Fake News Synthesis and Reflection

Before talking about fake news in class, I didn't know what fake news really was. It is a term thrown out to describe any news people don't like in today's society. However, that is not correct. Fake news, though it shouldn't really be called 'news,' is fake information made to look like real journalism. People often make fake news for politics or money and try to misinform you, possibly pushing an agenda. It is important to fact check news stories, especially if the story is unbelievable or sketchy, or the website just seems a little off.
To help solve the problem of fake news, I can always check my facts and make it easy for others to check my sources. I can bring another journalist with me to have another witness and try to be local. I can write interesting but true news stories so that real news travels faster and find ways to spread it to the world.

Sensationalized news was a new term for me. I knew the general premise of clickbait, but I didn't realize it extended beyond that. Sensationalized news is news that is exaggerated to seem more incredible than it actually is. You can spot sensationalized news, especially clickbait, by a title that is promising a dramatic or shocking story. Typically, the story does not live up to all that the title promised.
As a journalist, I can use this knowledge to prevent myself from accidentally sensationalizing news. I can look through my pieces to make sure they aren't exaggerated and make a title that accurately teases the topic of the article. This way, sensationalized news will not be as much of a problem, at least if I'm the author.

Media Law Synthesis and Reflection

What is libel? I knew the basics of what libel was before we discussed it, but I didn't realize how complex it could be. I thought, 'yeah, libel. Just don't lie and it won't be a problem.' I learned in class that it was much more complicated than that.

Libel is a written or broadcasted publication of a false statement that damages someone's reputation. It can be a lie from the reporter, or it can be a lie from someone else published by a reporter. However, to prove libel, one must prove that they are identifiable and their reputation was hurt. The statement must be public, and the reporter has to have known the statement was false or not investigated a suspicious claim well enough.
With this new knowledge, I will know how to avoid libel when I may have unintentionally published it before. I will make sure to check any negative statements made about someone and avoid negative claims that I am unsure of.

Before we discussed it in class, I had never heard of the shield law before. The shield law is a law that allows reporters to protect the anonymity of their sources, even if a court subpoenas the information. The shield law's allowances extend to bloggers as well as journalists. In some cases, a reporter may not be allowed to use the shield law. One example of this would be if a reporter witnessed a crime. The courts could make the reporter give details about the criminal, even if the criminal wishes to remain anonymous.
As a reporter, the shield law means I don't have to tell someone who my source was in a scenario where they wish to remain anonymous. This gives me more flexibility as to who I can interview since more people may be willing to share something personal or important as anonymous sources than named sources. However, this does not mean all my sources can be anonymous because that would reflect poorly on my credibility, and that would not be good.

Opinion Piece Practice

The SPEEDO Solid Flyback Training Suit Endurance+ Adult is a popular suit for teams to customize but also a suit that many swimmers complain about. However, it also receives very high praise. It seems to be a constant swimmer vs coach and parent battle. So, the question arises: is the SPEEDO Solid Flyback Training Suit Endurance+ a good suit?

The SPEEDO Endurance+ has the benefit of being cheap and easy to customize. Coaches can get the suit in almost any combination of colors they want, and they can even add their team’s logo. Even with the extensive customization, it is fairly cheap for a competitive suit, costing only $68.10 for a women’s suit with a two-color logo through the Metro Swim Shop.

Unfortunately, this suit has its downsides. It tends to run small and tight, so getting the correct size is difficult. Also, the material itself, although advertised as soft, is quite rough and irritating. The suit is low-cut in the chest and tends to ride up in the back, making it difficult for many body types to feel comfortable wearing it.

Overall, the SPEEDO Solid Flyback Training Suit Endurance+ Adult has its pros and cons like anything else. Between the cheap, easy customization and the small, uncomfortable cut, it is destined to be a suit that brings disagreements to swim teams across the nation, including our own here at Kennedy High School.

A News Nerd's Journey

With a dream sparked from her father's work in T.V. turned into a goal she’d pursue for years, Stacy Haynes-Moore has been very involved in the news her entire life. She calls herself a “News Nerd” because of how often and enthusiastically she listens to the news. Her father worked as a media consultant and traveled around to meet with news stations from all over the country when Stacy was a child. This sparked her passion for media.

            When Stacy Haynes-Moore was in elementary school, she and her friends played a game called “broadcast reporter” in which they pretended to be news reporters. In middle school, Stacy discovered her love for writing. She wrote poems, stories, and anything else she could think of. High school brought new opportunities. Stacy became a reporter for her high school newspaper and was later promoted to an editor position. She also attended the University of Iowa’s journalism camp.

            Going into college at the University of Missouri, Stacy Haynes-Moore wanted to go into Tv broadcasting. However, because she enjoyed writing and learning about people, she decided to switch her major to print journalism, the branch of journalism involving newspapers and magazines.

            After college, Stacy got a job reporting for the Kirksville Daily Express. There, she worked vigorous hours to publish new stories every day, even to the point of working holidays. She worked for the daily paper for about a year before deciding to leave the small company because she was ready to move on and wanted holidays off.

Stacy then moved to the Mount Vernon Sun, a weekly paper. She got a job as an editor and stayed there for some time. After a few years, she decided it was time for another change.

After seeing an ad in the newspaper, Stacy decided to apply to a company of online journalists. She got the job and worked with her coworkers, which were very few, to publish unusual articles and online magazines until the company was bought out. Not wanting to work for a large company, Stacy quit and decided to return to school to pursue her love of people in the teaching world.

            Stacy Haynes-Moore has loved news and journalism her entire life and even pursued a career in it as a young adult. She thoroughly enjoys her job as an LA teacher at Kennedy High School because “it sort of blends what I like to do, which is working with students [and] working still in media.”  

A Bittersweet Change

  Imagine: your father, who raised, cared for, and stuck with you through everything life has thrown at you, calls the whole family together for a meeting. Once everyone arrives, he announces that he will be leaving in a few weeks and might never come back. Ever. The week after he plans on leaving is the weekend a family tradition that’s been around for generations takes place. How would you feel? What would you do without him?

  The athletes and assistant coaches of Kennedy's Women's Swimming and Diving team found themselves wondering this very thing when Ivan Sanchez, head coach since the 2017 season, announced that he’d received and accepted a job assistant coaching for Southern Illinois University Carbondale. His last day would be October 20, 2018, one week before Regionals, the meet that determines who’s swimming at State.

The swimmers and coaches at the MVC Sophomore Conference

(October 20) pose for one last photo with Ivan before he

leaves to coach at SIU.

  Naturally, everyone was shocked. After the initial shock wore off, other emotions began settling in. While most of the swimmers are happy for him, almost all of them are sad, or even angry, at the same time. “I am very sad that Ivan is leaving because he is such a great coach,” said senior Victoria (Tori) Thorne, who has been coached by Ivan for 4 years. “On the other hand, I am very happy for him that he gets to fulfill his dream of coaching at his alma mater.” Alexandra (Lexie) Seeley, a freshman, says she is “really proud of Coach Ivan for being able to accomplish something that he’s dreamed of like this [coaching at SIU], but I know it sucks anyway(s).”

  The assistant coaches are having a slightly different reaction. Igor Sanchez, Ivan’s brother, is sad, but he says he’ll be okay. Jody Petersen, another assistant coach, felt shocked and overwhelmed by the responsibilities at first, but she’s willing to do whatever it takes to help the team stay positive and finish the season well.

~We have to accept the fact that Ivan’s following his dream, and that’s a happy thing, and it can be a positive change here too~Jody Petersen

  As for the future, no one knows what is to come, but some swimmers and coaches have an idea of how this may affect the team and what they can do to prevent backlash. Tori says she thinks Ivan leaving is “upsetting to a lot of girls.” She also thinks it “will take some of the pressure off the girls because they won’t have to worry about what he says or thinks about their race, and they can just go out and swim super fast for themselves.”

  Freshman Ashlynn Williams expresses the worry that many swimmers seem to have about having a new, different coach next season. “I’m just more worried about next season and if we will get a coach like him [Ivan] again,” she said when asked how she felt about Ivan leaving. Out of 22 freshman, sophomores, and juniors asked, only one swimmer said no because Ivan wouldn’t be there. Four said it depended on the new coach, one said they wouldn’t have returned anyway, and 16 said they plan to continue swimming, no matter what.

  Jody thinks “we have to accept the fact that Ivan’s following his dream, and that’s a happy thing, and it can be a positive change here too.” She believes that, as long as the assistant coaches can stay confident, the team will be alright. Igor plans to “try to cover him [Ivan’s place as ‘father’] so this [Ivan leaving] won’t hurt that much.” He says he’s been trying to talk to people who seem to be having a bad day and be more open and someone swimmers can talk to.

  Although he may have left physically, he will be forever in the hearts of the swimmers and coaches. Some favorite memories of him are him letting swimmers play Mario Kart to determine their practice (Tori), Ivan’s canoe flipping on a team canoeing trip (Lexie), him shaking swimmers’ heads after their races (Ashlynn), swimming miles against him in high school and college (Igor), and him pretending to be in a spa with the other coaches at 2017 State (Jody).

(from left to right) Ivan, Amanda, Jody, Sam, and Leslie enjoy

the spa treatment after a stressful day at State in 2017.

Kitten One-Pager

For the last 30 years or more, the U. S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has been experimenting with kittens to learn more about a parasite that can cause toxoplasmosis, a disease that is known to cause miscarriages and birth defects in humans, through the cats’ feces. After a few weeks of being fed meat infected with the parasite, the kittens were killed.  

This experiment was recently discovered and exposed by the White Coat Waste Project. Lawmakers are now pressuring the USDA to stop their experimentation by starting the Kittens in Traumatic Testing Ends Now Act (KITTEN Act) and threatening to slowly “‘choke off their funding if this testing continues.’” 

However, the USDA claims to use as few cats as possible and that the estimated number of 3000 cats killed is overexaggerated. They also defend their actions by saying they didn’t adopt out the cats “‘because of the risk the cats could pose to their adoptive families.’” However, research has shown that cats can be treated for the disease and are unlikely to infect humans they are handled by.  

Personally, I side with the lawmakers trying to end the experiment. The USDA should have at least tried to cure the cats before killing them. It is not acceptable to me that this experiment went on for at least 30 years before it was noticed. Clearly, the government needs to monitor its departments better than it currently is. Something this awful shouldn’t be able to slip under our noses for so long. Hopefully, the experiment will be shut down and the government will start paying attention to what its departments are doing. How many other experiments like this are happening right now? 

Read the original article by Andrew O’Riley for Fox News at http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/09/19/usda-kitten-killing-comes-under-fire-from-bipartisan-group-lawmakers.print.html.

Newly Discovered Dinosaur One-Pager

In 2008, a team of paleontologists found the fossil of a dinosaur never before found in the United States in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah. This dinosaur, the Akainacephalus johnsoni, is similar to a species previously found in North America but identical to fossils found in Asia. 

After 4 years of preparing the bones, the paleontologists spent time studying them. They found they were armored dinosaurs with spikes on their head and a club on the end of their tails. Surprisingly, these traits had only been seen in this dinosaur in fossils in Asia, and the ones in North America were lacking spiked heads.

Scientists concluded that the dinosaurs had lived on Laramidia, one of the two continents that formed North America when the sea levels fell. In theory, the dinosaurs would have crossed over Beringia from Asia to Laramidia sea levels were lower.

This fossil offers us important insight into what the world and environment were like millions of years ago. It tells us about ecosystems, sea levels, and adaptations of species. Because history often repeats itself geographically, it is important for us to know what happens to North America when sea levels rise, and this fossil tells us more about that too.

One thing I disagreed with in the article was that there were at least two immigration events. Really, I believe there only had to be one because the dinosaurs in Asia and those in North America could have been two totally different species and the Asian ones came over. Or, both species could have originally lived in North America and one species could have moved to Asia. I therefore only see the need for one immigration event.

To see the original article on CNN by Ashley Strickland, go to https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/19/us/new-armored-dinosaur-fossil/index.html .

Aleksyia Profile

Bright lights shine down, and energetic music blares. Aleksyia LeClere takes a deep breath and steps onto the runway, all eyes immediately on her. She walks slowly towards the crowd as her dress swirls around her legs. Aleksyia spends a large amount of her time modelling. Her favorite photographer, Jennifer, and her mom help her choose outfits for when she appears in magazines to publicize herself. Aleksyia’s modelling career is off to a great start, but she always leaves plenty of time for her hobbies. 

 However, there is more to Aleksyia’s life than just modelling. In addition, Aleksyia’s time is spent reading action-packed books and boating with her friends and family. 

During her downtime, Aleksyia loves to curl up with a good book. The action and suspense of mystery and crime books make them easily her favorites. She tends to enjoy anything by C. S. Lewis the most, but she thoroughly enjoyed The Book Thief by Mark Zusak.  

When she isn’t reading, Aleksyia may be found on a lake boating, tubing, or even water hoverboarding. While she enjoys participating in these activities anywhere, her favorite memories are at Okoboji where she went boating for the first time.