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Ethics in Journalism – A presentation for High School students

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Credibility is perhaps the most difficult of trusts to reclaim.
Anonymous

A friend recently asked me to relate to a group of Sophomore and Junior high school students here in Houston about what I have learned during my careers as a journalist and public affairs practitioner.  In my oral remarks about real-life experiences the students should begin to realize the importance of ethics, complete fact-gathering, and truth-telling, whether they produce or consume journalistic products.  I also remind them that no matter how much technology changes, the most important personally and for society, continue to be the credibility of the journalist. I further remind them that whether they decide to enter the journalistic trade (journalism is far from a profession) or simply become consumers of journalistic products, their primary concern should be the credibility of what they produce, or read, hear, view or experience, especially in light of today’s 24-hour news cycle world.

At the link, below, you may download the deck of slides I prepared, modified slightly from a similar presentation I made last year.  Since this PowerPoint file contains multi-media it may take about one to two minutes to download depending on your Internet connection.

JOURNALISM (2013)

Possums, Possums and Racoons

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October and November, 2013 were very “fruitful” for a family of opossums (or possums, and tacuache or tlacuache, in Mexican Spanish).  Pressure on this writer was heavy from the mother-in-law (la suegra) who — several years ago — had planted a little seeding and the resultant tree or tangerine, or whatever, tree had yielded very good tasting fruit year after year.  Hundreds of tasty fruits every season.  This year became the year of the “Freddy Possums” who filled some of us in this household full of fear and dread as every morning we woke to count the dead yet-not-ripe green oranges.  So, it fell to me to buy and set up infra-red cameras, borrow and buy special traps, and experiment with pizza, cat food, peanut butter, and so forth, trying to trap the sneaky critters. I also endured hours of advice from others about where to set the traps, about spreading wolf urine (fake or real?) which I now know I can probably get a Academy or Walmart!   I learned “there are many stories in this city” of possum invasions.  Well, here is ours, in video form.  It’s over, until the next time!Image

2nd Day – Tuesday, 13-AUG-2013

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  • Following a breakfast of Irish sausage, eggs, special bread and coffee, we said goodbye to Ballina headed toward two main destinations — Kylemore Abbey and Connemara Marble Factory — with various stops along the way.
  • We stopped at Westport, just 7 miles from Sister Virginia’s hometown of Sister Virginia, where Sister was met by three of her nieces who still live in that part of Ireland.Image  I was able to also attend daily Mass in Westport, making it even a more special day.
  • Then, back on the bus, for a long, bumpy ride on narrow country roads to Kylemore Abbey, a picturesque castle-style “Big House” built out of love by a very rich man, Mitchell Henry for his new bride, Margaret.  As with most Irish stories, this has a happy/sad/satisfying ending that continues to this day, and which I will share in all detail with you when we meet in person.  Suffice it to say the place beautiful structure among the Irish mountains eventually became a school for girls run by the Benedictine Sisters who still own the grounds.Image  We spent a very short two and a half hours touring the castle, a gothic style church and huge formal gardens.  As I said, more on this later.
  • We reluctantly took leave of this magnificent part of Ireland and crossed the border from County Mayo (banner colors, green and orange) into County Galway (banner colors, purple and white).  Here we toured an interesting marble factory that today sells gold, and silver jewelry containing the “only truly authentic Irish product available in Ireland” — that is, Connemara Marble quarried in the west of Ireland.
  • We ended the day at the Connemara Coast Hotel, on the shores of Galway Bay.  After an awesome stroll along the edge of the bay, with three very interesting islands just offshore in the Atlantic, we gathered for another excellent Irish dinner and retired for the evening.ImageImage

At the Boarding Gate Waiting

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Well, no picture here.  Same old boarding gate seats and salon.   Only thing different to note was the number of flight crew waiting to enter the plane.  Domestic flights that I remember being on had three to six or seven crew members depending on the size of the plane.   Here.  It looked like an entire football team –  at least three dozen or more Lufthansa flight attendants, pilots, flight engineers, etc.  They were in line to get in when I walked into the salon and they boarded before I could snap a pic.  time. to begin boarding. Next post, from Frankfurt.

Posted by Frank

Starting my trip to Ireland

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image

I am inside the Lufthansa Executive Suite waiting for my flight to, Houston IAH to Dublin DUB via Frankfort FRA.  I wanted to test my Nexus 7 and the camera as well as to see how easy it is to post a comment’.  With the Android app for WordPress it was very easy to snap the picture you see.  Unlike the United President Club with its mostly just domestic passengers, I hear German, Russian, Spanish, Italian and off course English.  This First Class lounge at IAH is leased from the City of Houston and so is shared with Emirates, Air China, Lufthansa among others.    Next entry from Gate D-12 waiting area.