Published Work

My senior capstone at Temple University was a course that required me to report on an area in Philadelphia that is considered “ignored” by the mainstream media. My partner, Leah Mafrica, and I went to an area north of Temple’s main campus called Fairhill. Fairhill was home to three of the top worst drug corners in Philly, but as Leah and I discovered, it was also home to real, hard working people. In the months I spent covering the communities there, I discovered more about humanity and lots about myself. Though a daunting experience at times, it ended up being one of the best and most fulfilling experiences of my life. Several of my packages were published on the site we reported for: philadelphianeighborhoods.com.

Click on the following links to see what I consider to be some of my best work in the class. I shot, wrote, voiced and edited the video packages. Leah and I both interviewed. Leah wrote the articles for the pieces where both of our names are listed.

Fairhill: Snow doesn’t Inhibit Residents

• This was the first piece I produced for MURL (Multimedia Urban Reporting Lab). We were instructed to come up with any topic we wanted to cover so the instructors could gauge where each of us were as journalists. I had a story lined up but one of the several blizzards that happened the winter of 2010 cancelled the event. I panicked on what to do for a story and decided that the snow was the way to go. I didn’t know where to start so I figured I would just head to my assigned neighborhood. While driving slowly down the snow-covered streets of Fairhill, I came across a group of young men playing football in the middle of the street; that’s how I got my story (and also how I got my first A in the class!).

Fairhill: Art Sparks Cultural Connections

• All that can be said about this story is that it was a great time with thought-provoking art and interesting people.

Holiday Foster Program

This is an audio slide show about a national holiday foster program sponsored by Petfinder.com. The pictures were taken at the Animal Welfare Association in Voorhees, New Jersey. The logos are from the Petfinder website and the Humane Society Website. The map is courtesy of infoplease.com. Enjoy and happy holidays!

New Times, New Show

So I started watching a new show on CBS today. It’s called “Talk Philly.” It’s basically like any noon newscast, except, it’s not. The set is meant to resemble a “cozy Philadelphia-style loft” to allow the hosts to have living-room-like conversations with guests in-studio and viewers online. They still talk about news, (like Tiger, duh!), but the program is generally a “life-styles” program. Here’s what the general manager and president had to say about the program : “In these challenging times,” people need more than headlines to manage their increasingly complicated lives,” says President and General Manager Jon Hitchcock. “Talk Philly is our chance to offer viewers more health, consumer and lifestyle solutions with the advantage of in-studio guests, longer interviews and demonstrations.”

What the show really reminded me of was a morning show, but shorter, and a little more news-oriented. The program today started out with coverage on Obama’s acceptance of the Nobel Peace Prize. There were also updates on weather. There was an interview with a correspondent Byron Pitts, who just wrote a book on how he overcame adversity. There was also an interview with a man who talked about Diabetes Restaurant Month. They gave headlines about Tiger as well, but I missed them talking about it. I also missed them answering questions from people online–maybe they did, maybe they didn’t.

I’m not sure if I actually liked the program-it was a little awkward for a noon newscast. What I did like was that they streamed the show live online. I started watching it on TV and my roommate came in and grabbed the remote and changed to channel to the Game Show Network. So I simply went to the show’s site online and started watching from my computer. Oh, the beauty of technology. Though I missed some of the show because my roommate changed the channel, I now know that I can always go online if I can’t commandeer a television set.

The reason I didn’t like the show was because in a noon newscast, I like to get the recent headlines, and I didn’t really get that. I don’t always have time in the morning to watch the news, but I usually have a break after classes around 12. This morning, I slept in and wanted to get the headlines–the channel happened to be on CBS because I was watching “The Price is Right” so I just kept it there. I was intrigued by the name of the show “Talk Philly” because I hadn’t heard about it before, so I kept it on. I guess if you’re a stay-at-home mom, who had already seen the morning news, it’s a good show to watch. But for me, a college student, who doesn’t have a set schedule, it didn’t really work.

Interesting concept though–I wonder why they didn’t advertise for it more?

Tigers! and Lio..oops, wait, no. Just Tiger.

So since the media just won’t give up on the Tiger Woods saga, they might as well talk about something relevant to society.

This was written in a recent article on Poynter’s site : Why is this a news story? To borrow some of Mel Mencher’s categories, it is timely  and offers elements of conflict, prominence, currency and the bizarre. More than that, though, are the larger cultural questions that many of us are chatting about, including marital relations, sex, money, forgiveness, violence, gender, race, celebrity and much more.

Since this is obviously what people want to hear about right now, (read the beginning of the Poynter article), why not actually make it newsworthy? Why not make the Tiger story applicable to the general society? Not simply a story about the next mistress who comes out saying she too had an affair with Tiger. Today on network news (FOX Good Day, NBC10 news at 4, ABC news at 6) that’s what the story was.

But today I also read an article (which I found on ABCNews.com under an ‘Around the Web’ tab) done by a new site called Sphere–which claims to be an evolution of AOL News with writers from The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and USA Today among others. It was about how easy it is for cheaters (like Tiger) to leave tracks and inevitably get caught in a digital age. So there’s relevance in that there’s a little bit of self-help advice (joke), it talks about the current hot topic (Tiger) and there’s information about the increase and prevalence of infidelity due to technology in the U.S.

I’m sure there are more articles like this one out there, but I’d like to see a story like this on television–perhaps there has been and I just haven’t seen it. But I think stories like this are a good solution, or middle ground, if you will for the media. They would still be talking about what people want to hear, but they would be doing so in a way that can affect society. Sure, it’s not as important as health care reform, but I’m a firm believer in baby steps. You can’t change the whole field at once.

ABC Reports on Social Media

I personally love how ABC is obsessed with social media. Maybe it’s because of the holidays, but I feel like all of a sudden, there are 9372386491 reports concerning some type of social media. I happened to be watching World News with Charles Gibson last night, and in that one broadcast appeared two stories about social media.

The first was one about tweeting for holiday savings (rightfully placed since it was cyber monday!) Last Wednesday, 11/25, a similar report was on the same station but on Good Morning America. But basically the gist of the stories was how retailers are using social networks to get the news out about great deals they are having. The report on World News said that experts estimate nearly half of retailers are using social networking sites like facebook and twitter to get the word out. But apparently retailers don’t only use the sites for shopping info, they use them for customer complaints and questions…because it’s a lot easier and faster than calling the help lines and sitting on hold.

All in all, I love these types of stories. They’re informative because not only do they get information out about deals, but how to get those deals efficiently! Plus it shows that news organizations are actually paying attention to social networking sites. Furthermore, the stories could force people to start using and even, dare I say, LIKING Twitter! In class today we were talking about how the media is too focused on the Tiger Woods story on not on healthcare…because healthcare directly benefits us and what happens to Tiger doesn’t. But I think these are stories that can directly benefit people; sure they’re human interest and not as serious as healthcare, but they could potentially save people money! (And who doesn’t want to save money these days?!?)

The other story on World News was about a YouTube video that became a sensation. Charles Gibson calls it “putting YouTube to good use.” It’s called the Pink Glove Dance(seriously, watch it..it’ll give you chills). It was put together by the staff of the Providence St. Vincent Medical Center in Portland, Oregon to raise awareness for breast cancer. At the time of the report, over 1.6 million people had clicked on the video. Today, at 7:57 p.m., there have been over 2 million views; this just goes to show how the media can make a difference and help get the word out there for a good cause. I truly believe we need more stories like this out there every once in awhile; they really make you feel good. =)

.

Celebrities and the news

Even if you don’t watch the news or read the news or even listen to the news, I’m sure all have heard that Tiger Woods was involved in a mysterious car crash recently. Rumors are flying about whether Woods was trying to get away from his wife, who may have been angry over an alleged affair Woods may be having. But this story isn’t the only one I want to talk about.  This story, which is now about an investigation into the crash and how Woods won’t talk about it, got me to thinking about how many stories similar to this have been in the news recently. Not stories about car crashes, but stories about celebrities.

Just a few weeks ago Oprah announced that she would be leaving the show in 2011.  Apparently, (and I literally just found this out by Googling ‘Oprah’), she will be leaving daytime to focus on her own network?!? (ironically called OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network).  When this was announced, the story was on every network (even CNN) and of course, all the morning talk shows like The View.  People were soo upset over this! I mean, I know Oprah is sort of a talk show legend (or Queen I think they’re calling her) but there has certainly been a lot of coverage over a seemingly insignificant story–and I say that when comparing it to stories like Fort Hood and when considering that she won’t even be leaving until 2011. I think that it was right to report on because a lot of people love Oprah, but I think a 20 second reader would have sufficed. Perhaps even the only real place for the story was the morning talk shows.

And then who hasn’t heard about all the Jon and Kate drama. The continuing story has been on local news, national news, network news, tabloids, talk shows, etc. etc. etc. The latest news has been that they are ending the show. 

I know that Jon and Kate Plus 8, and stories about Oprah and Tiger are part of popular culture and people want to hear all about it, but I seriously question the amount of time and space devoted to these stories. I have said it before, and I’ll say it again…I think these are the types of stories to be saved for Entertainment news where they can be reported on in depth. If hard news organizations need to report them, make it a reader or a short article and link to other sites, or post about it on Twitter pages! There’s a way to keep up with the times and the popular stories…

Yoga as CAM

 

This is a Photo/Audio Slide Show about using yoga as a complementary and alternative medicine. Dr. Glassman has her own Urology practice in Philadelphia. She is also training to be a yoga teacher. During her training, she realized many of her patients would benefit from yoga– and she is not alone in her opinion. This slide show depicts Dr. Glassman at her Urology practice and as she practices yoga with a yoga classmate and friend. Enjoy!

Coverage of the Beltway Sniper’s Execution

I was in my freshman year of high school in Haddonfield, New Jersey when John Allen Muhammad, also known as the Beltway Sniper or D.C. Sniper, went on his rampage. I vaguely remember it happening and hearing about it on the news for days, but I was surely reminded of it last night.

Today is Tuesday, November 10, 2009, a day that is being recognized around the nation as the day the Beltway Sniper will be executed by lethal injection in Virginia. For those who do not remember, for three weeks in October of 2002, Muhammad and accomplice Lee Boyd Malvo went on a cross-country shooting rampage, ultimately killing ten people and wounding three.  According to a CNN article, prosecutors say Muhammad was fueld by grudges against the army and his ex-wife. The two were eventually captured at a Maryland rest stop–and that was the scene I stumbled upon when flipping through channels last night.

The channel was A&E. At the time, I didn’t know the show was actually about the D.C. Sniper, because at the point during the night, I didn’t even know about the scheduled execution (I hadn’t watched the news yet that day). I watched it for a few minutes. The show was basically actors re-creating the scene of the capture: SWAT members stood behind trees and waited to make the move on the car, wary that at any time the snipers would start shooting. Periodically, the action would be interrupted with an interview from one of the actual SWAT team members that made the capture. The one thing I remember one of the officers saying was something like: ”I looked into Muhammad’s eyes, and he was death.” I changed the channel, but the name stuck with me, and when I watched the news at 11, there was a story about a man named Muhammad: the Beltway Sniper.

It really shocked me that the first I heard about the story was on the A&E channel. Granted, the cable network actually does a lot of shows dealing with murder, mystery and the likes with shows like Criminal Minds and The First 48. But I found it interesting how pertinent the story was, that a cable channel would be covering it so in-depth, on the eve of the sniper’s execution. Of course, I flipped through the other news channels and they all had stories about Muhammad; the same way true this morning when I checked Philly.com and myfoxphilly.com.

 I now wish I had continued watching the special on A&E, because in those few short minutes I did watch it, I got a sense for what law enforcement went through. I essentially got to see what happened when they captured the snipers. I didn’t get that in any of the articles I read or stories I watched on t.v.; they all were informative, but they all said the same thing.  A&E’s special on the D.C. Sniper was unique. Maybe it glamourizes the whole thing, but to me it is entertaining and I learned a little as well. The only downside is you need the time to watch something like that, which I apparently didn’t have and I’m sure I wasn’t alone.

Advocating for Twitter?!?

I know many of my peers in my journalism classes at Temple University have been very hestitant to use Twitter to report news; I am one of them..or at least I was. If anything, I definitely see the benefits of consuming the news from Twitter. And how, may you ask, did I come upon this revelation so suddenly, when all my professors have been trying to force it on me for months now? Honestly, I was searching for something to blog about.

I have been having a very hard time coming up with content to analyze/talk about in my blog because I have barely had any time to sit down and watch the news or even listen to it for that matter. If I have watched anything, it has been Good Day Philadelphia on Fox 29 to hear some local news for about ten minutes while I practically inhale my cereal. So I thought, where better to get some quick information on hot topics in the news, than Twitter?! (Plus I’ve have practically 9,836,482,364 professionals come into my Experimental Journalism class and tell me how useful Twitter is and how we should all get on it and love it, so I thought I’d embrace it).

I follow a couple of journalists and news shows on Twitter, so I knew it would be my best bet… as opposed to going to only one news organization’s site. It took a little bit of searching, but sure enough, Poynter came through for me.  Here’s their tweet: “Poynter News organizations use Twitter lists to provide real time coverage of Fort Hood shooting & aggregate sources: http://bit.ly/qvAZD /@mediaspy8:07 AM Nov 6th from TweetDeck  “  Here I was a student journalist and amateur Tweeter, on Twitter, and other Tweeters were talking about using Twitter as a journalistic tool. Wow (sarcastic). Plus, it was about Fort Hood and since I hadn’t heard much about it, except the general stuff about how many were dead and how Major Hasan was the shooter, I thought I’d check it out.

The article talks about how journalists at a Texas newspaper, The Austin-American Statesman, were quick to set up a Twitter list called  @FtHoodShootings and report in real time what was happening at Fort Hood. (What I loved was that in the article Robert Quigley, social media editor at The Statesman, says they called Fort Hood to make sure what they heard was happening actually was.) But even more significant, once they did, the feed became a source of aggregate information from the paper’s own reporters, the Associated Press, from what Quigley was hearing on TV, tweets from inside Fort Hood that Quigley found on Twitter Search. Quigley even re-tweeted from other news sources’ Twitter accounts. By the end of the day @FtHoodShootings had over 3,000 followers and was added to 70 lists. Now the account is added to 140 lists including The New York Times.

So what’s the value of all this? As it says in the article on Poynter, the benefit is that people can literally dip in and dip out of the feed when they want to-so they get the information on their own time. The benefit is that people are getting the news in real time, not the next day in the morning paper or even hours later on the evening news. The benefit is that people are getting information from literally multiple sources in one area-and those sources are professional and citizen journalists alike. This is what social media is about. This is the way media is going. And I truly believe it is beneficial. There’s no flashy music or headlines or teasers (though they are included in various tweets if you want them); just real, minute-by-minute information about a serious and tragic event. And you can get it all on your mobile phone. That’s the benefit.

Phillies MoJo Assign: Yankees fans take 2

NY fans continue to tell me who they think will win the series.

Mobile post sent by andreamarr using Utterli.  Replies.