The Pulitzer Center Travels Around The World

Become a part of the Pulitzer Center and get the amazing opportunity to travel around the world! Here, Westchester Community College students get the opportunity to travel all over and report some underreported crisis situations across the globe. Devon Smith, a Westchester Community College student and Steve Sapienza, an established journalist, talk about their experiences working for this brilliant journalist organization.

Two award winning producers

Micah Fink and Steve Sapienza shared some of their years of working in journalism. The two didn't work together, preferably working alone. But the two work in the same field by spectating other parts of the world. Both of their work is known for the struggles people have to go through like violence, viruses, and poverty.

Listen to this morning zoo!

If you want to see what goes on the behind the scenes of a radio show at Westchester Community College, watch this video on "Guy Talk." The show is on every Friday 8-10am.  This short video includes interviews with the co-hosts, live mixing and the topic of which movies and shows have made us cry.  This is our morning zoo!

If you want to watch great interviews from a radio station, be sure to view the HOT 97 Youtube page.

Can Films effect change?

Documentary or Propaganda

In the many years of film, the distinction between film and propaganda has been a very fine line.  When the film Battleship Potempkin by Sergei Eisenstein in 1925 was filmed it was considered a work of art.  It defined the Soviet Montage Theory of film making for the time.  But it was a work of art that represented the director’s view of the incident, not an honest review of what happened at that time.  Each person reviewing a film must make a decision whether to agree with the ideas presented or to disagree.

Todays Documentary creators like to believe they represent the truth and believe they can help to change the world based on the opinion of the truth that they put before us.  Take for example the work of Award-winning producer, director and writer Micah Fink.  Mr. Fink is a well-respected creator of documentaries and has produced some outstanding work.  He would like to believe that the film he produced in Sept 2005 “H5N1 • KILLER FLU” changed how the US government responded to the Swine Flu crises in 2009.  This claim may help Mr. Fink in acquiring benefactors but probable not how the US government made up its mind to treat a potential epidemic. file:

In the paper "The Swine Flu Crisis: TheGovernment Is Preparing for the Worst While Hoping for the Best – It Needs toTell the Public to Do the Same Thing!" the author Peter Sandman outlines issues that were detailed in Nature from May 21^st, 2009 that also outline the crisis.  In researching this subject I was able to locate hundreds of papers, films and books defining this crisis.  So why might Mr. Finks be the impactful document?

Documentary directors work hard to present a point of view they believe needs to be seen.  You may easily watch any of Michael Moore’s films and recognize their opinion is the driving force, not the truth.  But he believes he is doing a service and trying to create change in the world.

Remember when you are watching and news, film or documentary, it’s up to you to distinguish the truth from opinion.  The next time you see a Film like Kony 2012, try and understand why it is being made.  Is it an advertising campaign, politically motivated or the truth for you to decipher.

A Devastating Truth

                                     When Will It End??

It is true that with each passing year more and more immigrants seek for a second chance here in the land of milk and honey. 

Their treacherous journey to arrive in the safe haven of America is often overlooked by the circumstances that it takes to place foot on this promised land. But the brutality faced in the desert, the cold frightful nights, and the endless stomach growling's are merely the beginning of this bittersweet dream.

There is no question about the horrors that are experienced while trying to cross the Unite States border. However, that difficult journey they have embarked on to reach a safe haven is only the beginning. The underlying sentiment that many immigrants crossing the border are here to take someone else's wages and jobs is undeniable.

 But where does the problem begin? And more so, why are there more and more people trying to come into the U.S. risking their lives and willing to leave there homes,  family, and friends. Clearly, one does not wake up one day and leave their native land just because they feel like it, usually there is  an unhappiness, a struggle, or a hardship going on. 

Nearly a decade later, The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) passed on January 1 1994 links 450 million people that produced $17 trillion dollars in output. NAFTA promised not only to aid U.S Citizens but also those abroad. To be precise, according to citizens.org it promised it "would create tens of thousands of good jobs here in the U.S. and that  farmers would export their way to wealth. In addition, "NAFTA would bring Mexico’s standard of living up, providing new economic opportunities there that would reduce immigration to the United States".

So who could lose? Well with over a $181 billion dollar deficit as of 2012,the elimination of five million manufacturing jobs, a 20 percent decrease in salaries,  the closure of  60,000 manufacturing facilities, inefficiency of properly check food supply, NAFTA had left many Americans without hope. 

Yet an even bigger impact was felt by  the Mexican population. Starting with the dislocation of many Mexicans in the countryside, a 66 percent decrease in wages for Mexican farm workers causing the inability to pay for their lands. Leaving half of the Mexican population earning less than the minimum wage needed for basic food necessities. Over 700,000 people with out  jobs, Mexico's economy is slowly dissolving. 
Little change has been seen in this past decade except trillions of dollars made, unemployment rate on the rise, migration into the United States inevitable. 

The Latest Trend In Fashion: Sportswear

I remember when people used to put on a shirt and a pair of jeans, but fashion nowadays sure has changed.
Sports fashion trend sporty clothing. Sportswear as a fashion trend has been evolving for the past few years. For spring 2013 it continues on the direction of sleek minimal and luxurious making itself ripe for new interpretations. Athletic looks are the new trend at fashion shows. One unifying theme of the Milan collections was that it was all over the place which was sports. Athletics mesh fabrics showed up in insets on the back of dresses or layered underneath them; and variations of modified tracksuits appeared in surprising numbers. A w magazine editor named Giovanna Bogetta Veneta showed up in a Junya wannabe dress that would have been great for running a marathon.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQjO1cq-YUw

Steve Sapienza: The Depth of Reporting

Documentary and news producers Steve Sapienza and Micah Fink came from the Pulitzer Center to our multimedia journalism class about two weeks ago to discuss some of their previous work and talk about how they did it.  Steve talked about working alone, which he prefers, and also a time where he experienced some difficulty when working with a full crew of people in order to gather his story material.  Below is also a link for some work he did in Malaysia on the struggle for education on palm oil plantations.  

education for migrant workers