Midterm Project- Amanda Guerra

The person whose job I want in the future is KOCO’s Eyewitness News 5 team member Amanda Guerra. Amanda grew up in Dallas, Texas but graduated from the University of Oklahoma in December of 2007. Amanda interned at KOCO-TV before signing on as a general assignment reporter. Amanda’s job entails reporting on site for different news stories such as house fires and deaths and filling in as an anchor when needed.

Amanda’s job has a great impact on the world and especially the world around the Oklahoma City area. With her updates on the news, people can understand and be informed about what’s going on in their area. The KOCO-TV is an affiliate of ABC News and has been owned by Hearst Television Incorporation since 1997. KOCO-TV has recently changed their beginning newscast to 4:30 a.m. to allow more time for news reporting. Amanda’s schedule is 9:30 to 6:30 p.m. which is the highlight of news reporting for the Oklahoma City area. In the tables below, is the average audience viewing of newscasts. There was a fall in viewership in morning, early evening, and late night news shows between 2008 and 2009. This decline is in comparison between all major television affiliates. (NBC, ABC, FOX, and CBS) The Hearst Television Corp. is trying their best to keep ratings up. Unfortunately, even due to this decline, their yearly financials is costing over 4 billion dollars.

Total Average Audience for Early Evening News, 2009 In Millions

Sweep Month	2008	2009	Percentage Change
May	23.8	22.5	-5.4%
July	22.3	20.9	-6.3
November	26.3	25	-4.9
Average	24.1	22.8	-5.5

Source: Nielsen Media Research, used under license
Note: Numbers represent ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC affiliates 

Total Average Audience for Late News, 2009 In Millions

Sweep Month	2008	2009	Percentage Change
May	29.6	28.6	-3.7%
July	25.7	23.9	-7
November	28.6	25.9	-9.1
Average	28.0	26.1	-6.5

Source: Nielsen Media Research, used under license
Note: Numbers represent ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC affiliates

Total Average Audience for Morning News, 2009 In Millions

Sweep Month	2008	2009	Percentage Change
May	12.9	12.5	-3.9%
July	9.9	9.2	-7
November	13.1	12.2	-7.6
Average	12.0	11.2	-6.

 Source: Nielsen Media Research, used under license
Note: Numbers represent ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC affiliates

 

Even though the ratings of 2009 viewership were down in comparison to 2008, the local news investment stated that over 400 jobs were lost in 2009 but more than 1,000 jobs were lost in 2008. There must be something that needs to change in the industry to keep these jobs alive. According to State of the News Media 2010, the local revenue over the past 7 years has been slowly up and down, but the past two years has been at its lowest. Fortunately, financial analysts say that the revenues for advertising should increase in 2010 which is projected in the chart below. Hopefully this will positively impact the news industry.

Local Television Revenue, 2003-2010

Total Revenue

 

Source: BIA/Kelsey Group

Amanda took me on a tour of the Eyewitness News 5 studio. Different things about what she has to do in a day stood out to me. She also provided many things that other people in her company do to make her job easier. "Our photographers will edit our packages," Amanda said. "But as far as VO's, teases, even sports stuff and stuff for us, they do it all." (Referring to producers in the  studio.) The most important thing that stood out to me is what Amanda was told by her boss and by then knowing she was stepping in the right direction towards her career. "She came up and she just said 'I like what you're doing...you work hard.' And then she walked away."

When I asked Amanda about what she thought her future entailed, she didn't really give me a straight answer because she said she didn't really know, but she really enjoys her job. This was the key to her advice for others who want to join the career of journalism. "You have to know what your getting into," Amanda said. "You have to like what you want to do because some days the stories are going to suck and you are not going to like it." 

 
 

Caring About Color Care

Many women in society decide to change their hair color for many reasons. Whether it's to cover gray hairs, try something different, or to fit in with the popular crowd, many women believe the only important thing about coloring their hair is what color they want. Before deciding if coloring your hair is something you want to do, one must know the different types of hair color:

Permanent hair color- Permanent change in pigment of the hair shaft. Will fade, can be removed but never to original color.
Single process color-Color is lifted and deposited.
Semi-Permanent- Can cover gray and go dark, but not lighten.
Deposit only color- Deposits color, glazes color, enhances color.

A lot of things go into coloring hair, and many women don't realize what goes into their hair and how they're hair is effected. To know exactly what coloring your hair entails, consumers need to remember two rules of what coloring really means:
1. Hair color is not hair paint.
2. Do your homework before you color.

Along with rules and things to consider with hair coloring, women need to understand levels of hair coloring. Levels consist of light versus dark color and reflected versus seeing color. Some colors may reflect better color than what you really see. Without knowing these facts and doing research about color, prevents mistakes in hair coloring that can ruin your hair.

Hair coloring can make you or break you. A lot of women who have colored their hair want to make a statement to the world. Hair master Henry Amador of South Florida reaches out to clients by quilting hair strands on clients for a unique look that nobody else has. In an interview with a representative from hairboutique.com, Amador mentioned that some people today still want to follow trends of popular celebrities, but mostly want to "do their own thing".

The big question in hair coloring is why do some people decide to color their hair and why some women never want to color their hair. Freshman Emily Otness has never colored her hair. Below is her testimony on why she's never decided to go beyond her natural color.

Melissa Halley has colored her hair practically every color in the rainbow. She began at age 16 and still colors it to this day. "I first highlighted my hair because I wanted a change, something different," Halley said. "Ten years later, I still color my hair. Unfortunately, I gray early, so that's the main reason why I still color."

Hopefully, a few facts, things to consider, and personal opinions helped you learn more about hair coloring for the next time. Always be careful in your coloring decisions, study the effects, get a friendly opinion, or see what the newest trend is. This trend is very popular and doesn't seem to be leaving soon.

Audio Test

Here is my audio test.

"I'll have an order of cosmetics, hold the animal cruelty"

Samina Akhter released a halal certified makeup line in Birmingham, England of June 2010 to ensure ethical ingredients for her and other Muslim women. Akhter's line, Samina Pure Mineral Makeup, consists of lipstick, eyeliner, blush, and mineral foundation that are all halal certified. Under Islamic law, halal food and products are permissible. Halal excludes anything containing alcohol, pork, and by-products of animals that are slaughtered or harmed.

After two years of research, Akhter was glad to present this line for Muslim women under Islamic law, but didn't expect such a high interest in non-Muslims as well. This line took a hit with a variety of consumers because it is a line of animal and alcohol-free products. This was a great impact for the Middle East whose current growth in the cosmetic industry is 12 percent each year.

Akhter began her research simply by reading and investigating the ingredients on the backs of different beauty products. She found some shocking discoveries. Collagen and hyaluronic acid comes from pig or cow placenta and are commonly found in anti-aging creams. In many foundations, mascaras and moisturizers, stearic acid is used coming from pig's stomachs. Even some hair products use chemicals from animal hair, nails and hooves. All of the ingredients in these products of course went against Islamic law, which was Akhter's initial drive to find an alternative.

Akhter really gave her insight on the reason she wanted to create this line. "I was becoming more of a practicing Muslim, and I was concerned that the same things that are not permissible for me to eat might be in the makeup I'm using," Akhter said. "I never had any clue what was really in my makeup."

It's obvious that the makeup line appeals to Muslim women and women against animal cruelty, but do the products work any better without halal ingredients? Style editor Bobbie Thomas of the TODAY show put in his two sense on the answer. "Some companies use these ingredients for economic reasons- because they are cheap to get...," Thomas said. However, Thomas also claimed that makeup lines such as Samina Pure stood a chance in today's cosmetics world because it's different.

Information courtesy of TODAYshow.com. Photos courtesy of Samina Akhter and Samina Pure.