships. You get the exclusive interviews when you are able to do so.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Ron Matus, Saint Petersburg Times
On Tuesday, September 26 Ron Matus, a reporter from the St. Pete Times, visited our Public Affairs Reporting class to discuss the ins and outs of a being a reporter. Ron joined the St. Pete Times in 2002 after spending five years at the Gainesville Sun as an environmental reporter. In addition, he is a beat reporter that focuses on state education. He gave us his personal experience as a reporter, advice about the business and discussed a story he wrote about a professor at Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University. Ron also explained to us how much work it took to write this particular story, including the process it took to gather the public records to write a credible story with proper sources.
His story about the FAMU professor was very interesting. Titled, “FAMU instructor sails through hot water,” this was a story about a professor who has a huge track record of being ineffective and corrupt, although he is kept around for some reason by the university. In 1996, Bill Proctor was elected into the Leon County commission and managed to be re-elected three times even after falling into “political hot water” more than once. He worked in former Governor Lawton Chile’s administration and was known to be missing in action. In the Leon County Commission he compiled the worst attendance record for special meetings and workshops. He turned in campaign finance and financial disclosure reports late garnering huge fines, had his drivers license suspended more than once, owed about $90,000 in taxes back in 2004 and failed to pay student loans according to public records found by Ron Matus. In addition, he received a written reprimand from FAMU after repeated accounts of unexcused absences. Yet, they still remain to keep him as a Visiting Faculty member and pay him $50,000 a year.
We learned a lot from Ron not only about Public Affairs reporting, but also gathering records for any story we may need to write. One notable thing he taught us that I didn’t know was there is an office in Charlie Christ’s cabinet that focuses on public records. From my understanding there is always supposed to be an office of this sort, but it has been made more transparent through the Charlie Christ administration. The office will make sure that entities, which have records requested, will provide that information to the requester in a reasonable amount of time. Ron noted personally that FAMU sort of ignored his request for a few weeks, and once he contacted this public records office FAMU got back to him immediately with the information he needed. In the end Ron ended up with a folder of hundreds of pages, which were all important to the information provided in his story.
I learned a lot in the session Ron Matus hosted and was glad to have the opportunity to ask him questions. Another important lesson I learned was how difficult a reporter’s schedule can be. His hours were 8-5 on a regular basis and also having two children doesn’t help. It is commendable at how he balances his life with the rigorous schedule of a reporter.
His story about the FAMU professor was very interesting. Titled, “FAMU instructor sails through hot water,” this was a story about a professor who has a huge track record of being ineffective and corrupt, although he is kept around for some reason by the university. In 1996, Bill Proctor was elected into the Leon County commission and managed to be re-elected three times even after falling into “political hot water” more than once. He worked in former Governor Lawton Chile’s administration and was known to be missing in action. In the Leon County Commission he compiled the worst attendance record for special meetings and workshops. He turned in campaign finance and financial disclosure reports late garnering huge fines, had his drivers license suspended more than once, owed about $90,000 in taxes back in 2004 and failed to pay student loans according to public records found by Ron Matus. In addition, he received a written reprimand from FAMU after repeated accounts of unexcused absences. Yet, they still remain to keep him as a Visiting Faculty member and pay him $50,000 a year.
We learned a lot from Ron not only about Public Affairs reporting, but also gathering records for any story we may need to write. One notable thing he taught us that I didn’t know was there is an office in Charlie Christ’s cabinet that focuses on public records. From my understanding there is always supposed to be an office of this sort, but it has been made more transparent through the Charlie Christ administration. The office will make sure that entities, which have records requested, will provide that information to the requester in a reasonable amount of time. Ron noted personally that FAMU sort of ignored his request for a few weeks, and once he contacted this public records office FAMU got back to him immediately with the information he needed. In the end Ron ended up with a folder of hundreds of pages, which were all important to the information provided in his story.
I learned a lot in the session Ron Matus hosted and was glad to have the opportunity to ask him questions. Another important lesson I learned was how difficult a reporter’s schedule can be. His hours were 8-5 on a regular basis and also having two children doesn’t help. It is commendable at how he balances his life with the rigorous schedule of a reporter.
Round-Up, 1st blog
My first blog of the semester I will discuss a huge event that occurs every year at the University of South Florida, the Round-Up. The Round-Up is a large pep rally I would say, that showcases student organizations, has special guests such as the university President and a comedy show that follows. It always occurs on the Thursday of the first week of classes and brings out large numbers of students. This year there were more than 4,000 people that showed up to enjoy in the festivities
I am proud to say that Round-Up highly successful this year. My role in the event was the student coordinator, which deemed me the task of inviting all the guests, writing the scripts and making sure everything ran smoothly the day of. I was working under the Office of Student Organizations who is run by the Associate Dean for Student affairs, Regina Young Hyatt. The event started off with a video that I wrote, produced, shot and edited. The video consisted of two students running around campus telling different people it was Round-Up Day and should stop what they were doing to go to Round-Up. It was stressful putting it together, but I was proud of the outcome. The next few segments were of student leaders, administrators and athletics personnel. The student leaders were Greg Morgan, Student Body President and, Thomas King, Student Body Vice President. Their segment consisted of telling students about their Student Government initiatives, a skit about stopping students who wear other universities’ colors at USF and a skit with the USF starting quarterback Matt Grothe.
During the administrator scenes, Dr. Meningall, the Vice President of Student Affairs, and Dr. Wilcox, the Provost and Assistant Vice President for USF, discussed their collegiate experience. This was important to tie what they went through in college with today’s students in an attempt to build a commonality with today’s student body. They mentioned everything from the music they listened to, to Greek life and different challenges they had with academics. In addition, the President of the university, Judy Genshaft had her own segment on stage. She walked on accompanied by USF cheerleaders and the Herd of Thunder band to get the crowed pumped and excited for the year.
With all the great entertainment, the night wasn’t complete until the main act came on. Two cast members from the hit Comedy Central Show, Reno 911, were the standup talent that performed. There names were Cedric Yarbough and Carlos Alazraqui. Carlos who has been a standup comic for many years started off the show and was pretty good. He mentioned how he also does voice-overs, the most notable being the Taco Bell dog on the commercials and Rocko from Rocko’s Modern Life. Next, Cedric entered the stage and did about a twenty minute standup with Carlos. Carlos then left Cedric on the stage who just started doing standup comedy not too long ago. He wasn’t bad, but resorted much of his time to Karaoke and other tactics to keep the crowd entertained other than just with comedy. To end their performance they both came back on stage with their Reno 911 uniforms and created improv skits right in front of the crowd.
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