Nico's blog
10/15/2023
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Who is Real Change?: In the newspaper Real Change based around the Seattle area, they are primarily run by vendors of the newspaper who distribute copies all around the Seattle locale. Many of the vendors are either experiencing homelessness or in the lower socio-economic class, and using their jobs at Real Change as a means of both survival and bettering of their circumstance. The paper is read by those who are both supportive of people going through the homeless epidemic, but also local government officials and social service circles according to the Seattle Times. There is not a whole lot of information that the newspaper itself has on its demographics, simply also due to the fact that it is an in-person newspaper that can be sold to anyone walking by, and thus cannot be tracked using a digital footprint. A fair number of sources in the article’s are vendors and or people experiencing homelessness, as well as local government officials. The staff’s degrees of education range all over from doctorates to some or no formal education, however the actual editor’s appear to be centered around the master’s and bachelor’s level of degree, with pieces published in other publications.
What is Real Change?: The newspaper Real Change publishes stories centered around issues of social justice and homelessness, getting viewpoints centered around both people caught up in these issues as well as members of the local government who are in charge of fixing them. The newspaper primarily focuses on these type of stories as these types of issues directly affect its worker population base. The paper was created as a way to help combat these issues directly through both providing members suffering from homelessness a way to get out of the cycle, and combating injustices in the system through pointed journalism. The paper’s advertisements also cater to both gathering information about public facilities, as well as offering a variety of ways to join the organization whether through donation or actual volunteering.
The best practices in group work:
The best practices in group work are designed around effective communication, only through effective communication can one collaboratively build a finished product. The best way to ensure that effective communication is happening is to listen actively, and to not interrupt classmates. The idea also of being an active participant is paramount to the success of a good collaboration; no actual progress can be made if one does not actually work on the assigned task. Leading a group is sometimes necessary to facilitate the organization of members, however a good leader knows how to maximize the actions above to benefit the group and the final product. In short, strive to get the most out of each of your members while also respecting them and yourself in the process.
10/22/2023
Impact on local politics:
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Real Change has impacted local Seattle politics in many ways since its creation in 1994. It has notably helped to influence local politics by focusing on its issues of homelessness and social poverty and justice. Specific actions that the newspaper has taken involve uniting both employees and readers, for example in 2021 when the newspaper successfully organized a protest to stop encampment sweeps during a city hall budget meeting. Real change also participated in helping to create an initiative on the Seattle ballot focused on social housing in the city budget, which although was ultimately unsuccessful proved to be a useful galvanizing force, and revealed a lot of the public’s feeling on issues of homelessness. Real Change also partnered with UW to build the street sinks that one sees around neighborhoods everyday. Overall Real Change has been quite the driving political force, with their interviews on local candidates being an essential viewpoint on local politics in the area.
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Questions for Real Change:
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Taking a look at your track record of pushing for stopping the processes of “sweeping” homeless encampments in Seattle such as the protest outside the budget hearing in 2021, in what ways would you categorize that protest a victory?
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Concerning the street sinks that Real Change has helped design, how would you describe both the efficacy of said designs, and the range and density of where can find these sinks as well.
11/05/2023
Journalism In Democracy:
1. What role does journalism play in democracy according to me?
The role that journalism plays in democracy is primarily one of information. One when voting for a candidate ideally learns about a candidate from what they are saying and information on a candidate's website. However as a candidate it is easy to say and do things that are not necessarily on the same page, and it is the role of journalism to accurately depict a candidate’s representation to the world in as accurate a fashion as possible, which may or may not be the same as they profess. This goes for anything in the realm of politics and governance as well, as it is still journalism’s job to display as best possible a picture of what is actually going on and being decided by politicians and officials. It is only through this analysis that a voter can accurately ascertain the lay of the landscape so to speak, and make a choice based on their beliefs.
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Image Credit: Hillstreet Studios via Getty Images: https://www.pewresearch.org/hispanic/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2020/02/PHGMD_20.02.20_Eligible-voters_Featured-Image.jpg?resize=640,320
2. It is in the same vein that then the term “civic engagement” comes into play, as this is the process by which a citizen of the republic actively participates in their duty as a citizen (to vote). By engaging as a citizen, a member of the republic is doing their civic duty to act as they see fit for the republic’s good. This means that they are perhaps going to city council meetings, campaigning for more parks, or simply voting when required. Civic engagement is ultimately the act of being a part of the democratic process, ensuring that your beliefs and political views are upheld. Overall this does not have to look like much, but the bare minimum is engaging with the democratic processes around you.
11/19/2023
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News Articles and internships:
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Photo by Ellen M. Banner https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/santamariatimes.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/6/2b/62bf1e03-7f91-531e-80ef-5b664ad8c6a7/65495933d5a06.image.jpg?resize=859%2C500
Real Change recently did an article titled “Hundreds of activists delay U.S. military ship allegedly bound for Israel”, an article which makes great use of the style of the inverted pyramid as described in chapter 8 of the Missouri Group’s News Reporting and Writing 13th edition. The important information about the story, mainly the what, where, and who is all contained within the lead. The article breaks offers a mix of personal interviews from protest organizers, as well as information for how the protest was formed. It is interesting in that the journalist hyperlinks a lot of his information for where the information was sourced from. This sourcing though is quite varied and ranges from twitter posts to foreign online news sources. The news sources generally seem to be verified, yet also from random sources that are not mainstream networks. The twitter posts also seem to be accurate, however as with any social media the verification process can be hard, and we the readers must trust that these posts are independently verified, and thus giving an accurate picture of the situation. Overall this article was very well researched, and gave a working context for the “why” of the incident.
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Photo by Mark White
Real Change according to their website offers multiple different volunteer and internship opportunities, working with their vendors, in the newsroom, their advocacy department, and their development department. All of these internship opportunities look great, however If I personally would want to pick and choose, the advocacy department seems the most relevant to me. Doing so would ideally help strengthen my resume as the article from Dawn McKay points out, the different tasks and skills that I would be developing in advocacy work helping to make me look competitive when applying to different aid and humanitarian NGOs. Ideally this internship would gain me skills in dealing with both bureaucratic institutions, as well as engaging directly with impacted communities, and teaching me skills to bridge the gap between these two populations. An internship like this is competitive I would imagine, and hard work, however I could also imagine it being fairly rewarding as well.
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11/26/2023
A Ranking of the Reuters list of “10 Absolutes”
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Image Credit: Willy Barton
https://www.worldatlas.com/r/w960-q80/upload/b0/9c/5c/shutterstock-1216254622.jpg
Never pay for a story and never accept a bribe.
Always protect their sources from the authorities.
Always correct an error openly.
Always hold accuracy sacrosanct.
Never fabricate or plagiarize.
Never alter a still or moving image beyond the requirements of normal image enhancement.
Always reveal a conflict of interest to a manager.
Always respect privileged information.
Always guard against putting their opinion in a news story.
Always strive for balance and freedom from bias.
The top two rankings were chosen above due to their precedence of credibility in relation to the others. The “Never pay for a story and never accept a bribe.” Is the most egregious offense if broken on this list due to its complete and utter dereliction of credibility. If one pays for a story and or accepts a bribe, then they are proving that they can be influenced and are essentially for sale, telling the world that their stories are expounding a view to those who want to pay for it. There is no credibility in that. The second ranking is on there in the second round because you also need to protect your sources if you want to be seen as credible. You cannot be seen as credible or trustworthy if you sell confidential informants down the river. The bottom two absolutes were placed where they were because of the simple fact that it is impossible to be completely without bias when writing. Everyone has preconceived notions and world views coming into a story, however it is the job of a journalist to be fair in how they treat the material, and that is why these two rank towards the bottom.
Top Pitching Tips for Pitching to Real Change:
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Image Credit: Taija PerryCook
Focus on relevancy to the people of Seattle in terms of policy. Who is affected, and how it affects them in the lens of the Homeless crisis.
Get the administration’s opinion on current events. Real Change has a real focus on local government decisions and opinions.
Be succinct. Show why your story matters in terms of the Homeless Crisis.
12/03/2023
Looking back and looking forward:
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Image Credit: Salman Ravoof: https://kinsta.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/wordpress-revisions-1-1024x512.png
Over the course of this journey, this blog has seen many iterations of itself, and a lot of content has been released over its lifetime. This process naturally has led to some errors, and though unintentional have nonetheless dogged the blogging process requiring the need for revision.
It is therefore noted that the overall problems with the blog were mainly a consistency of font and design, and a few grammatical and AP style conventions that were not up to snuff. These bumps in the road have since been corrected, and further errors of this kind were proofread out of existence in later posts. It always helps to go back and proofread what you are posting, to see if one is following conventions. When doing any project like this, it is important to go back, go back, and go back and check your work. What helps the most is proofreading before posting and allowing yourself plenty of time to catch any mistakes while in the infant stage.
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Image credit: Emily Rodriguez: https://demworks.org/sites/default/files/Democracy%20101%20(3).jpg
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Dear readers, writers, newsies and newsers,
I am writing to you in this last post, as a final testament and farewell to the wonderful journey that has been this time. We have delved into different journalistic practices and conventions, and observed the real-life expression of that in the news publication Real Change. Over the course of this quarter, dear readers, we have discovered what journalism means, what it does, and how to effectively use it as citizens.
As you go forth dear readers, I hope that this knowledge avails you and helps you in the wide world, for it is precisely this battle of information that informs how you as individuals make your place in the world. In these trying times, we hope that this blog has helped you in terms of transparency of the journalistic process, and how it can best be used in the wide field of the democratic process.
Good Luck!
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