Month: February 2017

The Miami Herald is a newspaper, founded in 1903, whose headquarters are located in Doral, Florida. It is the second-largest newspaper in Florida, and has won 20 Pulitzer Prizes.

On July 27, 2005, Arthur Teele, a former Miami city commissioner, committed suicide by shooting himself in the lobby of the Herald. Teele had just been written about in another newspaper, the Miami New Times, that same day. According to the article, Teele had multiple affairs while in office, including the use of cocaine and sex with a transsexual prostitute. Before the article, Teele had a telephone conversation with Herald columnist Jim DeFede, who recorded the conversation without Teele’s knowledge. DeFede was fired from the Herald shortly after the incident, although many disagree with the paper’s handling of the columnist’s actions.

The New York Times is well known all around the world, but the main subject of the articles tend to be about the USA. In the international section of the newspapers there is more feature article like stories, as opposed to a string of several articles about one topic like presidential coverage, for example. Overall the style of the articles are longer and concentrate on evergreen topics. If a topic is relevant enought, it can make it to the cover of the Sunday newspapers, like this article about ISIS recruits did this week.

Because the Times is so old and is extensive it has won the most amount of Pulitzer prices than any other newspaper: 1918 for coverage of the war, 1930 to Russell Owen for Antartica expeditions, 1932 to Walter Duranti for Russia coverage, 1934 to Birchall for unbiased reporting from Germany, 1937 to McCormick for international reporting. More recent ones include  in 2006 to three different reporters for their coverage of international news, including China’s law system, in 2011 to Barry and Levi for international reporting of the Russian law system, and in 2015 for front line reporting the Ebola epidemic in Africa. You can see the complete list here.

Of course with that must time aslo come controversies, althought most seem to be national affairs there were some that had ot do with international reporting. The newspapers has been accused of being pro Iraq invasion, and pro Israel. The company also admitted ot minimizing the danger of the Nazi party and the Holocaust during WW2.

BBC or the British Broadcasting Corporation is a public service broadcaster founded in 1922 by John Reith. It was established by the Royal Charter and is primarily funded by an annual television license fee. In Britain, any households or companies receiving live television broadcasts get charged with this fee.

BBC is known for their news coverage ranging from topics of politics to science and is famous for its radio broadcasting stations. They also produce feature articles and other forms of media. Although BBC may be less biased than commercial broadcasting networks here in the United States such as Fox or MSNBC, they have been accused of having a slightly left leaning undertone.

BBC has an international news channel called “BBC World News.” BBC World News is owned by BBC Global News, which, is funded by subscription revenues not the license fee. It covers The United States, Canada, Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East. It offers news in 32 different languages. BBC is a highly trusted organization, however it has had some significant controversies. During the 1950’s Red Scare President Winston Churchill sent a letter to MI5, a British Intelligence Agency, asking to investigate communist sympathizers among the BBC staff. More recently, in 2015 the director of BBC, Tony Hall, refused to call ISIS “Daesh” or “ISIL” after demands from 120 members of parliament. BBC’s reasoning for this was that those alternative terms would not preserve their impartiality.

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/jul/02/bbc-rejects-mps-calls-to-refer-to-islamic-state-as-daesh

 

 

The Christian Science Monitor is an online and print news organization that aims to provide a global perspective without the “sensational” factor of other news sources. According to its “About” page, the Monitor strives to “inspire people to think about what they’ve read long after they’ve left the page. To share what they’ve learned with others. And do something that makes a difference.” As a result of what the Monitor calls its “independent voice, devoid of the corporate allegiances and pressure that critics say too often skew today’s media,” the Monitor won seven Pulitzer Prizes and over a dozen Overseas Press Club awards.

Despite its name, the Monitor is not a Christian newspaper. The name is meant to symbolize honesty and a loving and caring character, which the founder described as some of the basic principles of Christianity. The Monitor also does not hide the fact that it has been supported by the Christian Science church.

According to AllSides, a news website that rates bias of other news sources and aims to provide information on multiple sides to each issue, The Christian Science Monitor is a fairly unbiased news source that falls on the center of the political spectrum. According to AllSides, “The Christian Science Monitor has maintained its reputation within the news industry as a well-run, high quality news organization with minimal bias. Rather than narrowing its focus like much of current mainstream media, its primary aim is to provide fair and in-depth analyses from multiple perspectives, seeking to provide meaningful instead of sensational news.” It has also not been a source of any major controversies.

The Monitor does not endorse political candidates, as its editors believe that readers should make a decision about a candidate on their own, with the “About” page stating that “we [the Monitor] strive to provide all the information necessary for voters to make a political decisions most appropriate for them, their communities, and the nation.” During the 2016 presidential election, the Monitor’s coverage of politics was much calmer, giving fair coverage to Trump’s executive orders, nominees, religious support and Supreme Court nominee, along with plenty of articles of anti-Trump protests.

As for its global coverage, the Monitor divides its World section into six sub-sections: Africa, Americas, Asia Pacific, Asia: South & Central, Europe and the Middle East.

As an example of its world coverage, and article titled “In Niger, Christian and Muslim leaders push harder to counter creeping radicalism” discusses the relationship between Christians and Islam in Niger following the attack on Charlie Hebdo that took place in 2015. The article mostly covers the attacks that took place on the country’s Christian and French communities, and how Christians and Muslims strived to promote tolerance.

Another article, titled “Following protests, Romania will repeal corruption decree,” talks about the country’s intent to repeal a decree that would decriminalize some types of political corruption. Instead of taking a clear-cut side in the argument about corruption, the Monitor’s journalist interviewed people from both sides of the argument, providing arguments for and against the decree. It also spoke about other groups that the decree affected.

 

http://www.csmonitor.com/About

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Africa/2017/0205/In-Niger-Christian-and-Muslim-leaders-push-harder-to-counter-creeping-radicalism

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/2017/0203/As-countries-eye-the-new-US-president-many-see-good-moment-to-test-him

http://www.allsides.com/news-source/christian-science-monitor

When I think of National Geographic, I first think of the photos. Growing up, my family would receive the magazine subscription in the mail and the beautiful pictures from around the world shined on the glossy pages.

Nat Geo is known for using photos to make their stories incredibly moving. Nat Geo’s work focuses on culture, the environment, nature, and animals around the world rather than breaking news topics. However, during historical moments, such as war or political turmoil, Nat Geo will capture what human life was like during these times. Nat Geo stories are longer, feature articles. The extensive time and research that goes into crafting these stories and capturing the photos constitutes lengthy articles.

One of the most well-known Nat Geo photos is the green-eyed Afghan girl that was on the cover in June 1985. The refugee girl was photographed at age 12 during the war in Afghanistan and has since been identified and located. In 2002, Nat Geo set out looking for her and upon finding her, published an article telling her story. Even more recently, Sharbat Gula was arrested in Pakistan for illegally obtaining a Pakistani identification card. The photo of young Sharbat Gula resurfaced in the years since 1985 around 9/11 and the subsequent war in the Middle East.

One controversy at Nat Geo is from 1982, when a cover photo of the Pyramids of Giza was altered. This is regarded as the first major scandal of the digital photography age.

2002 rediscovery of Afghan girl:

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2002/04/afghan-girl-revealed/

Afghan girl arrested October 2016:

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/27/world/asia/afghan-woman-in-famed-national-geographic-photo-is-arrested-in-pakistan.html?_r=0

Altered pyramids image:

http://www.alteredimagesbdc.org/national-geographic/

I’ve been considering the Asian community as the focus of my beat, specifically the Chinese. I’m curious to delve into the opinions of members of this community concerning the direction the U.S. government is going in under the Trump administration. I think it would be interesting to hear thoughts on the blockage of refugees, the Muslim ban, and the Mexican wall from a group of people who aren’t directly affected by the changes. Of course, there’s the opinion of young Americans, but I think most people know this perspective because it is constantly discussed in the media and through social media. So it would be great to get the view from another country’s perspective. I can also do a story about how the Chinese feel about being maligned by Trump during his campaign and eventually write a story covering the possible change in business relations between the U.S. and China. I think there’s potential for multiple stories about China. It would even be great to cover a bit on the culture and beliefs since these things affect a person’s outlook on the world as well.