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.

The effects of chewing gum

Chewing gum can be used for relaxing purposes, to reduce stress while studying, or just for something to keep your mind and your mouth occupied. This reliever may be fun to chew on, but is it healthy for your teeth? In many ways it is. A few years ago the popular chewing gum flavor Big Red was recognized as a gum that reduces bacteria that causes bad breath in Chicago. Along with Big Red, Xylitol sugar free gum is considered a great gum that is healthy for teeth.

Xylitol is proven to fight and reduce plaque, fight cavities, increase bone mass and other things to keep your teeth healthy. Gum also helps stimulate saliva production which can wash away bacteria acid. Chewing gum also moistens your mouth and freshens up your breath. However, because gum contains sweetener, if it’s left in the mouth too long it can damage the teeth with sugar residue. Also, too much gum chewing can result to jaw clicking and popping, and mouth muscle pains.

In retrospect to the effects of chewing gum, sugar free gums and regular gums obviously have their own pros and cons. Chewing gum originated in the mid 1800s in the tropical rain forests of Central America. The saps from tropical trees were peeled off for a flavorless food to chew on. Of course, gum is now a mass-produced product. The best thing to do to prevent gum damaging effects is to find gum with Xylitol to prevent gum diseases and decay.

Dental hygienist Carla Lewis mentioned a few things to keep in mind while choosing what gum to chew and how to take care of your teeth while chewing the gum. “Xylitol is really good especially if you don’t have time to brush,” Lewis said. “If you have to drink soda that is not diet or sugar free, always try to rinse your mouth out afterwards.”

Specialists and dentists are still trying to find the cleanest and healthiest gum to chew every day. Not every type of gum will be completely healthy, but dentists recommend Xylitol to being closest to perfection. The best advice is to choose what you want your gum to do for you and make a selection on what fits your needs. Whether it’s to keep pearly white teeth clean, or just a mouth full of flavor to last you through the hour.

5 Graph on "Blogging for Social Change"

The News:

Mona Eltahawy spoke Wednesday, September 15th in the Heritage Room of the Oklahoma Memorial Union about Blogging for Social Change. Eltahawy teaches "Women in media in the Middle East" at the University of Oklahoma and is an activist in residence. Eltahawy also spoke about her blogging experiences (started in 2005) and other countries that have been blogging the last few years.

The Impact:

Eltahawy explained how the Middle East was using blogs and used these facts:

• Middle East blogs are perceived as dictatorships that are just venting.
• Egypt now has over 6,000 blogs in circulation.
• Egypt has been under severe police brutality for almost 30 years.

Eltahawy spent alot of time talking about an incident that happened with blogging in Egypt. A man in Egypt had been killed by the police force after he posted a video on facebook of a police officer being involved with a drug deal. This had led Eltahawy on a further interest in blogging.

The Human Dimension:

Eltahawy talked about many of her own personal experiences when dealing with blogging. After the tragedy of 9/11, Eltahawy began opinion writing which is usually how most amateur blogs begin. Eltahawy mentioned her opinion on how to be a good  blogger, "The best way to blog is to go out there. Challenge yourself in your blogs and in your writing." The audience seemed to really connect to her statement, therefore the questions they asked went deeper into being a better blogger.

What's Next:

Learning about how blogs are effected in the social world, really helped develop the importance of not only blogging in the U.S., but accurate blogging for a purpose. The lecture made the students in the audience understand better about blogging, how and why to blog, and now the function of blogging can make a difference in the world, whether negative or positive.