Section 2, Basic Reporting

Howard Monath

” Oh, and I just got back from the center of all this; it was a very surreal day, the leaders of the Red Shirts, the guys you see on TV every day, were talking to each other; they came over and asked me what I thought was gong to happen! (bizarre, there were no other foreigners/journalists around )  the army has given them 48 hours to leave. the Red Shirts have completely taken over about two miles of downtown Bangkok, and are amazingly organized, pretty good for a bunch of illiterate farmers.

Anyway, I told them I thought the momentum of history was on their side, but the short term (48 hours from now) might be a little difficult…They were telling me that the Queen was influencing the Prime Minister,( the King who everyone loves is 83 and in the hospital). and that was a factor they didn’t know haw to deal with. They were hoping that Obama makes a call to the PM and reads him the riot act, that is about the only way they can see a big bloodbath averted.”

10 minutes ago, 10:56 p.m. EST

File Photo: On assignment for a story.

For her journalistic work with New York Times Reporter Kirk Semple for “Suicides Soar Among New York Koreans,” Jang, who speaks and writes fluent Korean, and interns for New America Media, earned a Contributing Tag at the end of the story.

NYT news lead for the double suicide of Yongho and Soonhee Kim, February 25, 2008:

They had navigated the move from South Korea and opened a nail salon on Long Island, but by last winter, Yongho and Soonhee Kim were in debt and deeply unhappy. They were fighting a lawsuit over nonpayment of rent on the Long Beach salon and were months behind on rent payments for their apartment in Oakland Gardens, Queens. The bank had repossessed their car.

Courtesy The Korean Times

Soonhee, left, and Yongho Kim.

At dawn on Feb. 25, the couple left a note for their 20-year-old daughter outside their apartment door, doused themselves with gasoline and set themselves on fire, the police said. The blaze killed them and destroyed their home.

“They 100 percent lost hope,” said Mr. Kim’s brother-in-law, Chi Kun Park.

An earlier story was published/broadcast by NAM in July. NAM’s Odette Keely interviewed Jang about a piece that the Korean Times in NYC wrote about Korean suicides in America.

Hello, Gregg.

Jonathan Mena [WORD Senior Editor/Producer] has agreed to give a presentation about Film & Media and his Hunter experiences to the Hunter Scholars on Wednesday, 9 September, at 1:15 p.m. in 615 West. Both the 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 scholar cohorts will attend.

If you are able to join us to discuss the Film & Media Department and The Word, I would be delighted. Your presentation last year was a memorable one, and it made a lasting impression on the 2008-2009 scholars. Pamela Falk’s Model UN students also will present at this meeting. This summer, they participated in the first Global Model UN in Geneva, Switzerland. Hunter students are doing some amazing things, aren’t they.

FYI: Joelle Gonzalez taught FILM 101 in the Hunter College Summer Institute for Freshmen. His students will be among those attending the Wednesday meeting, too.

llc
Linda L. Carlson
Acting Special Assistant to the President for Enrollment Management
Hunter College of the City University of New York
695 Park Avenue
East Building, Room 1004
New York, NY  10065

Edited for style

I’m seriously thinking of posting LLC’s email to me on the D:F/M listserv. Don’t know yet. I’m also thinking of forwarding a copy to my D:F/M colleagues with this challenge: To all those who have growled, bitched, moaned, groaned and whined about the WORD, I invite you to attend the Wednesday event so that you can participate in a spirited learning experience and, for the pugilistic, we can also have a spirited debate.

NEW YORK — As the news spread about the release of two U.S. journalists from a North Korean prison, the biggest question for some Korean ethnic media is: How about the South Koreans the North has been holding as hostages for years?

Read full story here.

Message from Eunji Jang: “I wrote an article with Oni [NAM New York City Editor AKA Anthony Advinclua} a week ago, and Oni told me it was featured on yahoo. We had only 2 hours to write it and we wrote it with our blackberries!“

Quickie AA bio:

Grew up in Marrakech in Morocco. Got BA in Media Studies in 2007 and Masters in Journalism from Columbia University in 2009. Afte Hunter in 2007, worked for a year as a researcher for the ABC news show, Good Morning America.

At Hunter, worked with non-profit organizations on campus, such as the American Cancer Society to organize the annual Relay for Life, and fought on behalf of Hunter with NYPIRG against tuition hikes.

Created a student newspaper, The WORD Print,* that followed the tradition of a community newspaper, giving students who were eager to learn about journalism an opportunity to be involved in a serious, news-oriented publication.

In college, also interned for the ABC Evening News in New York City in 2006.

*Affiliated with hunterword.com but was independently student-run. Bit the dust about a year after Alami graduated from Hunter. She was the driving force.  It had a lot of promise. It also was a source of a lot aggravation for the anti-WORD forces in D:F/M. And that means a post real soon to explain.

WORD Senior Editor Jonathan Mena, far left. Former WORD Senior Editor Daniel Allen, sitting to right of Thompson.

From a November 1, 2007, WORD article: When asked by WORD senior editor and senior producer Jonathan Mena if his motivation for convening with young reporters was linked to a mayoral bid, Thompson replied, jokingly, “Who told you I was running for mayor?” Articles in several news/magazine publications, however, described him as a strong contender for the 2009 mayoral contest.

So, Thompson’s office was recently emailed a request for another meeting with the WORD.

Mena and Allen and students journalists from other CUNY publications as well as NYU and Columbia University had been invited to meet with the City’s Chief Financial Officer in fall, 2007. So, I wanted to know if he might consider meeting with WORD writers/editors as he’s receiving endorsements for his Mayoral campaign. I certainly would not object if he agreed to go solo with the WORD.

The original story about the meeting, headlined, NYC’s Chief Financial Officer Goes Collegiate, was written by Daniel Allen and published November 1, 2007. Read it here.

Allen has since graduated but Mena is still a student and has credentialed experience. He was one of two WORD writers who reported on the New Hampshire at the invitation of New York Community Media Alliance.  He was one of three WORD writers who reported on the Democratic National Convention in Denver, courtesy  New America Media. And he went to D.C. for the Inauguration.

So, it doesn’t seem unreasonable for a request to Thompson’s office about a new interview.

I was impressed that Thompson was willing to be interviewed by a posse of student journalists. Many high ranking public officials would not dare. It’s not unusual for undergraduate news publications to clamor, futilely, for interviews with the Mayor and NYPD Police Commissioner and other significant leaders in the public eye. Yet, many students, based on my many experiences and observations, are woefully unprepared and naive for such meetings (which wasn’t the case with Mena and Allen, however).

A former WORD writer several years ago published an excellent article about trying to interview Rudolph Giuliani when he was Mayor. I wasn’t expecting RG to grant an interview, the exercise was more about this: What do journalists do when when they can’t get sources to agree to an interview This was a guerilla journalism exercise. It was was during that period when RG was the leading the vilification of CUNY. I didn’t relay to the student that he was on a guerilla-j mission.

Instead of a flat rejection, the student was passed from one City Hall office to another for a final answer.  I told him to keep a record of everything – dates, times, names (many would only give first names), phone numbers, the tone of the conversations, more). After several weeks of of this pass-along game, and then receiving a final, official rejection, and having overcome his frustrations at being passed on from one office to another, the student realized that his efforts were not an exercise in futility, and he wrote a bravura Op Ed, which included the questions he wanted to ask RG, such as, QMfE, “Why don’t you like CUNY?” And, of course, he provided commentary.

I thought it was a great learning experience.

I’m not interested in assigning a student to chase Thompson.

The editorial campaign was organized by New America Media, a San Francisco-based organization that represents more than 2,500 ethnic media outlets.  It is the first time ethnic media across the nation, including Black, Hispanic, and Asian media, have collaboratively published an editorial on the issue.

“Ethnic media reach more than 60 million adults in America,” said NAM Executive Director Sandy Close.  “The ethnic media is using its clout, its channel to ethnic communities, to come together to rally support for immigration reform, an issue that cuts across communities.”

Appearing in newspapers, websites, blogs and other media outlets, the editorial calls on “Congress to to move decisively on immigration reform because there are few issues as important to the nation’s well-being as an overhaul of the inefficient, inhumane and economically debilitating immigration system.“

The editorial asks readers and viewers of ethnic media outlets to contact Congress and urge their lawmakers to make immigration reform a priority.

The response of ethnic media to the editorial shows that immigration is a top priority issue for all ethnic communities and the ethnic media are a key bridge to public debate for ethnic and immigrant audiences, said Marcelo Ballvé, who helped coordinate the campaign for NAM.

“The media have been extraordinarily engaged and excited to participate,” said Ballvé. “A Portuguese newspaper decided to translate the editorial into Portuguese on its own and make it available to other media who might want to use it. A Chinese radio station decided to read it out on the air.”

African American newspapers, Spanish radio, Chinese dailies, Indian monthlies among others have all committed to running the editorial. It is currently running in English, Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Arabic, German, Russian, Portugese, Bahasa, Indonesian, and Urdu.

Ms. Close noted that with an audience of 60 million readers, viewers and listeners the ethnic media reach more Americans than ever before. The NAM network of ethnic media partners ranges from the major news outlets serving African American, Hispanic, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Native American to niche outlets. The most current list of media who are running the editorial is available here.

Amazon.com link.

Attention Students – Meredith Deliso: Hunter Alumna’s book published … as a student!?! And there was no book party!?!?
Or did I just miss it?
Anyway, here it is at Amazon.com link.

She says the College Prowler publishers found her through, check this out, the WORD. It’s about Hunter, that is, an insider’s guide for prospective students. But it’s so promisingly savvy, I might use it for my basic reporting class (where students have to learn the basics about the Hunter community like grade appeals, USG, Senate, Shared Governance, Administration, who runs this place, where the power lies, etcetera).

Deliso: Won two student journalism awards from the Society of Professional Journalists (regional, if I recall correctly) and was selected for a prestigious magazine internship at the American Society of Magazine Editors. She was the first student at CUNY to be awarded this internship (it’s a nation-wide competition*) and opened the door for other H-students** in a way that can’t be explained here (but if D:F/M ever schedules a decent magazine writing class, more H-students can become eligible).

Deliso was a media studies major and Honors College student.

*Hunter, over the course of a few years, use to rank 1, 2, 3 in the BPEF internships provided to student journalists in annual competition, beating out Columbia University, Ohio State, NYU, etcetera.

**Applicants are really helped by a letter from an alumnus/alumna in the program. The ASME internship coordinator at an internship conference/panel event a while back (okay, way back) said he really liked the Hunter applicants.

She graduated about three years ago.