Live Blogging: David Cay Johnston

Minute by minute coverage with David Cay Johnston during his visit to Ithaca College's Independent Media class.

2:40 p.m. "The only degree I have is night high school... but I never stayed at any college for more than 30 units."

• Has enough credits for a masters, went to 8 colleges, but never got a degree from any of them

2:45 p.m. "Before I came along, the LAPD was treated like a god like institution from the LA Times."

2:48 p.m. "I took the LA Times places where they never intended to go."

• referring to LAPD political spying and abuses
• the intelligence unit was not being controlled

2:57 p.m. "A few days after this blind date, I went to this police social function...No matter how mad Gates was he would always talk to me... because he wanted to know what I was doing and that what Henry Kissinger's way."

• Johnston's bind date was spyed on, tried to use intimidation factors on him
• that first date, blind date is now Johnston's wife

3:03 p.m. "I have to manage my editors and figure out how to get things into the paper"

• Editors jobs would be on the line so the LA Times did not want this story covered 

3:12 p.m. "You will have the same work, but not the same benefits and that's not all due to the economics facing all news organizations."

• IRE has gone down 16%, but journalists 30% decrease

3:14 p.m. Take law, public communications courses, learn numbers because you will be able to turn them into useful things

3:17 p.m. "My head is kind of a spreadsheet."

• this is a way Johnston makes numbers easy to understand for his readers

3:18 p.m. "The CIA Factbook is a trove of information."

3:20 p.m. "You'll have bad editors, you'll have good ones. You'll have bad producers and you'll have good ones. But you'll also have people who make you look better than you deserve."

3:22 p.m. "Editors: they have real power."

• They have the power to put a huge investigative piece on page 87 

3:24 p.m. "There are no rules in journalism they there are only judgement but because you sign your name to everything you write you have to live with those judgements." 

3:25 p.m.  "George W. Bush was sold to the American people as a product."

3:30 p.m. "Once you tell me what the bar is and I hit the bar you got to put it in the paper."

3:36 p.m. "Disclosure is the best disinfectant," Professor Jeff Cohen said.

3:35 p.m. "If you are just Joe-Schmo and I am interviewing you, I will give you a tremendous amount of leeway...If you are Bill Clinton I am not going to cut you any slack under and circumstances." 

David Cay Johnston's Coming To Town!

I am so thrilled that the IC chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists is hosting Pulitzer prize winner David Cay Johnston tomorrow night in Textor 101 at 7 p.m. Johnston is an incredible investigative reporter, mainly focusing on areas of taxes and economics that evaluates the idea of the 1 percent. Johnston also is the current president for Investigative Reporters and Editors. His third book, The Fine Print: How Big Companies Use "Plain English" to Rob You Blind, was just released and is becoming a big hit.

So why should we care about this speaker? Because investigative reporting, finding a story in the silences, defines independent media. This is exactly Johnston's message.

Interested in hearing more about his economic views and his new book? Check out his interview on Democracy Now here.

Interested in seeing him in person?! Stop by Textor 101 at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, November 13th.

The Horrors of Factory Farms

When Upton Sinclair published The Jungle in 1906 he blew the cover off of the hidden bad practices and corruption of the American meatpacking industry during the early 20th century. Now the book is  often interpreted as an account of the poor working conditions in the industry. Yet Sinclair would be tossing and turning in his grave if he could see the state of the factory farming business today-- specifically the meat industry.

The News 21 food and health reporting project by UC Berkeley School of Journalism recently released a video called Farms, Lies and Videotapes. The video investigates Iowa livestock facilities. According to News 21, "One former investigator goes public for the first time to offer a rare glimpse at how these videos are made, and what’s at stake for farmers, animals and consumers."

So why is the food industry so secretive? So why is the mainstream media not reporting on this animal cruelty. When an individual is cruel to animals they are condemned legally and socially. When a corporation does it we call it business.

For my Plants, People and Food Production class we did a 48 hour food journal. We then called all of the corporations to try to figure out where the food we ate is coming from. The thing is, it is a mystery. For proprietary reasons we are not allowed to even know the state our food is coming from, let alone the farm itself.

And why did News 21 need to sneak a video camera into some of these factory farms? Because the farm has changed from the picturesque family business we all grew up singing about to an unethical business needed to stay behind closed doors. The animals are seen as livestock (live- property, not living being with feelings and pain). What is even more unfortunate is that many of these farmers disagree with the way these animals are being treated, but are stuck under the thumb of big industry in order to make a living.

But if these moral reasons are not enough to stir the consciousness of media to report on this issue, then maybe the health reasons are. The conditions of these animals lead to disease and bacteria in the food we eat.

Then my question is, with so many reasons for these controversial factories to be reported on, why is this story still unheard?

Dooms Day or Election Day?

As the map of the United States gets painted in blue and red, I cannot help but think of previous election days, and the poor mainstream media coverage of them. Because the news world has turned into a 24 hour world, the focus of journalism has become who can get the news out first instead of who can be the most accurate in their reporting. This can have extremely negative repercussions. It is not like mainstream media hasn't called the winner wrong before, just for the sake of getting the "answer" out there first.

But what will be this year's main obstacles. ProPublica came up with a list of seven things that could go wrong this election day (or already have).

1. Confusion of voter ID laws.
2. Hurricane Sandy
3. Shortened early voting in Florida (and frusteration)
4. Newly drawn districts' voters going to wrong areas
5. Provisional ballots take a long time to count
6. Voter suppression and intimidation
7. Tie in the electoral college

To me, two of the greatest issues on this list have to do with voter id laws and intimidation tactics because this is discouraging and taking away people's right to vote and have their voice heard. In Florida, voters are waiting for 4-6 hours just to vote, and many potential voters are turning away because of the inconvenience. Many of these long lines or lack of voting machines are in areas near colleges or with a large minority community. Coincidence? I personally doubt that it is seeing as those are the communities most likely to vote for Obama. And in areas where voting machines are plenty, the process is still not running smoothly. Some touch screen voting systems have been caught altering votes.

But are we hearing this in mainstream media? No. I just watch a map of the United States change colors, and I listen to arbitrary numbers thrown around in discussions about polling. Mainstream media is all about voter sanctification, whereas alternative media like ProPublica is actually covering the voter suppression.  

This is such a tight election, and such an important one, that everyone should be able to have their vote count. Because this election is huge. So go and vote. Take an active role and make sure you are going to your correct districts voting area and that your ballot is filled out accurately. Pay attention to media's coverage of the election with a critical eye. Because if there was ever a time to have an opinion or be passionate about something, it is now and it is this. 

I cast my vote, and with my eyes and ears glued to the election coverage, I am left crossing my fingers.

Reaction: The Internet is My Religion

I have always struggled with my spirituality and moral beliefs, and the teaching of the Catholic church. I believe God loves and supports everyone, including gay people. I believe you do not have to go to church to be a good person. I believe bad things happening to good people is not a punishment from God, but an unfortunate reality. I define myself as spiritual but have a hard time identifying with a specific religion.

However, I cannot help but to agree with Jim Gilliam's PDF 2011 speech. "As a child I believed in creationism, that the universe was created in 6 days. Today, we are the creators," said Gilliam.

We are all connected. And now we literally are all connected through the internet. People connected can create a new world. "Each one of us is a creator, but together we are the  creator."

Gilliam went on to talk about passion in the sense we are all unique, having different interests, but because of this we can all bring something new to this world we are constantly creating and recreating.

"We serve God best when we do what we love for the greatest cause we can imagine."

A look into Indian Tribes Independent Media

Sitting in the Ithaca College pub, I was brainstorming with my friends about my next blog post. What would I talk about this week regarding independent media?

"What about Indian tribes?" said Jason MacDermott, a junior anthropology major at IC. "If independent media is about voices being silenced my mainstream media than I think that's a perfect example."

I couldn't agree more. 

In mainstream media, the Indian tribe community and native Americans are largely ignored. In fact, they are largely ignored in history books as well (the story of Thanksgiving is not as friendly as elementary school made us think). However, because of this dark past, blogger Delvin Cree states that journalism is difficult for writers today who want to report news within reservation boundaries.

Let's look at the story of Bill Lawrence.

According to Cree, "Bill's effort in exposing the truth of what was happening on Minnesota reservations made someone mad enough to shoot bullets through his office windows in Bemidji. Even though an act of violence took place, he continued to be one one of the nation's most ferocious tribal government watchdogs."

He even won the Freedom of Information award in 2003 from the Society of Professional Journalists for his investigative reporting. But what is happening currently within this beat? I explored IndianCountryTodayMediaNetwork.com to find out.

The site covers world news, politics, business, veterans, the environment and more, all from the Indian perspective. This perspective is largely unheard, but this media organization is trying to give voice to this silenced population.


  

Look at me, I'm Sandra D.

That is, if "D" stood for destruction.

As funny as all the Grease spoofs have been during the coverage of Hurricane Sandy, it is a natural disaster that should not be talked about lightly. Ten people in NYC have already lost their lives. Nationally, over 20 people have been killed by Sandy. There are millions of dollars in damages and reconstructive costs.

In this recent coverage, we have heard plenty about damages, destruction and death. We have watched live radars of the storm. But what slipped mainstream media's news radar that directly affects those being rained upon by Sandy's unforgiving wrath? The fact that Governor Romney reportedly wants to eliminate funding to FEMA.

According to the Huffington Post, Governor Romney wants to allow states and private sector groups to take control of disaster relief as of a GOP primary debate last year. When asked recently what he would do and if he was going to go see some of the storm damage, Romney ignored the questions-- 14 times actually.

“Governor Romney believes that states should be in charge of emergency management in responding to storms and other natural disasters in their jurisdictions,” said campaign spokeswoman Amanda Henneberg in the Huffington Post article. “As the first responders, states are in the best position to aid affected individuals and communities and to direct resources and assistance to where they are needed most. This includes help from the federal government and FEMA.”

But how will this help the average American? If relief aid is privatized, isn't there a chance of an increase in price, which could be detrimental to a family who has just lost everything from a disaster?

And who are the people who usually stay or are living in the lower areas prone to flooding? People in poverty. But we don't talk about poverty in mainstream media, as pointed out in IC Senior Mariana Garces's article on Fair.org. So I guess it makes sense that we would not talk about how cutting FEMA would affect people in poverty because we don't address poverty in general. Yes, that is completely rational.

Sarcasm aside, this is a huge issue we need to address not only in election 2012, but also with news coverage in general. For now, I guess I will continue to go to independent news outlets like Huffington Post who will give me more of the whole story on Sandy and its greater implications.