Fifth of several stories by Hunter students describing their communities and especially focusing on their methods and strategies for getting important news information that could effect their lives.
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Dongan Hills in Staten Island is an average neighborhood that is neither superior to others nor at the bottom of the barrel. The average house value of $519,449 indicates that many Dongan Hills residents are living comfortably.
Crime rates have decreased since 2005 in every category despite high numbers of major felony crimes and grand larceny, according to demographic information compiled by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Yet 9.4 percent of children in this working class neighborhood live in poverty. A review of the Stapleton and St. George of areaa provide some grim statistics. While death rates have decreased city-wide, they have remained 25 percent higher in this community.
Regarding health care, one in five adults having a doctor and 15 percent of the residents are currently uninsured. This neighborhood has higher heart decease hospitalization rates and deaths than the rest of Staten Island and New York City. Residents are also more likely to be hospitalized for mental illnesses in this neighborhood even though these numbers have decreased in the last 10 years.
The most alarming condition facing the residents of this community is the increase in alcohol abuse. Residents are hospitalized for alcohol abuse twice as much as the rest of Staten Island and four times as much as the New York City average. As a result, Dongan Hills has more alcohol related deaths as well.
News media that I may encounter on a daily basis fail to analyze the issues that I care about. They covers stories as isolated events and ignore institutional frameworks, historical context and social implications. Issues that I care about from the local to international level, all fall under the umbrella of human rights. These issues deal with the violation of basic human rights such as freedom from torture and to a fair trial. Yet, coverage of most if these issues is limited to stories about specific people and events, leaving out the complex international structures, often dictated by government, that influence the events we read about in the paper.
For example, a local story about immigrant workers will often fail to discuss the reason why they left their countries, their struggles with receiving proper documentation, the discrimination they face both by their communities and legal institutions, and other issues that have an impact on their lives.
As an immigrant, I consider myself part of an immigrant community and news on immigration are important to me. Policies, their implications, and the real life struggles faced by immigrants concern me. While these matters are present at the local level, I follow news that focuses on government actions and policies. For example, I follow stories about new immigration policies that have been implemented by different countries in light of the recent recession and explore economic motives of governments and their implications for immigrants. The small local events are influenced by state actions.
I identify with another community, that is, the middle class worker. Labor issues are a crucial part of that community and, therefore, news that I follow. I find it important to be updated on labor issues throughout the world. The workers in developing countries and their labor rights struggles are connected to the American worker. Despite the lack of news coverage that makes these connections, I make it a part of my duty to learn about these issues.
As a member of the working middle class, I also inquire about health care, a raging issue in the United States. Despite coverage that focuses on political games and tactics instead of the substantive issues, I have tried to seek out alternative sources of information that debate the value of reform rather than political efficacy.
For most of my daily news I turn to The New York Times. The coverage is not superior to all others but has become a convenient source through its website. As a working student, I don’t want to spend money on newspapers so most of information comes from the Internet. Whether I agree with the writer or not, I often find myself more drawn to op-ed pieces rather than feature coverage. Op-ed pieces offer some analysis of events. For this reason, I also browse blogs on a daily basis.
For news content dealing with the Albanian immigrant community, I turn to blogs such as Peshku Pa Uje, (Fish Without Water), which offer current events updates and up to date analysis and debates. Suspicious of most of what I read on blogs, I don’t rely on their facts but have something to gain from their discussion of different actors, history, motives and political structures.
I am mostly concerned with international stories and find local coverage to be repetitive and trivial. For stories that directly affect me, like fare hikes or local protests, I read free daily newspapers. The Metro does not provide useful information but it flags stories that I later look up online. Aside from nytimes.com, my online search starts at Google. I usually browse through several sources dealing with on story. This takes me to sites like Talking Points Memo, Memo, Slate and others. I often follow up on international stories by visiting the sites of the different players. For example, I go on the sites of different watchdog organizations, like Amnesty International and international government organization like the United Nations. For news about the United States, I check the White House website on a weekly basis. I find that a combination of the traditional sources like The New York Times, CNN, and BBC combined with new media outlets as well as directly visiting different websites offers a balanced and better understanding of news today.
In “The Health Care Sprawl,” Clark Hoyt, The New York Times public editor, discusses the difficulties that the New York Times faces when covering the health care debate. With many people still saying that they are confused about the health care debate, the New York Times and other papers are facing criticism for their coverage. With the complex nature of the health care system and many players, plans, and groups involved, The Times is struggling to cover the story in depth, according to Hoyt.
Hoyt writes that it is hard for newspapers to cover a single story that includes “economics, politics, and philosophical and moral values.” Yet, as Jonathan Landman writes, it is necessary for a paper to “step back from time to time and explain the background and context of events, or explore part of a big issue in depth.” This type of coverage helps readers not just understand the immediate story but also the history and motives that shape it.
Hoyt explains how the New York Times has created a blog to keep up with story and offer more nuanced coverage. The blog is also linked to New York Times stories that go into deeper detail and explain the issues. This type of coverage aims to link up-to-date new stories with deep analysis and discussion. It also links to actual documents so that the readers can find out more information.