prismatic-bell:

owoinginthedark:

As a mass comm major, IF THERE IS SOMETHING UNJUST OR IMMORAL BEING DONE CALL YOUR LOCAL NEWS STATION THEY WILL HELP MORE THAN ANYONE ELSE

Cities and government agencies HATE bad press. This story that was told to me by the journalist that covered this, and he showed us the piece:

There was a traffic light that was set up on the far side of an overpass, but it was improperly hung so you couldn’t see the light until it was too late. There were accidents there EVERY SINGLE DAY and calls to the city did NOTHING.

Someone had the idea to call the local news station and this dude went out to see. As he was interviewing someone, there was a wreck.

Guess what happened after that piece aired?

Suddenly the city had the time to lower the traffic light and the accidents stopped.

Journalists get a bad rep, and while big stations like Fox deserve it, I think more thought should be given to who you’re actually shitting on when you say “I hate journalists.” Because we’re overworked, underpaid, constantly shit on, but we still do the job because we want to help people. All professional, prestigious journalists that I’ve met hate the government and will do whatever they can to get the information and change that’s needed. Being a journalist is a dangerous profession: at every professional convention I’ve been at there’s a fund for the families of journalists that have been killed (there’s a lot!) and a long memoriam roll.

SUPPORT LOCAL NEWS STATIONS

I sneaked a video camera into my dorm when it flooded and showered black mold down on us from leaky ceilings. Got footage of light fixtures leaking water, tiles covered in mold, ankle-deep water on the seventh floor because it was coming in through uncaulked windows. Took video of girls crying over ruined textbooks, computers, personal items. Sent it to the news.

They came and did an interview with the head of resident life, who tried to convince them it was just a couple of isolated incidents and disgruntled students. However, he also wouldn’t let them into the actual dorm.

….so I did interviews with students from three different floors and asked each one how many people on their floor were flooded out.

Sent that to the news station, too. Along with the information that the college had told us we did not need renter’s insurance, but was now telling us to go through our renter’s insurance and that they couldn’t replace anything.

SIX WEEKS LATER the university unveiled plans for a new set of dormitories.

And when a pipe burst in one of said dormitories the first year it was open, they paid all damages and for alternate housing. No questions asked.

“Nina, you’re not a journalist, though.”

No, I’m not. But at the time, I WAS a journalism major. And I turned a bunch of raw, smuggled footage (yes, smuggled—they were refusing to let cameras into the dorm!) over to professional editors and journalists, and they turned it into a coherent story.

Love your local news. They are good people.

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