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WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18, 2012

MANAGING EDITOR: Leah Spagnoli - 815.753.9643

PERSPECTIVE
www.northernstar.info

Choose a job that doesnt feel like work

Dan Martynowicz
COLUMNIST

If you nd a job you love, youll never work a day in your life. Its a phrase Ive heard many times over, and until recently it seemed impossibly simple and easily attainable. I mean, honestly, would you rather be the guy who dreads walking into the ofce every day, or the guy who looks half his age and laughs at the stressed out drones on his ride home? Seems like an easy choice to me. Just ask yourself, What am I good at that I enjoy doing? and then go do it. For some, its video games and Spiderman comics. For others, its pie charts and data graphs. For me, its writing. English is the only course

Eric Lee | Northern Star

in school Ive always been guaranteed an A in with little to no effort. Writing is as easy as breathing, and so far, those who read what I vomit onto the page seem to enjoy it. However, this is a two step process; the second being that you need to nd someone willing to pay you for doing what you love. This is proving to be far

more difcult for people like me as the decline in print media has sent newspapers and journalists spiraling. Dont believe me? According to data from The Atlantic, circulation for multiple major newspapers dropped signicantly between 2000 and 2010. The Los Angeles Times circulation dropped by about 39

percent, while The Daily News circulation dropped by about 32 percent. These two newspapers had the most signicant drop of the ve publications presented. Many papers are closing, many journalists are out of work, and no one can agree on where its all going. So now I have to make a choice between nancial security and

doing what I love. Its not a decision to take lightly. Should I choose to make money rather than pursue my dream, the hipsters would call me a sell-out and the idealists would chastise me for giving up on my dreams. The ghost of Christmas past would show up to remind me of my mistakes and Ill adopt a little boy named Smaller-thannormal Tim. However, my future children would be fed and my bank account would be ush. Id be able to buy a nice house and a car, maybe go on a nice Italian cruise once in a while and see the coastline from much closer than I had intended. But if Im not happy, how can any of those things be worth it? Looks like Ill have to be poor and out of work for a while as I chase the dream. Heres to knowing what youre worth and ghting for it tooth and nail. Cheers.

Reintegration requires reform

Alex Rubin
The Dartmouth, Dartmouth College via UWIRE

Media take on case isnt objective

Taurean Small
COLUMNIST

This past weekend, President Barack Obama traveled to Cartagena, Colombia, to attend the Summit of the Americas hosted by the Organization of American States. Although the summit made progress in easing inequality and other gaps between the United States, Canada and Latin America, the debate stalled over the issue of whether to reinstate Cuba into the OAS and allow the country to attend future summits. Many Latin American nations have criticized the United States for its embargo on Cuba and its continued practice of isolating the island nation. However, to include the oppressive regime of the Castro brothers into the OAS, weeks after it committed oppressive crackdowns on peaceful democratic protesters, would be to disgrace the principles of American foreign policy and society. It is in the interest of the region to reintegrate Cuba, but such an action must be taken solely with the aim of promoting a more democratic and open Cuban government. Thus, giving Cuba membership in the OAS must be in response to signs that the Cuban regime is submitting to international pressure not just U.S. pressure to reform their governmental institutions. U.S. relations with China were improved under the Nixon administration through increased contact and Chinas reintegration to the international community. This should be the same objective of any U.S.-Cuban policy.

UWIRE.com
To read the rest of this column, go to UWIRE.com

If I had to choose the most important lesson learned from my journalism education here at NIU, it would be that the media should never be the story. For a while now, local and national news sources have abandoned this fundamental and tainted the word we used to know as objective. As seen in the infamous Trayvon Martin case, fair and unbiased reporting has taken a back seat to agendas. Unfortunately, it is the viewers who suffer the greatest loss, for they will no longer receive the objective information they once sought. Martin, a 17-year-old high school student, was walking to his fathers girlfriends home in Florida, which is where he was staying. George Zimmerman, a 28-year-old resident of the neighborhood, began following Martin, then called the Sanford Police Department to report what he deemed suspicious behavior. Subsequently, a confrontation ensued, which ended with Zimmerman shooting Martin in the chest at close range, killing the teenager. After being taken in for a few hours by Sanford authorities, Zimmerman was released.

Colin Leavitt | Northern Star

In a matter of days, this story leaped beyond local coverage to the national stage and even prompted a response from President Barack Obama. While this exposure did lead to the eventual charging and arrest of Zimmerman and the temporary stepping down of Sanford Police Chief Bill Lee, it brought out a bigger issue that we face in America. No, its not the fact that racism, racial proling and stereotyping still exists in America, but that media has turned away from delivering objective information to pushing agendas for the sake of ratings. I know this is not such a new idea, but it is all the more appalling when covering a story as touchy as this one. The ever-present example of this was the selective publication of photos used
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to represent Zimmerman and Martin. Many conservative outlets argued liberal media shaped viewers perceptions of the incident by running an old baby-face picture of Martin and a grimacing mug shot of Zimmerman. Conversely, conservative journalists a term I will use lightly throughout this column began circulating updated pictures of Martin, including a picture of him with a goldcolored grill in his mouth taken from his Twitter page. Classy. After implying that Martin wasnt as innocent as the older picture made him seem, the smear campaign continued. To better illustrate the possibly poor character of this young man, conservative website The Blaze posted an article speculating a list of situations that could warrant the
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suspension of a student. Martin, who at the time of the incident was suspended for bringing an empty marijuana bag to school, could have been punished for arson, kidnapping and armed robbery, among other things, according to the Blaze article. The obvious mission of conservative media outlets was to counteract the publics initial reaction to the emotional case by painting Martin as the aggressor. Making sure your audience has enough information to consider both sides to the story is important, but destroying a young mans character is tasteless, especially considering hes dead. News media seemed to forget the fact that the general public relies on their information. It should be the job of the viewer to interpret this information, not the medias.
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Kelly Bauer, campus editor editor@northernstar.info | 753.9644 Phone: 815.753.0101 Fax: 815.753.0708 Web: www.northernstar.info EDITORIAL BOARD Kim Skibinski, editor in chief editor@northernstar.info | 753.0105 Leah Spagnoli, managing editor editor@northernstar.info | 753.0117 Dave Gong, online editor editor@northernstar.info | 753.9642 Editorials re ect the majority opinion of the Editorial Board; columns re ect the opinion of the author alone. Ryan Felgenhauer, city editor editor@northernstar.info | 753.9646 Jimmy Johnson, sports editor sports@northernstar.info | 753.9640 Connor Rice, scene editor editor@northernstar.info | 753.9639

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