Op-Ed piece

I recently was assigned a final project in my Diversity and the Media class. The assignment is to research a under represented group. These groups can be anything from religious groups to cultures within the United States that I would like to know more about.

There are a bunch of different groups I was thinking about researching. I narrowed it down to two groups I would be interested in learned more about. One was the group of people who are living with Lupus; mostly because I recently found out I have Lupus.

Another group I am interesting in researching is wounded veterans. I picked this group for a couple different reasons. Right now my younger brother is in Afghanistan and will be coming home soon. I’m so happy for that! My brother is not hurt and hopefully he will stay safe between now and the time he comes home. I feel that since my brother is in the military I have a better understanding about seeing someone I love go off to war then someone who does not have know everyone in the military.

Other then my brother, there is someone else who is very special to me and is one of the reasons why I decided to research wounded veterans.


I met Bryan Anderson at a conference at the Hershey Lodge in April of 2009. Anderson joined the Army in 2001 and in October 2005 he was hurt in an explosion. He lost both of this legs and his left hand. He also endured about 40 different surgeries and 13 months in Walter Reed Army Hospital.

Bryan’s story was featured in his hometown newspaper and someone from Esquire Magazine noticed the article.

His story was featured in the January 2007 edition of Esquire Magazine he was even on the cover of the magazine. In the article Bryan explains his take on life after his accident:

“I'm not going to say your whole life is planned out for you, but I think there are certain things that are supposed to happen to you, and however you handle that defines you. So this happened to me.”

With this in mind and after spending time with Bryan, I have learned to deal with own diagnoses. When I am complaining about little things in life like being stuck in traffic I just think, “I could be sitting in traffic or laying in a hospital bed sick and hurting?” Then being stuck in traffic doesn’t seem so bad.

I think many people just need to stop and appreciate what they have. Everything can change so quickly.

So now I am volunteering for the Lupus Foundation of Pennsylvania. I love doing this because it’s a great way to meet new people and other Lupus patients. I am working on a communications plan and I am in the process of completing some promotional materials for the Lupus Gala in April.

Here are some important sites to me that I hope others will check out as well:

Lupus Foundation of America
Lupus Foundation of Pennsylvania
Pa Breast Cancer Coalition
Toms Shoes
Ten Thousand Villages

Something to Blog about…News Organizations and the digital world

One of the reasons why I think news organizations have trouble adapting to the digital world is because the produce news pieces to be shown at certain times of the day. For example news is prepared for the 6 o’clock and 10 or 11 o’clock news. As for news on the Internet, this type of news can be accessed at any time of the day by any one.

So it is easy to see how there could be some competition between local news stations and the Internet.

1st Assignment Blog Entry

“At its core, the job of the working journalist today is unchanged”

I somewhat agree with this statement. The main job of a journalist is to report the news and hopefully give an unbiased report on current issues. So with that in mind, this statement is true.

On the other hand, today’s journalist faces many challenges then that of the journalist from the past. Last semester in Press and Public Affairs class we discussed some of the ways today’s journalist has to adopt to a changed world.

One element journalists of today have to face is the failing economy and jobs being cut. This means some journalists may have to learn how to be multi-skilled to keep their jobs.

David Scharfenberg, of The Boston Globe, knows first hand how the economy is hurting today’s working journalist. “younger, less-familiar staffers at the bottom of the seniority list are feeling the pinch. I should know. The Providence Journal laid off this 30-something reporter just a few months ago.”

Instead of interviewing and writing stories the today’s journalist must be able to take photographs, have some understanding of the web, and any editing techniques.

Speaking of having some knowledge about the web, journalists today need to be aware of changing and new technology. For instance, social networking sites like Facebook have become very popular and are a great way to get news out.

I decided to do some research on what others thought about journalism today. I found an interesting blog about how writer, Will Bunch feels that some journalists today could be influenced by the career of Walter Cronkite.

Bunch, states how Cronkite influenced his career as a journalist. “I would have to say that no other newsman has had as great an impact on me, and on what I have come to believe about the role that journalists must play in American life.”

I thought this blog was a great example of what journalism is today because is coming from a working journalist. I also admire how the writer sited many things about Cronkite that could influence a journalist today.

Also while researching this topic I found an article I thought was interesting. The concept of a blogger is fairly new and can be a contemporary element in today’s journalism. We talked about bloggers last class. One topic we covered was concerned with the issue of bloggers being considered real journalists, if they are, do they need to follow the same rules as professional journalist do?

One blogger comments on how the world of blogging and professional reporting sometimes over lap, but does not giving the blogger enough time in the spot light.

“On occasion, courageous bloggers are given awards for their work. Yet when this does happen, few U.S. news organizations send reporters to interview them or link to their blogs on their own Web sites. Rather than collaborate with them as colleagues, they and their words are marginalized even as crippling cuts in foreign reporting are happening at newspapers and television stations.”

1st Blog Entry

How has journalism and mass communication changed over the past decade?

Journalism and mass communication both have changed in a number of ways. As for Journalism, most newspapers are now online which many were not ten years ago.

Mass communication has changed in many ways also. Two major contributions to mass communication would be Facebook and MySpace. These are great networking tools and can be used to keep in touch with friends.

Something else that has aided mass communication in the last decade would be the iphone. Not only is it a phone you can use it to text, email, and get directions. I don’t have one, but some day I would love to get one!