Carol Guzy: Oppression Of Personal Values

Before using her Facebook as a means to connect young minds about civil rights movements and issues that still plagues the nation today, Sandra Bland used her social media like every other citizen. That is until just after Christmas of 2014 when she made the decision to speak up about “the economic crisis burdening young African Americans,” trying to, in her words, inform her readers about black history, or American history as she liked to describe it (Nathan). Sandra Bland, a 28 year old African American, had just received a job interview from her alma mater, Prairie View A&M University. Her life seemed to be going smoothly, just received a job offering, rekindled her relationship with her mother, and seemed optimistic about the future to

Jonathan Schuppe, the author of “Charleston Victim’s Kin Says Trial Revealed ‘Radical Truth’ About Racism”, is an NBC News writer with expertise in the areas of criminal justice and urban issues. Schuppe has received the J. Anthony Lukas Work-in-Progress Award and has been nominated for a PEN Literary Award for one of his books, won the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for breaking-news coverage, and was honored in 2008 with the Al Nakkula Award for Police Reporting. NBC News is a national broadcasting station that delivers international news to millions of people daily. News covered ranges anywhere from trending YouTube videos to national crises.

Social consciousness in the media and journalism is commonly thought of as the ability to acknowledge that an event has occurred, then address it vaguely to parade a false sense of progression. However, columnist and Pulitzer winner, Leonard Pitts Jr. embraces the analysis and discussion of issues that the public does not understand or refuses to recognize, such as racial prejudice in his essay, A Racial Hate Crime, Pure and Simple, where he concedes the denial of racism in America. In each of his pieces, Pitts provides versatility with his rationale as well as an immense regard for the magnitude of communal perception and prejudices. In support of his more liberalistic ideals, he makes a point of using compelling argumentative techniques, which convinces his audience to examine the articles in his favor, giving him the components of a strong essayist.

The writer speaks on past experiences where class, gender, race and sexuality have possibly affected the awareness of the news media. Christie (1986: 18) describes an ‘ideal victim’ as someone who looks vulnerable, defenceless, worthy of sympathy and compassion, this would probably be upper class people, elderly women and young children, whereas young men, the homeless and those of lower class suffer from victimization more deeply, they also may find it much more problematic to attain a legitimate victim status even if their case was more severe than others (Carrabine et al, 2004). This shows that the media select stories which involve sensitive and vulnerable people because this is most likely going to intrigue the audience. The issue with

The article from “South Writ Large” that I decided to read was titled “There’s Been a Shooting… Again” by Brooke Baldwin. This Non-fiction article is the first person account of what news reporter Brooke Baldwin has to go through on her daily job. The constant agony of people telling her what to say or the ironically calm way she has to simply say, “Another person dead, a teenage girl kidnapped,” this is her reality. Her job is never ending, the news is always happening, and sadly, she has to continue on as if she isn’t outraged just like us.

Every country has dealt with religious discrimination as it plays an ongoing part in society. In Tatiana De Rosnays novel, Sarahs Key a young girl and her family were captured by French soldiers, therefore Sarah decides that it would be better if she left her brother locked in the cupboard which later proved fatal. Without the religious discrimination that caused the Vel D’hiv roundup Sarah and her family, and many others would still be complete. One might think that religious intolerance seems to lack extremity since the Holocaust, but could not be more wrong. For instance, North Korea is lacking many human rights, including a serious violation of religious freedom concerning Christians.

The Daily Nebraskan seems like an incredible way to engage the UNL student body in current topics regarding the university, the country, and the world. During my senior year, I worked for a short span of time at my high school paper, ‘Imua Iolani. I always regretted not joining ‘Imua earlier. Of course, my motives for wanting to work at The DN now seem selfish, and I admit it--they are. But in addition to expanding my own life experiences, I want to help expand the lives of UNL students by reporting information and telling stories.

It is hard to describe precisely the feeling of watching the streets you once travelled unravel and combust on a TV screen with every passing day. The country I had once felt no emotion towards is now a second home, and its problems are coming to light in a violent uproar. Shackled by a rigid police state, millions of protesters sacrifice their lives for a freedom they haven't felt in years, among them my own family members. Watching this, my chest billows with pride, and through all the coverage, the deaths, the tears, and the accomplishments, I learn the power of perseverance and courage in the most personal of ways.

The themes of oppression and discrimination are prevent in he story, RABBLE by Kate Small. It is about the personal strength and struggles of a woman named Darya. Told through the eyes of Ben Medofsky to a stripper named Glittervoid. Ben and Darya are both eastern european jewish immigrants that came to America before WWII, who live in Oregon. Small makes Darya a headstrong and revolutionary thinker who never shows fear, always stands up for what she believes in and never lets people step on her. While Small makes Ben the opposite to Darya, a seemly more reserved but judgmental man.

My recommendation is the third option, to publicly oppose the legislation. This is the most ethical route to take so that systems of oppression are not created from law. The moral essence of the laws demands oppositions from those that value liberty. Throughout the ethical analysis I reasoned with defending others from oppression and preventing the government from gaining too much power. An underlying theme for my reasoning came down to the guiding value of my moral compass again, humility.

As an undergraduate in college, I was one of many section editors of a small but mighty university newspaper. The paper I worked on supplemented the official university newspaper, which many students deemed political, surface-level, and often inaccurate. It was a high stress environment even as a section editor, but one of my good friends, London, was editor-in-chief and was charged with handling all the minute details and large scale problems that the newspaper faced. London was appointed editor-in-chief halfway through our junior year via popular vote by the staff and by encouragement of the outgoing editor-in-chief and senior staff.

I’ve begun pursuing journalism because I truly believe that covering the nitty gritty aspects of society have positive effects.

Hurricane Katrina has the 3rd largest death toll in American history at nearly 2,000 people. Majority of the people in these affected areas were black and poor. Media has always played an important role in shaping public opinion. People turn to different forms of media as a source of information about what is happening within their communities, as well as events that take place globally. Claudia Rankine’s poem, “August 29 2005/ Hurricane Katrina” discusses the effects of biased media representation on black people and black communities. Amid an emergency, people are desperately searching for help, yet it appears that no one cares enough to come. The speaker develops imagery of the situation in New Orleans: the flooded streets, “buildings peeling apart…, and bodies logged in piles of rubble (83).” These were some of the horrors people were left to endure. This moment in history is known as the time when the American government abandoned its people in their most crucial time of need. The burdens and voices of black people in America often go unnoticed due to institutionalized racial prejudices in media. This poem compels readers to feel empathy by drawing attention to the prevalent racial and class divide in America, but it also implores that its readers help usher in change by speaking out against racism and prejudice.

The power of journalism can have a beneficial or damaging impact on the world depending on the beholder. While a journalist should do their best to make sure their work is free of prejudice information, unbiased journalism does not mean that journalists should abstain from sharing human emotion. One reporter who displayed an immense amount of humanity and emotion in her work as a foreign correspondent is Adrienne Arsenault. Throughout her coverage of the Ebola Outbreak in Liberia, she shone a light on communities and individuals that would otherwise go unrecognized. Her style of reporting, as well as the unique angel she brings to her stories, made me realize the global effect and power journalists have with their work to spread the severity

In a globalized world with media pouring in from all around the world, it becomes increasingly difficult to decide what is important enough to view, and what isn’t. That job falls into the hands of news sources whose purpose is to gain as much attention as possible. Today the headlining story is the most dramatic story, not the most important. Stories beyond the scope of the United States and its interests are unlikely to garner the attention they deserve. The film Nightcrawler captures this idea best “to capture the spirit of what we air, is think of our news cast as a screaming woman running down the street with her throat cut.” -Nightcrawler (2014). This is positive feedback in its truest form reacting to the immediate and the dramatic. An intricate story with a rich background, and history spanning decades is not as likely to gain the attention it deserves and become headlining news. This is the case with the story of Juan Manuel Santos winning the Nobel Peace Prize for his continued efforts of ending the Colombian Conflict. Negative feedback continues to be seen in journalism, and can exist in any form of media whether it be a top down or bottom up model. The issue with the Santos story is not that the story gained undeserved popularity due to positive feedback it’s that the story did not receive adequate attention, because it was cast aside in favor of stories which gained popularity due to positive feedback. Bottom up models give the story attention that it deserves,