Fundamentals of Interactive Journalism

Walk the streets of Bed-Stuy and you’re liable to pass an around the way girl, a hipster, a rasta, an Ivy League educated attorney and an ex-offender all on the same block.  On election day, Bed-Stuy hummed at the prospect of Change-with-a-capital C personified by Barack Obama. Some volunteered and phonebanked for him. Many others watched the election fever from the sidelines. All soared a little bit higher later that night, when word came down that Barack Obama had become the President of the United of States.

I spent the afternoon riding in a car with Craig Schley, who ran under the slate Voices of the Everyday People for Change (VOTE People), and with his volunteer as he campaigned on Election Day. Schley yelled out of a bullhorn as he drove pass local residents standing at bus stops and walking down the streets of Central and East Harlem.

Schley found himself running as an underdog against U.S. Representative Charles B. Rangel, the 38-year Democratic incumbent from Harlem. Rangel, 78, has represented the 15th Congressional District since he defeated Adam Clayton Powell Jr. in 1970, making him the fourth longest serving Democratic member of the House. The district, which has nearly 400,000 registered voters, stretches from the Upper West Side to Washington Heights/Inwood, Rikers Island, and includes a part of northwestern Queens and the Bronx.

Rangel, chairman of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee, is under scrutiny by the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct for failing to report taxable income from a villa he owns in the Dominican Republic and for living in four rent-stabilized apartments in Manhattan. Still, some constituents were obviously not concerned with the accusations about Rangel.

From the beginning, Schley’s candidacy against Rangel had been an uphill battle. At noon, Schley returned to the polling site where he voted to address complaints that two of the five machines at P.S. 144 on East 122 Street and Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard were broken by 11:30 a.m. More than anything Rangel benefitted from being in a heavily Democratic district with loyal party voters. Even those who know Schley and live in his district told him they unknowingly voted for Rangel.

“[People] are not confused about the ballot,” Schley said. “The problem is that they are voting straight democrat.”

After a long reporting day in East Harlem, I returned to the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism newsroom to wait to be edited. Although I was not completely happy with my edits, I eventually surrendered since I knew I could not win the battle. I went to BBQ’s where I watched MSNBC as they reported that Barack Obama would be the first African-American and 44th president of the United States.

I headed to 42 Street and Times Square where thousands of people cheered, yelled, cried and smiled with joy that Obama had won. I had never seen such a spontaneous street celebration. The feeling was surreal. That’s when it hit me that a black man had finally been elected president. There is no doubt that last week’s historic presidential election instilled hope for change in America.  

Click here to watch a video of the Stewart/Colbert election coverage and how they did (or didn’t) pull an Anderson Cooper the other night.

For all of you interactive geniuses out there with your bloggin’ and all that twitter-ness, you might want to subscribe to Stephen Colbert’s Simul-tube.  It’s on the syllabus for Interactive II.

P.S. Any tech-savvy folks know how to embed this type of video in a post?

“This is my first time voting as a United States citizen. I wouldn’t be anywhere else,” said Kevin Parker a Brit who recently gained his citizenship. Parker was part of the several thousand person party that took place in Times Square on November 4th 2008. Police were not expecting the amount of people that showed up for the impromptu event. As soon as Obama was announced the winner the NYPD came out with barricades to control the happy crowds. Chants of “Yes we did,” and “No more Bush” were heard throughout the evening and well into the early morning. The next morning supporters wanted to get a physical piece of the historic election. The New York Times sold out of papers at newsstands across the city. The Times ordered 50,000 extra copies. People waited up to an hour in line outside the building to get a copy of the paper. <a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/54936308@N00/sets/72157608702463242/show/”><img src=”http://blogs.journalism.cuny.edu/katherinenocera/files/2008/11/dscf2165-300×225.jpg” alt=”" title=”Revelers in Times Square” width=”300″ height=”225″ class=”alignleft size-medium wp-image-33″ /></a> Click on the photo for the slideshow.

If  Obama loses the election next week Sarah Sliverman would like to be able to blame just this one more thing on the Jews. She theorizes that Florida’s victory for Bush came down to a few “Bubby’s” and “Zedies” wandering out of the nearly monolithic Jewish voting block and going Republican.  She goes on to urge that younger Jews make a trip down to Florida to convince their grandparents to do the right thing this time around.

The Great Schlep from The Great Schlep on Vimeo.

But according to a recent Gallup poll if calamity falls on election day Sarah won’t be able to blame Jewish grandparents. As it turns out younger Jews are more likely to vote Mccain with only 19% of Jews over 55 planning to vote Republican as compared with 29% of Jews 18 to 34 hailing Pailin.

Don't blame the Bubbys! Younger Jews are more likely to be conservative.

And if you’ve spent any time in the Jewish community lately this will ring true. Younger Jews feel less attachment to the left-leaning  and progressive sentiments that were carried in by their refugees grandparents and great-grantparents who came fleeing oppression. As a more fully assimilated demographic, younger Jews do not have as strong an identification with the underdogs and have greater ideological lattitude to pick a political philosophy for reasons beyond their Jewishness.

The Zeides aren't the Jews stealing the vote.

As a Democrat in a largely Democratic state, I cannot help but wonder how much of a difference my vote makes. 

Lets go back to the beginning, the first election that I was of age of to vote in was the 2000 presidential election between Al Gore and George W. Bush.  At the time I was a resident of the state of Florida.  I am sure we all remember how the election panned out especially with regard to Florida, if not check this Time magazine article out: “Making Votes Count in Florida“ 

During the campaigning for the 2000 election, there were a couple of considerations.  Ralph Nadar was running under the Green party and in a fight to win 5% of the vote in order to get federal funding in the next election.  The concern was that Nadar would take the votes away from Al Gore, essentially handing the presidency over to George W. Bush. 

 This was very important in the swing-states.  Florida is and was at the time one of these crucial states.  On election day when I made my way to the polls I had this feeling like I doing something important, that my vote really counted and that I had a voice in this election.

Eight years later and coming up on my second presidential election as a New York voter, I am struck by something my boyfriend said to me.  When I asked him if he was going to vote, he responded with a big “NO”.  I pressed the issue and he said that there is no reason to bother.  His vote will not help get the Democrats the state, the democrats already have the state.  He continued by saying that if there were ever a threat that New York would fall to the conservatives, he would head out and cast his vote.  Until then, what’s the point?

 I had not even thought about it that way.  I always held my right to vote in a high regard and feel this sense of empowerment when I head out to the polls.  As Bob Schieffer said at the close of last week’s debate, “Go vote now. It will make you feel big and strong.” 

I am not sure I will feel so big and strong this year after I pull the handle on the voting machine and cast my vote.

By Maya J. Pope-Chappell

Sen. John McCain has been heavily criticized for his seething tone and vicious attacks against Sen. Barack Obama. According to a New York Times/CBS News Poll, McCain’s attempts at tarnishing the Obama campaign with negative ads and reiterating Obama’s ties with formerly FBI labeled terrorist Bill Ayers, has backfired, leading to McCain’s decline in national polls.

With only weeks before the November 4th election, I hit the streets of Times Square with a recorder and a camera. Here is what a few of the people I talked to had to say.

What are your thoughts about the recent attacks?

By Lee Hernandez

With the election just around the corner, I started thinking about my favorite election-themed movies. To my surprise, there aren’t too many I actually like. The good news? There are at least 3 that I LOVE! If you haven’t seen these movies already, I highly recommend you watch them on or before election day.

First and foremost, I present the trailer for one of the funniest election movies OF ALL TIME, the Tom Perrotta written, Alexander Payne directed, Reese Witherspoon and Matthew Broderick starring winning satire, simply titled, “Election.”

Honestly, the trailer for “Election” doesn’t even begin to do the film justice. This is a brilliantly written movie (and it’s got the Oscar nomination to prove it) that tells the story of a teacher who is so annoyed by his ambitious student, that he tries to sabotage her campaign to become President of the student government. The performances from Reese Witherspoon, and Matthew Broderick are dead-on, and fantastic, but most memorable to me, is the hilarious portrayal of rebel lesbian, Tammy Metzler, (played by the relatively unknown actress, Jessica Campbell). In the next clip, see for yourself why I love the Tammy character, and why I just cannot forget the incredibly rebellious speech she gives in the movie.

[Unfortunately, the clip doesn't contain the speech in its entirety. You can read the WHOLE speech here]: “Who cares about this stupid election? We all know it doesn’t matter who gets elected president of Carver. Do you really think it’s going to change anything around here; make one single person smarter or happier or nicer? The only person it does matter to is the one who gets elected. The same pathetic charade happens every year, and everyone makes the same pathetic promises just so they can put it on their transcripts to get into college. So vote for me, because I don’t even want to go to college, and I don’t care, and as president I won’t do anything. The only promise I will make is that if elected I will immediately dismantle the student government, so that none of us will ever have to sit through one of these stupid assemblies again!”
[Student body erupts in huge cheers]
Tammy Continues: “Or don’t vote for me… who cares? Don’t vote at all!”
[more cheers]

“Election” is a dark comedy, but not all great election movies are. Another excellent election movie that I dare say is one of the best political films of all time, is “Primary Colors,” directed by Mike Lee and starring John Travolta, Emma Thompson, Kathy Bates, and Adrian Lester. The film, loosely based
on Bill Clinton’s run for the White House in 1992, tells the story of Jack Stanton, a Southern Governor who has a hard time keeping his fly closed, but who, deep down, has a heart of Gold and truly cares about the American people. Here’s the trailer for “Primary Colors.”

There’s a scene in the film that gives me goosebumps when I see it. It takes place near the very end of the film, and features an exchange between John Travolta and Adrian Lester that is not only equal parts engaging, and compelling, but also raises a question that is an important consideration in American elections: when all the media interviews are done, and all the phony bullshit is out the window, which candidate running for President, cares most about the needs of the people in America? See the scene here.

Everyone of the actors is great in this movie, but Kathy Bates’ Oscar-nominated performance as the no-nonsense, rule-breaking political adviser, Libby Holden stands out, and the movie is worth seeing for her performance alone.

Speaking of great performances, one of my favorite portrayals of the American President in movies, comes from Michael Douglas in “The American President,” another terrific election movie worth your time.

“We have serious problems to solve, and we need serious people to solve them. And if you want to talk about character, Bob, you better come at me with more than a burning flag and a membership card. You’re 15 minutes are up, my name is Andrew Shepard and I AM the President.” -Michael Douglas.

What election movies get your vote?

Like many of my colleagues I attended a party last night to watch the Vice Presidential debate. The crowd was a group of liberal New Yorkers, there to boo and bemoan Sarah Palin, and pray that Joe Biden remained relatively gaffe-less. 

   The host of the party created a “Sarah Palin Bingo” card, where every time Palin said one of her catch phrases (Joe Sixpack, referring to John Mcain as a Maverick, using a folksy story) a chip was placed down on the scorecard. It took maybe 20 minutes before someone screamed BINGO! and the game was over. 

Here is Matt Burke, 37 talking about bingo, and his expectations for the debate:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

There were boos and cheers and even some tears. The debate seemed to conjure the best and the worst in us. 

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Jonah Burke, the host of the party, felt that Sarah Palin had done nothing to impress him, despite sounding more competent than she had sounded in previous interviews. A fervent Obama supporter, Jonah’s only complaint with Biden had to do with the state of his hair.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Not everyone who attended the party was as partisan as it’s host was. Mikkel Hogp is a journalist from Denmark. He was delighted to watch the debate with some of his American friends, and was able to watch Sarah Palin with a more unbiased perspective.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Mikkel went on to talk about some uniquely European perspectives on the candidates.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Tick Tock, Tick Tock; time is running out. Who will America choose before the polls close for good?

There are 33 days left before a new president is elected.

Interesting enough, this “historical” election has resurfaced stereotypical tendencies in America. ; that it might possibly influence someone’s vote.

So far, there was the gender issue of Hillary becoming the first female president –possibly for most men…their worst nightmare…oooo scary– and the nation’s love for her pant suits. Don’t forget her laugh that was infectiously spread throughout “TV Land” (not the cable channel).

Yet some might consider her more favorable than Sarah Palin. 

Even Sarah Palin has had her share of jabs with the VPilfs, Milfs, and the lipstick pig cross-reference. But there are those who love her spunk, beauty and believe she will be a great choice.

John McCain is characterized to not carry out his full-term because of his age by possibly dying in the oval office. Some are spoofing the idea of Palin taking his place; but it’s not Sarah (viewer discretion advised).

However, many might feel comfortable with McCain because of his experience.

Lastly, there’s Barack Obama, and he’s black.

Wait! Don’t run away!

He’s actually bi-racial, plus his mother is caucasian and from the Mid-West. 

OMG! People are still running? (more…)