International Reporting

Official language: Ukrainian (67.5%)

Russian (29.6%)

Religions: Orthodox, Ukrainian Orthodox, Ukrainian Greek Catholic, Roman Catholic.

Ukraine’s population is overwhelmingly Christian; the vast majority – up to two-thirds – identify themselves as Orthodox, but many do not specify a particular branch

Ukrainian News Outlets:

Kyiv Post

Tsnua

Interview:

Roksolana Florko

609-598-1837

Roksolana is a former boss of mine who is Ukrainian-American. I asked her about where the Ukrainian community is located in NYC, if there are any landmarks of Ukrainian culture here, and where she gets her Ukrainian news from.

Currently:

Ukrainian-Americans are concerned about Trump’s friendliness with Russian president Vladimir Putin, which could mean Ukraine could lose the US as its ally. The US has provided a lot of help and understanding in defending Ukraine from Russian separatists taking control. Since Trump has taken office, violence has begun again in eastern Ukraine where separatist groups have control.

Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimea in 2014 but yesterday (February 14) Trump announced that he fully expects Russia to return Crimea to Ukraine and de-escalate violence in Ukraine. However, at the same time, he stated he expects to get along with Russia.

Avdiivka is a strategically important city under Ukrainian control that was attacked by military grade missiles on January 28. Video surveillance reveals that the attack was carried out in militant controlled Donetsk (Ukraine). Russia tried to blame Ukraine for the attack, but Ukraine clearly does not have access to weapons of this caliber.

Where are Ukrainians?

“When they first moved here, they all lived in the East Village. But now that it has gotten more expensive there, they have moved out to Yonkers, Brooklyn (Brighton Beach, Sheepshead Bay) or New Jersey. But for holidays and church we still gather in the East Village,” –Roksolana Florko

Landmarks:

Ukrainian Museum (East Village)

St. George Academy (private, Ukrainian Catholic high school)

Soyuziuka–Ukrainian heritage center (upstate)

“I have friends that visit here every summer or send their kids here to learn Ukrainian or about Ukrainian culture,” –Roksolana Florko

After traveling to Italy for the first time as part of my international traveling debut during Christmas 2016, I was surprised to find that what people have told me about the country, its traditions and its culture were not just words, but there was some truth to what they said. The country is stunning. The roads were clear of pot holes, gum indentations, its people were classy and they respected their visitors. That’s not to say it is the happiest place on earth – this isn’t Walt Disney World, after all.

Part of the European Union, Italy is a country made up of nearly 60 million people, including clusters of Albanian, Greek, German, French and Slovene-Italians, according to infoplease.com. The population has grown steadily since the World Bank kept records of population growth per country dating back to 1960, when Italy had just over 50 million people. Italy became a nation-state in 1861, according to the CIA, during a time when regional states were united under King Victor EMMANUEL II. Italy is member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the European Economic Community (EEC). While the country is known for its vast lands, religious prowess and proximity to much of the Eastern world (located in Southern Europe), the country is often finding itself in debt due to poor economic growth, high unemployment rates with young people and females, and a decent amount of organized crime and corruption. The median age of an Italian is 45.1 years, while population growth is estimated to be 0.23% for 2016.

The capital of Italy is Rome, where much of their religious identity stems. 80% of Italians are Christian with Muslims, atheist and agnostic individuals, among others, making up the remaining 20%.In Italy the pre-dominant language spoken by its people is Italian. Other languages spoken by people residing in the country, albeit not large numbers, include Albanian, Bavarian, Catalan, Cimbrian, Corsican, Croatian, Emiliano-Romagnolo, Franco-Provencal, French, Friulian, German, Greek, Italkian, Ladin, Ligurian, Lombard, Mocheno, Napotelano-Calabrese, Piemontese, Provencal, Romani, Sardinian, Sicilian, Slovenian, Venetian and Wasler.

For native English speakers, TheLocal.IT is a great resource of information on the happenings in Italy. Another resource for information is the British Broadcasting Company (BBC), which provides news coverage for many European countries, albeit not as tight as they cover the United Kingdom. The Guardian, The Telegraph, and The New York Times are just some of the news outlets that cover Italy in more intimate ways. However, for best coverage you’ll find them directly from such national news outlets such as broadcast media Radio 24, RAI News, TGCom.

The population of Bangladesh is 156,186,882. Bangla, also known as Bengali, is the official language of Bangladesh, with 98.8% of people who speak it. Another 1.2% speak other languages. 89.1% of people who live in the country are Muslim, 10% are Hindu and the other 0.9% includes Buddhists and Christians.

Bangladesh’s government is parliamentary republic and has a mixed legal system of mostly English common law and Islamic law. Bangladesh’s economy has grown roughly 6% per year since 1996 despite political instability, poor infrastructure, corruption, insufficient power supplies, slow implementation of economic reforms, and the 2008-2009 global financial crisis and recession. Although more than half of GDP is generated through the services sector, almost half of Bangladeshis are employed in the agriculture sector, with rice as the single-most-important product. The labor force consists of people in agriculture (47%), industry work (13%) and service work (40%). The unemployment rate sits at 4.9% but it is important to note that about 40% of the population is underemployed with many people who were counted as “employed” work only a few hours a week at low wages.

The Daily Prothom Alo, in terms of circulation, is the largest newspaper in Bangladesh. It is published in Bengali and read by half a million people every day. It was established in 1998, headquartered in the capital city of Dhaka. The paper has taken to the local culture and is a favorite of locals. The print media is private and consists of hundreds of weekly publications that present many viewpoints, though some outspoken papers have faced pressure in the past. Television is the biggest medium for news in Bangladesh. Radio is also important in the country. The prime role of community radio is to give voice to the voiceless people who do not have access to the mainstream media to express their ideas and views regarding community development. Promoting the right to communicate, speed up the process of informing the community, assist the free flow of information and therefore act as a catalyst of change are few major tasks are to be done by community radio.

There are an estimated 11.4 million internet users in Bangladesh. The use of internet is unrestricted by the government however; some journalist’s emails have been monitored in the past. There are huge online newspaper and news portals in Bangladesh. But all the news portals are not listed by Bangladesh government.

Update on Baruch journalism Facebook group

How to pitch a story

The purpose of a pitch is to sell your editor on your story. Convince them why it matters, why it’s a good fit for their publication, that you can get it, and that you’re the right person to do it.

A pitch should essentially look like the top of a story. By that I mean you should have a clear lede and nut graph. (Quick review: what is a lede and a nut graph?)

—

• Types of ledes: anecdotal, straightforward summary, funnel
• A nut graph puts the story in context and tells readers why the story matters
• “So what?” — it tells readers why they should care about the story
• It provides a transition from the lede to the rest of the story
• It often tells readers why the story is timely
• It contains the story’s angle

—

Moving on…

Your pitch should also demonstrate that you’ve already done at least some preliminary reporting: For instance, that you’ve already locked down at least one important source, or gotten some crucial access approved.

From there you can get into the broader vision for your story, and this will differ depending on the medium you’re working in. Who do you plan to interview/have you already interviewed? What kind of sounds or visuals can we expect? Also, if you’re pitching a radio editor, you’re going to want to write for the ear to convince them you know how to write a script.

It’s good to name drop a connection if you have one (“Hi Dustin, I’m a colleague of [person who’s freelanced for them before]” and to include a link to your portfolio website so they can easily see some of your previous work. (You should all build one if you don’t have one already!)

Here is an example of a pitch that was accepted:

subject: the refugee crisis that’s bigger than Greece—but far more humane

Hi Jennifer,

It’s been awhile! I hope you’re doing well. I recently returned from a reporting trip to Uganda with a story that I think is really important, and would be great for The World.

—

When most people think of the world’s biggest refugee crisis, they think of the people risking everything to reach Italy and Greece by sea—a crisis that is staggering in size. In all of 2016, there were over 360,000 boat arrivals in Europe.

They may be surprised to learn, however, that 445,000 refugees have crossed into northern Uganda just since July 2016 as they flee the brutal conflict in South Sudan.

“It has been unrelenting,” said Nasir Fernandes, UNHCR’s senior emergency coordinator overseeing the Uganda crisis. “It has been a massive scale emergency.”

Six months ago, the world’s second-largest refugee hosting site, Bidibidi settlement, was sparsely populated scrubland. After topping a quarter of a million people in December, it was closed to new arrivals. A second camp is already well on its way to being filled and UNHCR is preparing a third to accommodate the 2,000 people who are crossing the border every day, most of them on foot.

There has been very little coverage of this situation, which is hard to believe having just witnessed the scale of it. I spent a week reporting there at the end of January, and while the situation is desperate, there’s also cause for optimism. This is because of Uganda’s surprisingly humane refugee policy that relief workers are touting as a model for the rest of the world.

Refugees are given freedom of movement, the right to work, and plots of land to live on and to farm. And in this age of fear and suspicion toward migrants, Ugandans in the surrounding communities have been refreshingly welcoming toward the refugees. Many are former refugees themselves, and the ballooning population has created business opportunities.

This feature will be sound-rich. I visited the border and recorded refugees crossing into Uganda on a rickety wooden bridge as rebel soldiers watched from the other side. I went to Palorinya settlement area and recorded the sound of more than 3,000 people being herded onto buses and trucks and driven to a patch of desert where they will build their new homes. I also have tape of women singing and drumming at a women’s center, and of dozens of children playing at a playground—a full 68 percent of the refugees in this crisis are under the age of 18. I interviewed a number of recently-arrived refugees whose stories range from horrifying to hopeful.

I have images to accompany the story online; I’m attaching a handful to give you a sense of the visuals. Please let me know if you have any questions!

Best,
Emily

Assignment: Pitches due Wednesday 2/22 for story #1

If you choose to do a print story, it should be 800 words and there should be at least one photo. You don’t have to check out a DSLR camera for this; your phone is perfectly fine. You just need some sort of visual to run with it.

You may also choose to do a video. It should be a two- to three-minute video; whether narrated or non-narrated is up to you. You may also opt for a text “narration.” If you prefer to do something a little more broadcast (with a standup, for instance) and a little less web video, that’s fine. If you do a video, when you file the story, it will need to be accompanied by a brief (100 words or so) blog post that introduces the story.

If you choose to do a photography project, there should be 12-20 photos. This can be in slideshow form with strong, informative captions, or you can lay them out in a blog post where the photos are interspersed with text as you scroll down.

If you choose to do a radio story, it should be a three-to four-minute narrated package with at least two separate interviews and one natural sound (plus ambi). Give yourself a sign-off: “For Baruch College, this is ____ _____ in ______.” Your scripted host intro can serve as your intro paragraph for the blog, and you should also include at least one photo.

For those of you who have NOT taken my multimedia class before, one final thing: News Photography 101

 

Population-
142,355,415

Languages Spoken-
Russian (85.7%), Tatar (3.2%), Ukrainian (1.4%), Bashkir (1.1%), Chuvash (1%), Chechen (1%), Other (10.2%), Unspecified (3.9%)

Religions-
Russian Orthodox (15-20%), Muslim (10-15%), Other Christian (2%)
(Russia has a large amount of non-practicing believers and non-believers due to Soviet Rule)

History-
Russia has grown from Mongol rule to the Romanov dynasty, which dominated the country until a revolution in 1905. The imperial household was overthrown in 1917, following World War I, and Vladimir Lenin rose to power forming the USSR, a communist state. The USSR was a key U.S. ally in World War II, and communism ruled the country until December 1991, when the USSR collapsed into Russia and 14 other independent republics. Following Boris Yeltsin’s presidency, which span from 1991-99), President Vladimir Putin, former head of the KGB, took office and formed an authoritarian state. Putin remains Russia’s president and rules the country in a rather oppressive manner.

Notable News Outlets-
Rossiyskaya Gazeta (government-owned), Izvestia, Komsomolskaya Pravda, Trud, Argumenty i Fakty, Moskovskiye Novosti, Kommersant

Current Events-
The 2014 Ukrainian revolution caused Russian to annex Crimea, damaging East-West relations. The situation has intensified causing serious tension between Russia and the Western world, perhaps ushering in a second Cold War.

Russian Communities in NYC-
Brighton Beach, Sheepshead Bay (most notably)

Memo Sources-
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/rs.html
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-17839881

Contacts-
Irina Groushevaia (NYC-based, Moscow-born)
Kirill Bondar (Moscow)
Anastasia Stetsenko (Moscow)
Stephan Groushevoi (Moscow)
Elena Chadaeva (Prague-based, Moscow-born)
Anastasia Krapp (NY-based, Moscow-born)
Yulia Zakharchenko (Montreal-based, Moscow-born)

Population: 3,578,056 (July 2016 est.)

Languages Spoken: Spanish,English

Religions: Roman Catholic 85%, Protestant and other 15%

History: Populated for centuries by aboriginal peoples, the island was claimed by the Spanish Crown in 1493 following Christopher Columbus second voyage to the Americas. In 1898, after 400 years of colonial rule that saw the indigenous population nearly exterminated and African slave labor introduced, Puerto Rico was ceded to the US as a result of the Spanish-American War. Puerto Ricans were granted US citizenship in 1917. Popularly elected governors have served since 1948. In 1952, a constitution was enacted providing for internal self-government.

Notable Newspapers: El Nuevo Día, Primera Hora, El Vocero

Notable Television:  WKAQ-TV,WORA-TV,WAPA-TV,WLII-DT

Current Events: Puerto Rico is facing a major ongoing debt crisis which could cause the beautiful Caribbean island to sink. The amount of the fiscal crisis is still to be determined, due to the lack of communication between public agencies and Government. Overall, Puerto Rico is looking to restructure its nearly $72 billion in public debt, and the island has defaulted on millions of dollars worth of bond payments, leaving many creditors filing multiple lawsuits. The crisis has lead many citizens of Puerto Rico to flee to the United States.

 

“Unlike American cities such as Detroit, Puerto Rico isn’t allowed to file for a court-arranged bankruptcy reorganization. And unlike sovereign nations such as Greece, it can’t seek emergency assistance from the International Monetary Fund.”

– Mary Williams Walsh

Notable Puerto Rican Communities in New York: Sound view Bronx,  Sunset Park Brooklyn, Spanish Harlem Manhattan.

Throughout the semester I want to focus on the ongoing Puerto Rican debt crisis. I’m looking into many ways I want to go about this whether it be a written feature or some sort of video interview on the crisis.I am still in the process of looking relevant sources who can give a analytical or first hand approach to the debt crisis. Perhaps, I can locate individuals through social media who would be willing to discuss these issues.

Sources

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/rq.html

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/01/17/official-puerto-rico-govt-could-collapse-if-no-steps-taken.html

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/business/dealbook/puerto-rico-debt-crisis-explained.html?_r=0

 

 

 

 

Brandon Alexander

Beat Memo– Bangladesh

 

Background info:

CIA Factbook is a good resource for obtaining large amounts of general info for countries. According to the site, the religious breakdown of Bangladesh’s population is: 89.1% Muslim, 10% Hindu, and the remaining 0.9% is composed of Buddhist and Christian. In terms of language, the majority of Bangladeshis speak Bangla/Bengali (a whopping 98.8%), while the rest of the population speak “other” languages, according to the CIA World Factbook.

 

A brief history of BD’s Government:

It was in the 10^th century that people living in what is now Bangladesh had begun settling and converting to Islam. These people were originally said to be Persian traders and preachers. By the 16^th century many trading posts were created in the area and the territory became absorbed into British India. However, as tensions between East and Western Pakistan began growing in 1947, the movement for Bangladesh to acquire its independence became gradually stronger. One of the two major political parties in Bangladesh, the Awami League, led the country’s movement towards independence. With India’s support, Bangladesh’s independence war was won in 1971, though it did not come easily- approximately 300,000 civilians died during the time of the movement.

Not even four years after Bangladesh acquired its independence, the Awami League-led government became overwhelmed with the challenge of running a country and was overthrown by the military in 1975. Several military coups followed this until the government became heavily backed by the military and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party was set in place in 1978.  However, yet again, the BNP was removed via a coup in 1981 and for a decade Bangladesh was governed with military-backed ruling. It wasn’t until 1991 that the country saw democratic elections and after several years of alternating power between the AL and BNP, BD officially turned over to a democracy in 2008 with the election of the AL and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Hasina still holds the position of Prime Minister to this day, due to a landslide victory in Bangladesh’s national election in 2014 against the BNP. In recent times, Bangladesh boasts that with “international developmental assistance”, the country’s poverty rates decreased from what was previously half the entire population to one third. The government claims that it has reached goals in bettering maternal and child health, as well as food security.

 

Info on BD’s News Media:

Some of Bangladesh’s most viewed local news outlets are its newspapers and news websites. Of these, the Bangladesh-English daily newspaper, Prothom Alo is a major source of news in the country that is estimated to be read by 4.3 million people every day. Other prominent news outlets are the daily newspaper: Kaler Kantho, the 24-hour news channel: Ekattor TV, The Daily Star, NewAge.net, Daily Sun, and Betar-Radio Bangladesh. According to an article on BBC.com regarding Bangladesh’s media, the country’s media tends to be highly polarized. News agencies align themselves with the different main political groups and in 2014, the government issued a policy “banning all TV and radio shows from broadcasting material deemed to harm the image of the armed forces and law enforcement agencies impede state security” (BBC). This is an interesting find, because it correlates to the main topic I want to cover in this class, as well as what one of my interviewees has been telling me regarding censorship and corruption in Bangladesh.

 

Some of BD’s current news are clashes the Bangladesh police are having with protesters at an anti-coal protest, as well as the Court of Bangladesh sentencing 26 people (including three senior officers from the country’s elite security force) to death after they were convicted of murdering seven people. Additionally, a top story on several Bangladeshi news sites involves the country’s High Court ordering the government to explain why it “shouldn’t be directed to form an inquiry commission to identify the ‘culprits who made up false stories’ about corruption conspiracies involving the Padma bridge project” (Daily Star).

 

Demographics and Popular Neighborhoods for Bangladeshi Communities in NY:

My neighborhood of Ozone Park, Queens has a healthy amount of Bengali families. Additionally, according to data from the NY Time’s Region map, there has been a growth of Bangladeshi families in the Queens neighborhoods of; Jackson Heights, Woodside, Flushing, Fresh Meadows, Sunset Park, and Bensonhurst. I hope to get interviews from families in these various neighborhoods.

 

Some quotes from interview with Rifat Hasnat, friend from previous college:

“I just feel like pretty much everything in BD works via bribing. I’m sure that happens in a lot of other countries, but it’s just so extreme in BD. You could be the best of the best and at the same time, you could end up getting little to no recognition for it, unless you know someone personally that can give you such a position.”

 

“It’s very hard to escape the class that you’re born in. And it’s common knowledge that the elites do shady things to maintain their position and wealth. But they don’t get in any trouble or face any consequences because of the law- specifically the police. They obey only those who have money, money truly is power over there.”

 

Contact Info:

Rifat Hasnat, 21. (646) 659-4325

I also have permission to interview Rifat’s parents who were born and raised in BD. They don’t speak much English, so Rifat will step in as my translator during their interviews. I also plan to get familial references from Rifat’s parents.

 

Sites used for info gathering:

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/bg.html

 

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-south-asia-12650946

 

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/01/23/nyregion/20110123-nyc-ethnic-neighborhoods-map.html?_r=1&

http://www.thedailystar.net/frontpage/hc-probe-find-falsifiers-1361980

The country that I will be focusing on this semester is India. India is located in South Asia and has a population of 1.2 billion people according to the United States Census Bureau. The most popular spoken language is Hindi, however there are 14 other official languages including, Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Malayalam, Kannada, Oriya, Punjabi, Assamese, Kashmiri, Sindhi, and Sanskrit according to the Central Intelligence Agency. Religions practiced today include Hindu (78.8%), Muslim (14.2%), Christian (2.3%), Sikh (1.7%), and other (2%).

The median age is 26.9 for men and 28.3 for women. India has a population growth rate of 1.19% compared to the United States, which has a population growth rate of 0.81%. The mean age of a mother’s first birth is 19.9. The infant mortality rate is 40.5 deaths per 1,000 live births. Life expectancy for men is 67.3 years and 69.8 years for women.

Using the Central Intelligence Agency’s Factbook, major urban areas within India include New Delhi, which is the capital, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Chennai, and Hyderabad.

From 1757 to 1858 the British East India Company, which monopolized trade over cotton, silk, indigo, salt, tea and opium in over half of the world ruled parts of India. After the liquidation of the British East India Company and transfer of power to the British Crown in 1858, India remained under British rule from 1858 to 1947 under a period called British Raj. Currently the Government of India is a federal parliamentary republic, which includes 29 states and seven union territories. The federal government directly rules union territories.

Much like the United States, their federal government is made up of three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial. The executive branch consists of the chief of state, President Pranab Mukherjee and Vice President Mohammad Hamid Ansari, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and the cabinet appointed by the president. The president and vice president serve five-year terms with no term limits. The legislative branch is a bicameral Parliament. The Council of States consists of 245 seats and 233 members who are elected by state assemblies and the president. The House of the People consists of 545 seats and 543 members. The Judicial branch consists of the Supreme Court and lower courts.

Up until 1949, India had a caste system that was used to separate people of different social classes. Within the caste system there were categories, Brahmins (priests and teachers), Kshatriyas (warriors and rulers), Vaishyas (farmers, traders, merchants) and Shudras (labourers). There was also another group the Dalits (outcasts) known as the untouchables that were so low in the caste that they were not even considered part of it. Once you were born into a caste, there was no moving between castes.

The top 10 newspapers in India are the Dainik Bhaskar, Dainik Jargan, Amar Ujala, The Times of India, Hindustan, Malayala Manorama, Eenadu, Rajasthan Patrika, Daily Thanthi and Mathrubhumi respectively.

According to the Department of City Planning, Glen Oaks-Floral Park-New Hyde Park has the highest population of immigrants from India. Other neighborhoods in which Immigrants from India have settled include Bellerose, Queens Village, Briarwood-Jamaica Hills, Kew Gardens Hills, Flushing, Murray Hill, South Ozone Park, Richmond Hill, Forest Hills, Corona, Elmhurst, Jackson Heights, Woodside, Hunters Point-Sunnyside-West Maspeth, and Lenox Hill-Roosevelt Island.

According to the New York Times, India’s air pollution is causing 1.1 million people to die “prematurely” each year and is only getting worse. Air pollution in India is now worse than in China.

For this beat memo I interviewed Steven DSouza, a Corporate Communications major at Baruch College. DSouza lived in India from age six to 18 and frequently visits now in his adult life. In our interview he shed light on many aspects of Indian life and culture. One particularly interesting note was that he compared the president of India, Pranab Mukherjee to President Donald Trump, as they are both “nationalists.” DSouza also said that a lot of Indians support president Trump. DSouza also mentioned an environmental crisis in his hometown of Mumbai. He said that when he is there and he checks the weather on his phone, there is always an alert of “smoke” due to heavy industrialization. There is also little to no regulation for waste management for dumping dyes into water systems.

Quotes:

“When I’m there and I check the weather, my phone says 80 degrees and smoke.”

“The infrastructure and roads are horrible. Picture New York but much worse.”

“Northern India is said to be more dangerous for women.”

 

Contacts:

 

Public Health foundation of India

Delhi NCR

Phone: 01244722900/01244781400

Email: [email protected]

 

National Green Tribunal

New Delhi

Email: [email protected]

 

International Planned Parenthood Federation

Email: [email protected]

Facebook: www.ippf.org

IPPF South Asia Region

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.ippfsar.org

 

Sources:

 

http://www.census.gov/topics/population.html

 

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/in.html

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/14/world/asia/indias-air-pollution-rivals-china-as-worlds-deadliest.html?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FIndia&action=click&contentCollection=world&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=2&pgtype=collection&_r=0

 

https://www.stateofglobalair.org/data

 

(https://www1.nyc.gov/site/planning/data-maps/nyc-population/newest-new-yorkers-2013.page

Mexico is a country rich in culture, tradition and history. Mexico constitutes of 31 states and one federal district. Its current population is 122. 3 million, making it the largest Spanish peaking country in the world. Also, Mexico is the third largest county in Latin America along with Brazil and Argentina. The main boarders are the United States on the north, on the south and west the Pacific Ocean, by the southeast Guatemala and the Caribbean Sea.

Early history of Mexico began some way back around 900 B.C. The first Mexico known society were called The Olmecs, they settled in Gulf Coast close to what is now Veracruz. They are remembered for carving native stones and making sculptures with huge heads.

Fast forward, The Mayans are “widely considered to be pre-Columbian America’s most brilliant civilization, thrived between approximately 250 and 900 A.D.” They created the writing system and the calendar. They built cities and pyramids. Religious was a big part in Mayas life, they carve in the altar the most important dates.

Another civilization appeared around 10^th century. They were The Toltec civilization that settle in central Mexico. There they built a city called Tula. Its population was as estimated of 30,000 to 40, 000 people. It is said that they are a big influence to Mexico’s cultural history in many aspect, one of them is that they took religious very seriously. They made “human sacrifices to appease the gods.”

The third most known early civilization were the Aztecs. They were the “great native people” that took over from the east to west. But they did it by partnering with Mayas and Toltec, together they become so powerful and conquered small cultures. They were the Aztecs Empire. By 1427 they ruled about 5 million people and the territories from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf Coast was theirs. They had their own army, schools and government.

However, in 1519 was when the Aztecs and the entire Mexico history changed forever with the arrival of Hernan Cortes. Cartes arrived in Veracruz from Spain. The leader of the Aztec empire invited him not knowing what Cortes intentions were. There Cortes influenced a lot of leaders within the Aztec empire. In May 1521 Cortes and his followers attracted the Aztecs and conquered them. Cortes maned the colonized island The New Spain. It said that by the 1574 Spain controlled most of the Aztecs and enslaved most of the indigenous populations. They killed an estimated of 24 million people between 1521 and 1605 both in the battle field and the diseases they brought with them.

As many events happened, the Spaniards colonist who have been born in Mexico and the ones who came from Spain started to have conflicts. They wanted equal power, most of all equally political power. Then, there was a revolution led by Miguel Hidalgo that eventually led Mexico to become independent from Spain in 1821.

Mexico today, the current president is Enrique Peña Nieto. The president is chosen by the people and he or she can only serve one term of six years, there is no reelection for second term.

Mexico’s economy depends mostly on exports. Its currency is the Mexico pesos. Mexico is the 12^th largest exporters in the world. In 1994 they signed an agreement with United States and Canada what is called North America Free Trade Agreement. (NAFTA) The other big trade partners are China, Japan, European Union, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. These trades make makes Mexico’s economy strong.

Furthermore, tourism is the major contributor to Mexico economy. They most popular places for tourist are: Acapulco, Puerto Vallarta, Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo, Mazatlán, Cancún and Puerto Escondido.

Mexico has about 132 popular newspapers that circulates around the county. The ten top read by all Mexicans and the ones that cover all the local and the international issues and events are: Albuquerque Journal, Santa Fe New Mexican, Las Cruces Sun-News, The Gallup Independent, The Daily Times, Roswell Daily Record, Silver City Daily Press & Independent, Hobbs News-Sun, Alamogordo Daily News and Carlsbad Current-Argus. All of these newspapers have been serving the large Mexican population for years. In addition, because of the internet they can reach to more people not only Mexican but all Spanish speakers’ countries. Also, TV and radio programs play an important role in bringing news to where they are. They can be compared to Fox news, CNN and National Public Radio or the Public Radio International.

Mexicans who live in U.S listen to the radio or watch the news from Mexico from the Mexican channels and the Spanish channel such as El Telemudo, El Primer Impacto.  Howeverl, they can also buy newspapers from Mexico on most newsstands. The most popular are El Conquistador, Mexico Independent Mirror, La Voz Hispana along with Nueva York and El Diario.

The neighborhoods where most Mexican population resides is said to be in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park, Crown Heights and Bushwick, Queens’ Elmhurst, Jackson Heights, Corona and Kew Gardens, Manhattan’s Spanish Harlem.

Right now, there are an estimated of 255 million people and the area of Indonesia is 725,400m². Indonesia is located between Singapore, Malaysia, Southeast Asia, and Australia. The languages that are spoken; mainly Indonesian, English, and Chinese. Indonesia has a variety of different dialects depending on the location. I’m able to speak in both English and Indonesian, I would be able to interview most people when I visit the country during Spring Break.

The religions that exists there are a majority Islam. Then the minority religions; Christianity, Catholic, Hindu, Buddhism, and Confucianism. Indonesia was shaped by natural resources, it’s a country of many islands, Chinese and Dutch migrations, wars, trade, and political reform. It has 17,508 islands and 6000 of them are inhabited. Islam was brought by Sufi Traders from India in the 13th Century and by the 16th century, it became the major religion of the country. Chinese people migrated to Indonesia and Southeast Asian countries during the 15th Century in the rise and fall of Dynasties at China. As for the Dutch, they invaded Indonesia between the 1800s-17 August 1949 which is the Independence Day for the country. There’s also a famous song of it called “17 Agustus Tahun 45.” In terms of political reform, Soekarno Hatta became the first president of Indonesia residing between 18 August 1945 until 12 March 1967. There’s also a memorable time when there was the May 1998 Indonesian Riot, it happened in a few cities in Indonesia. In Jakarta, the riot was from the 12th to 15th of May. The riot was caused by high unemployment rate and food shortages to protest against President Suharto. The main target was Chinese-Indonesians; businesses were burnt, stores were being robbed, Chinese women were sexually assaulted, and lots of people died. The condominium of where my family used to live was protected by the army. The car dealership that my dad used to work at was destroyed; some cars melted to the ground and a few cars only had its shell left.

The most well-known Newspapers in Indonesia are Jakarta Post, Jakarta Globe, Bali Times, Bali Daily, Kompas, Koran Jakarta, Koran Sindo, Koran Tempo, Bisnis Indonesia, Sinar Harapan, Suara Karya, and Rakyat Merdeka. As for the television companies, there are RCTI, Global TV, TVRI, MNC TV, SCTV, Indosiar, Antv, TvOne, MetroTV, Trans TV, Trans 7, and Kompas TV.

The major current event that is happening is Basuki Tjahaja Purnama known as Ahok with his Chinese name. He is the current governor of Jakarta. He continues to be the target of racism as he is not Muslim by conservative muslims. In 27th September 2016, there was a speech that he did and was misunderstood as an insult to Quran that was uploaded to Youtube by the Indonesian government. The speech was in Kepulauan Seribu (Thousand Islands) of last year. It seems that recently the media have been more forgiving and share Ahok it a more positive light.

Below is some links regarding the controversy and how people from Thousand Islands accepted his presents:

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2017/01/31/ahok-welcomed-on-island-where-blasphemy-case-began.html

I plan to cover a few of the following topics; LGBTQA rights and how conversion therapy is bad in Jakarta, the different types of cuisines and drinks: how it all started, pollution and stilt house by the canal, Night Life in Jakarta, Family Honor: Toraja Culture and Death, and Poverty and Education in Indonesia. I would like to do most of these projects in a Documentary style and post it on Youtube. Then, put the video on the class blog with a short article below it.

For the LGBTQA Right and how conversion therapy is bad in Jakarta, I would like to interview members of Arus Pelangi. They are an organization that tries to bring awareness and education regarding the LGBT Community in Indonesia. If I could, during Spring Break, I would like to meet them in person, interview them and record a glimpse of their life. If they give me the opportunity to interview their friends and family, the questions that I will be about the first response to their coming out and how they think of their child or friends being a LGBTQA. I want to interview random strangers as well in the streets from different age groups and the religious community in Jakarta about the LGBTQA Community. I will interview a licensed psychologist/therapist and psychologist from the conversion therapy in Indonesia. Then, I will also approach at least two psychologist in New York with their reaction on what the psychologists of Indonesia said about the LGBTQA Community and what they think of conversion therapy. The ending of the documentary will have LGBTQA friends, family and couples in New York to share some light and positivity. This is something that I always wanted to cover for a really long time and my parents are not thrilled about it as they are opposed to it.

The immigrant community in New York resides in Queens and I know a few immigrants. I also know that there are a few Indonesians in Philadelphia and Pennsylvania. As for Indonesia, I know plenty of people that is in the media industry from my two aunts and one influential person that can connect me to many people.