Air Force PIO

The Air Force PIO from MacDill Air Force Base spoke to our Public Affairs Reporting class. it was interesting and a great learning experience, even with little knowledge of the military.

Rebecca began by describing her education and training and role with the United States Air Force.

She ensured the class that student journalists are treated the same as professional journalists and given the same privileges. She recommended similar to things as the Hillsborough County PIO: ask very specific questions, and build a good relationship with the PIO early to get the most and best information.

She advised that the journalist cover general day-to-day activites as well as special event. This will make the relationship more beneficial to the reporter, and also prevent the Air Force PIO from feeling used, so to speak.

She did state a few downfalls of working the MacDill beat. The first is that the position is revolving door, every few years there is a new PIO. Although the people in the position change often, if a journalist has a bad relationship with a previous PIO, it may be beneficial to them that there is a new PIO. It is also a very reciprocal relationship. If you publish something false or inaccurate, she will hesitate to give as much information next time.

Her advice gave good insight into working with military PIOs, considering very few have interacted with the military as students.

Manjoo Ch. 5

In chapter 5 Manjoo discusses the perception of experts. Until reading this chapter, i never thought an expert could be subjective. Manjoo proved it is. However, each person's idea of an expert is relative to their stand or perception on the topic. My favorite example is the example of the mathmetician who knew how to calculate, but couldn't calculate correctly because she was fleunt in the context in which was calculating, the election.

Manjoo also addresses the impact a presentation or speech has on its audience. This was nothing knew to me. People,in general, at the grocery store, post office, teachers, bosses, and politicians get ahead because of eloquence and charisma. I found myslef saying it a lot throughout the election. "Obama is very well spoken, very characsmatic." I'm not sure how much more i buy into what someone is saying based on their eloquence, but I know I am much more likely to listen to them.

Something that I never thought about, just did subconsciously was the way I make decisions. I try to think of myself as a responsible person, who makes educated, decisions that are thought through. But the truth is that I also go on impulse. I never realized that sometimes I think through, in steps, some decisions, and other times just take what other people say into consideration and make my decision. I'm aware as to why I would take some advice and not others. if I am unfamiliar with a person, or don't know their background, I take their opinion/advice with a grain of salt.

I like this chapter the best. I found myself more receptive and less critical to these concepts. I've found fault in the other chapters but this time my eyes were opened and not cynical.

Election coverage. I investigated what Midtown, a prominently democratic, black community with low voter turnout was doing to bolster voter turnout

About 22,000 people call Midtown St. Petersburg home. More than half of them will vote in the upcoming election, in part because of community initiative programs and local leaders.

Community organizations have teamed up to encourage Midtown residents to vote. The ONE Community Coalition is just one example.

The ONE Community Coalition is made up of the African American Voter Research and Education Committee, fraternities, sororities, civil rights and advocacy organizations. Its goal is to show how a community can build and keep local interest and involvement in politics.

“Local organizations are going to partake in phone banking, also text blasting and e-blasting to approximately 15,000 concerned citizens to remind them to get out and vote,” Tamika Leaks, Get Out To Vote coordinator of the ONE Community Coalition, said.

Atwater’s Cafeteria held 2 voter registration drives with the Tampa Bay O-Train, a grassroots organization focused on electing Barack Obama as president.

“We want a record turnout and we will get it,” Gypsy Gallardo, ONE Community Coalition co-chair, said

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Pinellas County Urban League and 15 local churches have coordinated transportation to the polls for early voting and Election Day. This collaboration is historical because these three groups have never worked together before, the Rev. Martin Rainey, first vice president of the NAACP, said.

The ONE Community Coalition is reaching as many people it can through its organizations. Each organization is taking its members to the polls on a specific date. Each member is bringing at least one person from outside the organization to vote with them.

“This one is a each one, reach one election,” Gallardo said. “So, it’s really, really about that one-to-one, and having everybody do that.”

Gallardo’s nephew is voting.

“I want to make sure my 18-year-old republican nephew gets out there to vote, and votes for Obama,” Gallardo said.

The coalition has engaged the community by hosting a local candidate forum, candidate interviews, endorsing candidates, circulating 7,000 flyers, and finding the voters and inspiring them to vote.

“We have lathered this community with information. Every site, everywhere we could be, at little league parks, at churches, at community centers, in the neighborhoods. Everywhere we could possibly be, we have had groups out pushing get out to vote, pushing restoration of rights,” Leaks said.

It is important to go to places where people spend their time, because the traditional methods of sending information to voters in Midtown aren’t always effective, Leaks said.

The coalition and Atwater’s have both endorsed Obama, but the focus is also on the local elections.

“We have quite a few prominent African Americans who are participating in our local races, which has also engaged more of the Midtown population,” Leaks said.

In the last year, more than 500 Midtown residents registered to vote. Between November 2004 and November 2007, fewer than 100 voters registered.

“Many of them are just interested in the race this time, and obviously there are reasons why. Obama is a big reason, clearly,” Leaks said.

October School Board Meeting - Contract

Pinellas County teachers, pled their opposition of the middle school schedule change at the October 28th school board meeting.

In June, the board voted to add 14 minutes and a seventh period to the middle school schedule.

Adding a seventh class breaks the teachers’ contract, which allowed no more than five teaching periods a day. Under the new schedule, teachers are teaching six periods.

The teachers agreed the intentions were good, and money-saving, but have not proven beneficial to students. The students have more homework because there is less class time, which requires more parent involvement.

Sara Jensen, teacher at Osceola Middle School, surveyed her students. Six of the 134 liked the schedule. One of their reasons was because they get out of the classes they dislike faster.

he board’s legal team has addressed the breach of contract, but did not comment about it at the meeting.

“Be like Thomas Edison. Keep working ‘til you get it right,” pleaded Jensen.

September School Board Meeting - Budget

The Pinellas County School Board held its second budget review meeting Tuesday, September 9th at 5 p.m.

The board reviewed the 2008-09 annual budget, which totals $1.6 billion.

The budget is less this year than last year, but is costing local tax payers more. Funding from the state has decreased significantly. 40% of funding is coming from the state, the other 60% is coming from local taxes. Taxes have increased 13%.

The largest set of spending is operational. The operational budget is over $900,000. Operations include daily district operations, salaries and benefits. Salaries and benefits are 80% of the operational costs

Although Pinellas County enrollment is declining, this year the board will construct over 200 classrooms in 33 schools, due to the class size amendment. The amendment has required the district to increase the number of teachers and classrooms, increasing the operational budget.

Manjoo Chapter 3

Chapter 3 discusses the concept of selective perception: two people with opposing views, can overcome their differences and watch the same video, with biases aside, still will not see or interpret the same thing.

I like and believe the quote by Hostorf and Cantrill, "'an occurance becomes and event' - it becomes something we notice--'only when that happening has significance.'" We hear an uncountable number of facts and opinions each day, we only remember and recount those that are we belive as truth or impact us.

This chapter, as I assume the rest of the book will, addresses changing technology. As journalists, technology is working against us, instead of helping us. Everything is easily altered, there are countless blogs, and opinions that are being marketed as truth. Pictures, thanks to Photoshop are being altered and used in journalism, which is ethically against standards.

Author repeatedly proposes that people will always see things differently. However, as he discusses Avery's works, he doesn't refute them with "facts" or support from the other side. He, instead, places his bias as an opposing interpretation. Which is fine, to illustrate his point, but to use it to refute avery's view, I think is not fair to the audience. He editorialized, so to speak. Even though this is not a journalistic piece, I still find it out of place.

Manjoo ch 2

Chapter 2 of True Enough discusses how people prefer to seek out views parallel to their own. I’m not sure how I feel about this premise. I find myself second guessing its validity. I think that it is true to an extent. It is more comforting to hear views that support your own. However, as I suggested in the Chapter 1 reflection, only seeking like views will lead to ignorance in society. I strive to seek out all perspectives to make an educated decision and opinion.

I find myself thinking back to chapter 1 a lot as I think about the premise Manjoo made in chapter 2. Manjoo has presented various research information and studies that show that people subconsciously choose opinions and information that supports their ideologies. So now why am I questioning this research? He has provided me facts and research.

I am questioning this research because I strive to seek out many different outlooks on something I am interested in. I feel this is the best way to get informed and make a sound, confident stand on any subject.

Manjoo also discusses how media logos on news stories affect the responsiveness of the partisan reader. This leads me to open the topic of the role-related responsibility of journalism, something I strongly believe in and am passionate about. A journalist’s responsibility is to provide true, unbiased information to help the people self-govern. As much as I try to provide unbiased information, as a journalist, someone, somewhere is going to see it as bias or false, or ridicule me for being a journalist because of the large companies that owns what medium/publication I work for. There is nothing I can do about it, which frustrates me.

Manjoo - Intro & Ch 1

As I began reading True Enough, I immediately thought of this as the follow up to Neil Postman’s Amusing Ourselves to Death. Postman’s main idea was that the dominant medium determines all aspects of the society. My analysis of Postman, much like my take on Manjoo, is that as we move into the digital age the Internet is becoming the way to communicate and get most information. With the Internet, much like Postman said of television and Manjoo alluded to, people will be able to select the news they want to read, or watch, thus creating a less informed public, which can only amount to a biased, uneducated society.

In regards to the question Manjoo asked at the end of the introduction, “How can so many people who live in the same place see the world so differently?” my answer is a compilation of various things. I believe people think that the Internet is published work; researched, fact checked, and written by experts. I think people are suspicious of government and big business corruption, allowing them to second guess government and the press, and assume conspiracy in the case of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. My final theory is that background and education determine which side of each of these one believes. Most people follow their parents’ political association. Therefore, if one’s parents are suspicious of conspiracy, he is likely to also be suspicious.

Addressing the Swift Boat Veterans choosing which road to take, something that is not in question, or something that has no solid facts, they chose a middle ground which could neither be dispelled nor confirmed. What baffles me is that the American people have an overly abundant amount of resources available at their fingertips, but believe something that is not verifiable, and is only built on the words and stories of this group of men.

Election cost

I think there may be a correlation between the historical impact of the election and the amount of money put into it. Or maybe the correlation is between the importance of the election and the amount spent.

I think the increase in the amount of fund raising on part of the democrats shows the belief supporters have in Obama.

Each election, the amount of money raised and spent increases. This gives a glimpse of what is to come for future presidential elections. This may be the world's priciest election yet. But given the increases each election, four years from now, will be the most expensive election the world has seen, and the trend will continue.

The only reason the trend of increasing cost of elections will break is if the the election and change of president is not historical and the state of the country is better, in terms of economy, war, and the environment

Tampa tribune - John Allman

John Allman, staff writer for the Tampa Tribune, greeted the class of 12 journalism students in the lobby. He escorted them up the elevator, through the newsroom, and into a conference room, which had a glass wall dividing it and the newsroom.

“We have allowed journalism to be muddied by opinions,” Allman said as he began discussing the hurdles journalism is facing. He continued to tell how the public tends to place blame on the media, and they think media has a distinct bias.

Allman did not use this opportunity to lecture and give a list of to-dos and not-to-dos. Instead, he gave life lessons to the aspiring journalists by telling personal accounts of how he learned these lessons the hard way, including humor and animation in his stories.

Telling the class something, they presumably already knew, Allman explained how in anything in life, especially journalism, one’s integrity is his backbone. All a journalist has is her name. It is attached to everything she does.

Allman, an investigative journalist, talked about why this type of journalist has to set their bar even higher.

“You hold someone’s livelihood in your hands,” Allman said.

Allman told a story about how the media attacked his family when he was younger, but understood both sides. He hated that reporters were standing in front his parents’ house, but also said if it was his story he would be doing the same thing as those reporters.

He told of how one of his stories put the public housing authority in check because they would not treat one of their own, a board member, as they did everyone else. His story shed light on something no one would have done anything about, otherwise.

Allman encouraged the students to put themselves in uncomfortable situations and allow themselves to be vulnerable. But stressed safety first, he said to always take someone with you when you’re going into a bad or unfamiliar area, and to never turn your back on your subject.

He told the young reporters to put their heart and soul, and long hours into their first job. Ask hard questions, make people uncomfortable, and never say I wish I had asked that question or pushed to do that a different way.

“No one cared, but it made me a better reporter,” Allman said about throwing himself into his career early on.

Allman has two fall backs as a journalist: public records, and being good at talking to people, and easy to talk to.

His last words to the class were to look at the world with very open eyes, everything is an opportunity.

PIO- Debbie Carter

Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office Public Information Officer, Debbie Carter made a presentation at our Public Affairs Reporting class Thursday evening. Carter handed out samples of crime reports, affidavits and a copy of the Florida public records statue.

Carter's presentation was informative and entertaining. Although her PowerPoint was broken, she threw out some jokes throughout to hold the class's attention.

Carter began by discussing her role at the sheriff’s office, which is to cooperate and assist media with events in Hillsborough County. She publishes about 500 press releases, conducts about 600 interviews, and has about 18,000 contacts with the media each year.

She continued discussing some history of public records and Florida Statute 119. Before 1974, law enforcement officials did not have to give public records to the media. Statute 119 is the public records statute; it states what a public record is. Anything that is public record can be accessed by anyone.

Police have the right and responsibility to protect evidence while following public record law. For example, when a case is still open and under investigation, they will release the time, place, and event that occurred. The name, address and sex of an adult arrested, or a juvenile booked with a felony will also be released to the media.

Some pieces of information not released by the sheriff’s office are: identity of a victim of a sex crime, child abuse or neglect; identity of a deceased person until next of kin has been notified; cause of death until determined by the medical examiner; evidential information; contents of a suicide note; and the monetary value of property/money taken in a robbery,

Carter is very knowledgeable about the media, because of her many years working so closely with members of the media.

Research Research

My Public Affairs Reporting class went to the library to learn how to research public records. I discovered a lot of resources I was unaware of, and how to access them. The USF Tampa library has a plethora of research tools and tangibles.

The government records librarian, Cheryl McCoy, created this great resource page specifically for JOU 4181, Public Affairs Reporting. All the links she put up, are very direct to where one may need to go, or will redirect the researcher/journalist if need be. I will be using Cheryl's "Course Guide" frequently until I can no longer access it.

Unfortunately, when it comes to searching the Pinellas County website, I was already familiar with it, and its public records search. However, I did learn that a helpful tool can be the Pinellas County Sherriff's Office website, in addition to the criminal courts records search available through the Pinellas County website.

I also love the Clendinen Virtual Library. I love that I can directly access the current edition of the local newspapers. The Times website is too hard to navigate through sometimes. I found reading/searching the newspaper through Clendinen is much less of a headache.

I learned that the "Sunshine Laws" translates to a government under the sun--almost everything government related is open to the public--it can't hide from the sun. I also learned to access public records through the Attorney General's office. I never would have thought to go there. I also learned that there are Vital Records accessible through the state website that will give birth, death, marriage licenses, etc.

It was an eye opening class. There are tons of resources available that I didn't know about or think about, and I'm sure there are even more that I will discover on my path as a journalist.

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