News Articles

Link to Collegian article by Justin Surgent


http://dailycollegian.com/2012/04/19/live-webcam-gives-a-unique-view-into-the-lives-of-falcons/

Visiting Journalist Gives Insight to News Industry 

Journalist Brian Steele made an appearance in Mary Carey’s journalism 300 class to answer questions, Wednesday March 27th.

Steele came to the class to talk about his experiences in the news field, his insight to working with editors, and his experiences with ethics in the news world.

Steele, currently working for Channel 22 News, was previously employed as a reporter at the Springfield Republican. He was the editor in chief for his college newspaper at American International College. At 22 News he is in charge of the 5am show. 

Steele gave insight into dealing with editors in the news world.

“It’s really difficult to work with editors,” Steele said. “Your editors are going to tell you to do things that you don’t want to do, that you think are immoral.”

“You have to decide whether you want your bills paid, or you want to sleep at night,” Steele said. “Your editors are evil, but they are your bosses.”

Steele’s experience battling the moral issues of editors helped give a new understanding of the media to members of the class. 

“You’re a person first, and it’s your responsibility to do the right thing. You need to pick your battles.”

Steele gave examples on how dedication can lead to a great story. 

Steele told of a story he had about a 16 year old girl who claimed a teacher sexually abused her and was suing the Williston Northampton school in 2010. Steele recounted how after a year there had been no follow up on the story to see if the lawsuit had been resolved, so after writing a follow up, he was on his third story on this subject for the Springfield Republican when his managing editor silenced the story.

“I got some justice, because I started working on 22 news on March 1st. On March 2nd, I wrote a story about this lawsuit being settled. It was settled on January 30th, so for a month the newspaper didn’t know this case was settled because I didn’t tell them. On my second day, I scooped out every other newspaper in the market,” Steele said. 

Steele also talked about how opinions make their way into journalism.

“The idea of objective journalism is a myth,” Steele said, “In every story there is information you didn’t include.”

“You’re a gatekeeper,” Steele said. “There is all kinds of information on your notepad that will never make it to the reader.”

Justin Surgent

Bestselling author Joe McGinniss has no place in his heart for Sarah Palin. 

“She had little native intelligence,” McGinniss said of Palin, “a thought process is not part of her skill set.” And that was just the tip of the iceberg on McGinniss’s opinions on John McCain’s 2008 vice-presidential running mate.

McGinnis unleashed his views on the former governor of Alaska and former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin in his talk titled “From Nixon to Palin: Forty Years of Writing About Presidents and Pretenders,” which he gave to about 100 UMass faculty and students Monday evening.

The fact that John McCain could have become president and Palin would have been his next in command was a “close brush with political disaster,” McGinniss said.

“She came, with absolutely no qualifications for public office, within a few percentage
points of being a heartbeat away of the presidency, and this heartbeat was that of a 72
year old man who had already been diagnosed with cancer. This was a close call for
America,” McGinniss said about Palin and the failed election.

“We’re so lucky that Barack Obama won, not for what he is or isn’t, but to keep Sarah
Palin away from any levers of power.”

McGinniss's views of Palin are informed by the entire summer of 2010 he spent living within the shadow of the Palins' large home on Lake Lucille in Wasilla, Alaska, in order to write a biography on Palin titled “The Rogue: Searching for the Real Sarah Palin.”

“The book has been credited by some for helping to convince Palin not to run for president this year,” McGinniss said.

McGinniss explained how the Palin’s built their house within 10 feet of their neighbor’s modest ranch house in order to force them to move. In retaliation, the owner rented her house to McGinniss for four months while he wrote “The Rogue.”

“If you needed to borrow salt, you could just reach over and take it right off their dining
room table. That’s how close it was,” McGinniss said.

“It was a long four months,” McGinniss said of the experience, “I came away with a
much worse impression of her than when I started.”

The Palins already had a bad taste for McGinniss from his article on Palin’s claim to bring a new oil pipeline to Alaska which turned out to be false, showing Palin in the light of a lier.

Palin’s husband Todd Palin greeted McGinnis with hostility McGinniss said, and Sarah suggested via her Facebook account that the respected author had moved next door to peek into their daughter’s bedroom.

“There was a crusade to make McGinniss leave Sarah Palin alone,” McGinnis said. “Some right wing talk show host gives out my email address, and I’m getting hundreds of death threats and what people are going to do to me, and how if my grandchildren ever visit me out there, they had better buy a one way ticket, because they’re going to be found floating out in the lake.”

With townsfolk generally viewing the Palins with disdain, and worried for McGinniss’s
safety from radical right wing Palin supporters, McGinniss claimed “for the next three
weeks, I didn’t meet a single person in Wasilla who didn’t offer to loan me a handgun.”

“She attracted so much attention of my living next to her, that my moving out in the
summer of 2010 made national news,” McGinniss said.

McGinniss also took some time to speak briefly about his current book, “15 Gothic
Street.”

“The address may ring a bell with some UMass students,” McGinniss joked, “because
it’s the address of the Hampshire County courthouse.”

McGinniss revealed the book will be about the view of a single courthouse in a small
county.

“A lot of people believe the criminal justice system is hopelessly broken now,”
McGinniss said, “I’m not so sure that it’s hopeless.”

At 69, McGinniss reveals he has no plans to retire.

“When you’re a writer, there really is no such thing as retiring, because what are you
going to do? There’s always something else to write about,” McGinniss said.

McGinniss is known for the bestselling book, “The Selling of the President 1968” on the
marketing strategies of the presidential campaigning of Richard Nixon.

When looking back and comparing Nixon and Palin, McGinniss said “Richard Nixon
doesn’t seem so bad at all!”

Justin Surgent is a master of swag and can be reached at jsurgent@student.umass.edu



Visiting Photographer Shares Views Through The Lens

Knowing since the age of 16 that the camera in his hand could give him a ticket out of a middle class lifestyle, world-renowned photojournalist Gary Knight has since made a life out of capturing the moment. Having won nearly every award possible in his field since, the globetrotting Knight spoke on behalf of his work and his travels to UMASS students and faculty Monday, Feb 27th in Herter 217.

With a career spanning from North Korea to Baghdad, Knight has years of experience photographing war crimes and crimes against humanity. The Director of the Program for Narrative & Documentary Practice at Tufts University, Knight currently resides in Cambridge, Mass. Originally from England, Knight began his photography career in the
late 1980’s after relocating to Thailand.

Much of Knight’s work revolves around war crimes and crimes against humanity. Notable work of his has been documented in his expository book on war crimes in Kosovo titled “Evidence.”

Knight explained “questions need to be asked about the way you conduct war, and that is the role of the press.”

While his stunning black and white images undoubtedly portray powerful stories, Knight claimed, “it’s the things you don’t photograph that are the most interesting.”

“I don’t like pictures that answer all the questions, it’s really boring. You want pictures that ask questions. If they answer all the questions, what do you do? Turn the page.”

Knight spoke briefly on one of his most notable accomplishments, co-founding the VII photo agency in 2001. He explained the reasoning he and 6 other photographers teamed together to start VII was to fight the depersonalization found in larger photo agencies. He also stated how he had not interest in working with the media again.

Knight also spoke about his ongoing project on the border patrol and illegal immigration into the US via the Arizona border of Mexico. Although the work centers around the inequality of the incoming immigrants, much of this recent work is landscape oriented, subjects devoid of people.

“I’m quite frankly just tired of it,” Knight said of working with people.

Knight said, “What I try to be is fair.” when explaining his personal views on the stance of his work.“

Knight said “You don’t want to display your pictures as the only view.”

Dennis Vandal, a professor of photojournalism at the university, and one of the many faculty attendees said “It’s always great to see one of the world’s preeminent photojournalists, especially at UMASS.”

With such a vast wealth of knowledge to share, Knight’s words unsurprisingly struck inspiration within the crowd.

Jess Troland, a sophomore journalism major, said “a lot of what he said, not so much on photography but on his experiences in general, really struck me and made me think about where I want to go with my own life and what I want to do with journalism along the way.”

At the end of the lecture one audience member asked which of the pictures Knight had taken was his favorite. Knight laughed.

“The next one!”























Justin Surgent can be reached at jsurgent@student.umass.edu