Seventh in a series of 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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The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene provides important researched statistics informing the public about Borough Park, Brooklyn where the death rates i are lower than the rest of Brooklyn and overall New York City. The top five causes of death here are cancer, heart disease, congenital conditions, prenatal conditions, drug-related and other.
Others causes include accidents, HIV, suicide, pneumonia, influenza and more.
Rates of obesity and diabetes are increasing rapidly across New York City but adults in Borough Park are less likely to be obese and have diabetes than those in other areas of Brooklyn or New York City. Poverty is another topic of serious issue. The percentage of residents living below the poverty level is higher here than in New York City overall. The percentage of people born outside the country is also higher than in New York City overall.
In Borough Park, 42 percent of residents aged 25 and older have completed some college education. According to statistics on race and ethnicity, Borough Park has higher proportions of whites and Asians than Brooklyn and the rest of the city. According to statistical facts, crime in Brooklyn seems to be more frequent, compared to New York or the United States. The total crime index is 121 in Brooklyn, 67 in New York and 100 in United States.
The total Personal Crime risk index, which includes murder, rape, robbery and assault is 178 in Brooklyn, 97 in NY and 100 in the country. Property crime risk index, which include, burglary, larceny and motor vehicle theft is 109 in Brooklyn, 63 in New York and 100 in United States. As one can see, crime in Brooklyn is above the crime rate level than New York and the rest of the city.
I am 21 years old and live in a Jewish Sephardic community in Borough Park, Brooklyn. My ancestors are from Syria and their traditions resonate in our everyday lives. I am a modern orthodox Jew, following the laws and traditions that my ancestors practiced with a modern approach. Not only does my community live close together but we also travel together for vacations and summers.
My community has different sects, which are divided by class and by the different groups of religion. We are a tight community, and we know a lot about each other, helping each other whenever we can. Most of the females in my community marry young and usually marry within the community. My growing community consists of 35,000 people heavily populated in Brooklyn and New Jersey and branched out into Florida and California. We value the connection that we all share and the closeness that we feel towards one another.
A very important news media source that I use to keep in touch with my community is the Image, a monthly magazine produced and distributed by Syrian community members. It provides updated information about daily activities and programs and has many advertisements of community doctors, real-estate agents and tutors. Other news sources that keep me informed on national news are the New York Times, FOX and CNN. I try to keep myself updated with the news but between school and two jobs being up-to-date can be difficult.
I watch FOX and CNN more than I read the newspapers because they are more accessible. Between school and my jobs, I find it hard to come home and watch the news because I’m exhausted from the day, and I need free time without thinking and worrying about the news. Last year I signed up to get texts from CNN, and I have been receiving them ever since. I am aware that FOX and CNN provide different news angles, and I enjoy watching both sides so that I can make an educated evaluation as to which one I agree with on a topic.
There are many news topics that are vital for me to stay on top of, such as the economic recession, which is taking a toll on my family. I have family members in marketing, stocks, real estate and other businesses that are being affected by this economic downfall. Another topic that stands out for me is global warming. I care about my environment, and don’t want to watch it deteriorate. I am a buyer for a clothing store, and I don’t order any real fur because of my love for animals and the environment. The war in Iraq and the suspicion that Iran has nuclear weapons also worry me, terribly.
I ambivalent about mainstream news media; I like them and I hate them. I like them because they can inform the masses about national and international news, fashion, business, arts and more. I hate the mainstream media because too often they distort or misinterpret information. They depend too much on sensationalism to draw in readers and viewers, and deliberately ruin reputations and emphasize stereotypes. From classes I’ve taken, I’ve learned to question the news and to try to understand it more carefully.
I found New York times Clark Hoyt’s “Notes About Bias, From Opposite Points of View” interesting. It pinpoints “how challenging it can be to navigate a polarized world.” He discusses the case of Acorn and describes it as either “a thoroughly corrupt radical organization” or “an innocent victim of McCarthyism.”
In the Acorn case, two activists with politically conservative sentiments posed as a prostitute and a pimp and carried out conversations with the employees who told them how to cheat on taxes. The conversations were video taped and aired on Fox News and conservative blogs. The New York Times, on the other hand, didn’t follow up on this important news. Some critics believed the Times was showing favoritism to Acorn. Others believed that if the Times had paid more attention to the Acorn situation then it would have been criticized about “playing into the hand of the right wing media.”
Hoyt writes how the Times needs to be alert about important issues and needs to decide what’s quality coverage and what’s not. He writes that when the Times misses or is slow on a story that is boiling elsewhere, it lets its readers down. He is persistent with the idea that the Times goal shouldn’t be to satisfy or entertain, it should be to inform the public on what is occurring.