Blog 10: Newsy.com

In New York City, there have been thousands of workers that were sent on unpaid leave due to the city’s new Covid-19 vaccine mandate. City employees had about only one week to submit proof of at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine. Starting last Monday, there were nine thousand employees on unpaid leave over refusing to comply with the mandate. However, this mandate has begun a pushback from some union leaders like the police union that had warned that their department was unprepared for the staffing shortages from this. Units at the fire departments remain understaffed even though firehouses remain open and the head of the firefighter’s union believes that the vaccine mandates aren’t necessary since Covid-19 numbers have been falling for weeks. People have not been given a enough time to get the vaccine ever since the mandate was announced because they were only given eight days. Many think that this administration is being unreasonable with not giving people more time to make these decisions and to talk to their families and spouses about making this big choice.

https://www.newsy.com/stories/thousands-of-new-york-city-workers-on-unpaid-leave/

Thousands of employees in New York City have been sent on unpaid leave following the Covid-19 vaccine mandate.

NEWSY.com

Through exploring the site Newsy.com I discovered that it is a video news site that produces short video pieces that give breaking news across the United States and the rest of the world. They cover politics, science and health, entertainment, technology, business, and sports. Newsy.com creates video news stories and then provides an additional written transcript for those who want to read. The transcripts give that link back to credible media sites such as CNN, the El Paso Times, and govinfo.gov. However, there is a left leaning bias with this site and most of their stories seem to favor the left. According to their about us page they state “Newsy is your source for concise, unbiased video news and analysis covering the top stories from around the world.” News sites like this can have a slight liberal bias and the factual information that they cover often times caters to many liberal causes.

Hyperlocal News

I did some exploration on local news sites near places I live such as Carrollwood, Brandon, and Tampa. Things I learned about hyperlocal news sites by discovering these different types of local news was the better coverage of the communities since they are much smaller areas. This type of news seems to shape and reflect the neighborhood socially and politically which is accomplished through high-news coverage in small places. By covering social, cultural, religious and youth groups on the neighborhood level help to gather more individuals to these communities as well. Since hyper-local news sites have become more popular over time there has been much research comparing both traditional news and hyperlocal news. Hyperlocal news can be seen differently compared to larger-scale coverage because they provide a narrower focus which helps to grow more intimate relationships with individuals and institutions in the community. While observing many hyperlocal news sites I think they are a true asset as a significant part of the whole news mix for audiences right now.

Photojournalism

A story that I am quite interested on writing about for my photojournalism project is on the red tide in Florida. Red tide is at an all-time high and has serious effects to the Florida environment. This poses a risk for both marine life and humans. It has also been said to cause respiratory irritation like coughing, tearing, and sneezing in some people that are exposed to red tide conditions along the coast when the wind starts blowing these toxins onshore. People with severe or chronic respiratory issues are advised to avoid areas with red tide however, usually symptoms are temporary and only last a couple hours. Not only that but swimming with a red tide can cause skin irritation and burning eyes. Due to climate change, warmer water is predicted to cause more algae blooms that lead to red tide more often, more intensely, and in more bodies of water. Climate change is making it much harder to control these blooms once they begin.

Service Journalism

The federal student loan crisis has imposed a burden on many borrowers. According to the article”Who owes all that student debt? And who’d benefit if it were forgiven?,” the United States is in about $1.5 trillion in student loan debt which has increased tremendously from the $250 billion in 2004. This debt is now the second substantial piece of household debt and even larger than credit card debt. The belief of the increase in student debt is due to tuition rising among four-year institutions and the number of scholarships or grants not rising with it. Another factor is that more Americans are going to college especially those who are from middle to low-income families as said in the story. The federal government has also made it easier and cheaper for loans to become more accessible to everyone. In 1992, Congress eliminated income limits on who can borrow and how much undergrads can borrow as stated in the article. All these factors combined contributed to the biggest increase in student loan debt in the United States.

Story Focus Sheet

1.7 trillion dollars. This is how much America’s college graduates owe in students loans. With 7 out of 10 college students leaving with an average of about $30,000 in debt saying that this is a crisis would be an understatement. This has affected 37 million students across the nation which has created a massive number of problems. Sixteen years ago, the debt average was about $13,000 less but now the student debt crisis has dramatically increased leaving most people with tons of money to pay back as soon as they head off into the workforce. This topic is quite relevant to HCC students because it directly impacts them, especially as college students. The current crisis is affecting our whole economy and my plan to cover it is by using sources on the internet to find out more information on the student loan burden and critical consequences towards us. Asking about the background on the problem, the significance this has right now, and the steps to solve the issue will help me to create my story.

Interview Preparation

I selected a Medical Office Representative named Isela Cooper for my interview because I was curious on the situation in the Medical field during the pandemic. Essential workers are on the forefront of these circumstances and their jobs are critical to us in this current time. Things I did to prepare for the interview was doing more research on Medical Office Representatives, how their position works, and their most important responsibilities working in the medical setting. Finding more information on this career and the effect Covid-19 has had on it helped me to come up with my ten questions for the interview. Some challenges I had to face for the interview was being able to work with both mine and the interviewee’s time schedules. Time management was a big issue I had during this especially with the amount time I had available. The way I was able to overcome this was being more flexible with my schedule so I could conduct my interview before the due date.

Interview Questions

Covid-19 has brought many challenges for our society and that is nowhere more noticeable than the medical field. Medical Office Representatives are on the front lines of this health crisis as they’re necessary to protect property and human life. Their jobs are as essential to us during this pandemic as nurses and doctors are.

How many hours do you work in a day?

What specific activities does this job require?

What effects has the current health crisis had on your job?

What challenging interactions have you had with patients?

Do you need any prior training or experience for this position?

Do you need good organizational skills in this position?

What are your primary duties as a medical office representative?

What communication skills did you acquire to help you work better with patients?

How do you usually handle situations with upset patients?

What skills have you obtained in the past to help you with this current position?

Interview

A person that I would be interested in interviewing is Nikola Tesla if he was reincarnated and recovered all his memories. I would like to interview him because he is generally considered one of the most underrated inventors and engineers of all time. Many of his accomplishments are missing in texts on radio, science, and engineering history. His minor accomplishments were mentioned in conventional history books don’t match the amount of recognition he was given by others. Some specific questions I would ask him would be what lessons he had learned while working with George Westinghouse and Thomas Edison because his great successes came when he worked with those men. Another question I would ask is why he was so determined to discredit Albert Einstein personally and denounce all of his work. The last question I would ask is if he likes the cars that were named after him because these cars have extreme popularity right now.

Introduction To Me

My name is Julianna Sinclair and I am a mass communications major. Some of my interests are photography and traveling. I have traveled to places such as Montreal, Canada and Barcelona, Spain which have been my favorite cities I’ve visited. I’m not a professional photographer but I hope to become pretty experienced in photography because to me its a useful skill to have, its fun, and it helps me to see the beautiful things in life. I really enjoy taking photos wherever I travel or of anything interesting to me. One of my views is looking at life as an adventure instead of taking everything so seriously, seeing the world as an enemy and opportunities are rare and hard to get, you will feel more free and possibilities will start to become endless. Right now I am taking this course because I have always have had a passion for writing and journalism is something that really interests me. I anticipate blogging about pretty much anything on this site because I have a lot of things that intrigue me at the moment but one thing I could write about would be my thoughts on events happening in our world.