U.S. Health Care- A Year Ago

This is a multi-media project Jessica Grunenberg and I wrote and produced for our Digital Journalism course last spring. While Ithaca, NY is well known for it's abundance of "alternative" medicine practices, integrative medicine is still not widely accepted across the country and it didn't come up in the health care reform debates. This project focused on health care in the United States and how prevention from integrative medicine could benefit many Americans.

ITHACA, NY-While Cornell students headed out onto the quads Friday April 21 to enjoy the sunny spring afternoon, Minella Capili headed over to Goldwin Smith Hall for the final event of the Sick in America Conference.

The first annual Sick in America Conference was a completely student run week long event that focused on the growing concerns and possible solutions for the current United States health care system. The conference featured lectures, panel discussions, documentary presentations and art installations. One of the hot topics of the conference was the importance of preventative medicine.

“The thing is that people don’t know about these different kinds of medicines and that’s why we’re trying to get the word out,” said Minella Capili, a student member of Cornell’s Integrative Healthcare Club. “I mean, if you look at people in poor areas they are not going to go to an acupuncturist or chiropractor, they are going to go to the hospital when they get sick.”

Capili and other Integrative Healthcare Club members helped run an Interactive Health and Wellness Fair earlier that week. The fair provided students with free demonstrations in alternative medicine ranging from acupuncture to herbal consultations. Along with conversations on alternative medicine there was also a lot of talk about alternatives to the current United States’ healthcare system.

One member of the club, Kristen Welch, shared a story of a friend who graduated last spring and did not secure a job until the following winter, during that time he was not insured because as soon as he was no longer a college student he was excluded from his parents’ coverage. This is a growing concern for students who will be graduating this spring, especially with the unstable job market.

In January Governor Paterson proposed extending the age that young adults could claim to be dependent on their parents’ health insurance plans from 19, or 22 if a full-time student, to 29. The 19 to 29 year-old bracket makes up 31% of New York State’s uninsured population and it is estimated that within one year about 80,000 people could be insured with the new plan. President Obama’s proposed plan will also extend the age that a child can be covered under their parent’s plan to 25.

However, according to Dr. Sean Nicholson, Cornell University professor of health care policy and management, while extending the age limit sounds great, it also means more money for parents. Nicholson also said that Obama’s plan proposes to widen the eligibility for Medicaid. Then, along with more baby boomers growing older, young people will eventually be paying more of their tax dollars towards health care for the poor and eledrly; so health care systems should be a concern for young people.

“Right now we cover about 1.5% of the hospital expenses for those with Medicaid and the elderly,” said Dr. Nicholson. “That could easily quadruple in next few years.”

There is a strong reform movement for the single-payer health insurance plan, especially in the Ithaca area. In a single-payer system, like that of Canada, health care is universal. While it is provided to everyone there are also long wait lines for services. Dr. Nicholson also pointed out that since doctors are paid similar salaries there is sometimes less desire to practice medicine.

Brooke Hansen, an Ithaca College medical anthropologist professor, said that what the United States needs is a single-payer system.

“But, how are we going to get the surgeons, HMOs and the pharmaceutical companies to give up those profits?” said Professor Hansen. Both Professor Hansen and Dr. Nicholson agree that it will take time for the health care system in American to drastically change.

On a local level there is a different kind of system in Ithaca. The Ithaca Health Alliance formed in 1997 to provide financial assistance for health care. Through grants and interest-free loans members can receive all sorts of health services including dental exams, eye care and emergency care. Bethany Schroeder, the IHA board president, made it clear that the IHA is not a form of health insurance but rather an alternative to it. This alternative has over 700 members.

In 2006 the Ithaca Health Alliance started an Ithaca Free Clinic. The Clinic provides 100% freehealth care for residents of New York State. In the first year they expected only 300 visits but received over 800. Now, they regulating seeing up to 30 patients each time they are open and they had over 1,086 patients in 2007. Students are welcome to the Free Clinic as long as their insurance does not cover the services offered there.

“The model that we are trying to cultivate here is being a fully integrated clinic,” said Sadie Hayes, the Ithaca Free Clinic coordinator. “Here the doctors not only work in the same building but across the hallway. They work together to better patients health.” This model is the only model like it in the United States for a free clinic. Some of the alternative services offered include: massage therapy, acupuncture, herbal medicine, chiropractic care and nutritional counseling. Many local alternative medicine doctors volunteer at the clinic a few times a month.

“I enjoy the multi-pronged approach,” said Dr. Anthony Fazio, an acupuncturist, owner of Peaceful Spirit Acupuncture and clinic volunteer. Dr. Fazio says this approach allows doctors of different types of medicine to learn from one another to create an integrative approach.

This integrative idea of medicine is what many students who soon will be emerging into the medical field, believe is the future of health care. The combination of western medicine with eastern medicine results in a more well rounded treatment. “A lot of our health care dollars are spent on chronic diseases,” said Kristen Welch, the student coordinator of the Cornell’s Interactive Health and Wellness Fair. “So things like alternative, integrative, and preventive health pathways can really alleviate some of those chronic disabilities.”

As Welch, Capili and other students involved in the changing landscape of health care see the benefits of alternative and integrative medicine, it is predicated that mainstream health providers will follow suit.

The Real Article on ICTV's Almost College's Emmy Nomination

This article was published in The Ithacan, but had to be cut down because of limited space that week. Here is a deeper look into Almost College's College Emmy Nomination.

ITHACA, NY- A disheveled young man wakes up in the middle of a messy living room—red plastic cups are scattered everywhere and a bar stool is even turned upside down. It may look like the morning after a raging college party but it really is the opening scene for Almost College, the first narrative ICTV show to be nominated for a College Emmy.

Feb. 11 Jordan Edelstein and Rob Bowman anxiously waited all day for an email from the College Television Awards (CTA) telling them if they had received a nomination. Around 9 p.m., Bowman got an email saying they were nominated for the Narrative Series category. At that moment Edelstein and Bowman started texting and calling everyone they knew.

“Everyone involved had done a lot of things before,” said Edelstein, senior television and radio major who wrote, produced and directed the show with Bowman. “But, this is the most proud I have ever been and it’s the best feeling I got from something I had worked on.”

Edelstein said that he and Bowman were unsure whether the Emmy judges would understand the tone of the show, which Edelstein says is an Arrested Development meets the Wonder Years style that caters to a college audience. But their Video Workshop professor, John Scott; manager of ICTV Pete Johanns; and CTA board member Professor Steve Gordon all encouraged Edelstein and Bowman to submit the show.

“It doesn’t have any of the hallmarks of poor student productions which is really bad sound, really bad lighting, really bad performances and shoddy story telling,” said Scott. “And those are the things that normally kill a project. These guys paid attention to all those details and on top of it they told a really good story.”

Last spring in Gordon’s development classes, Bowman thought of an idea for a Web series about a high school senior who pretends to be in college. Before Bowman and Edelstein got back to school in August they had written two scripts and were lining up crewmembers. Jordan said collaboration with students in other majors was what helped make this production.

Senior Colleen Wood, who spent last spring in Los Angeles interning and editing Web content for Lifetime, was selected early on to be the post-production director. Senior Zack Sweeny took on the director of photography position and shot all the footage in high definition, a first for ICTV. The show was also the first ICTV show to have audio production majors, Seniors Mike Sokol and Conrad Capalbo, on set at all times. Senior Musical Theatre major Ryan DeNardo played Mark on Almost College.

“Everyone was just really good at what they did and stepped it up for the project and it definitely showed,” said DeNardo. “It was a great collaborative experience.”

After shooting 31 out of 60 days last semester and spending hours in post-production the cast and crew must wait until tomorrow to find out if they placed in one of the top three spots for their category.

If Almost College wins one of the top three places, one of the producers will be flown to Los Angeles to accept the award at a gala held on April 10. They will also receive between $500 and $2,000 depending on their place, the chance to pitch their project to a development executive and be matched with an industry mentor. Last year, University of California Los Angeles student, Shane Acker’s animated piece 9 won a CTA, then was produced and released by Tim Burton as a feature film.

Gordon said that winning would show the CTA that the college does produce quality narrative fiction work. The only other time an Ithaca College show won a College Emmy was when Newswatch won an award in 2004. While winning would be great, Edelstein and Bowman said they are glad to receive recognition for something they love doing.

“It is really cool when you do something and put your whole life into it,” said Edelstein. “Then when people understand and appreciate your work it is a really good feeling.”

Episodes of Almost College can be watched online at http://www.ictv.org

Taming the wild internet

As the Internet becomes more and more developed, more and more corporations are trying to find a way to gain power over this wild frontier. It is a becoming a virtual manifest dynasty battle. For the past few years the United States has had major discussions over net neutrality. An article published on ZDnet, "Thanks to BitTorrrent, Net neutrality debate reignites", names a few examples of how ISPs are monitoring what customers in the states use on their Internet service. Comcast was caught blocking and slowing down Internet connections where they found bit torrent applications because those types of programs slow down bandwidth. According to FCC laws, it is legal to monitor Internet connections because it is an “information” service, not a telecommunications service-although skype, AIM, ichat and many others are popularity used as a telecommunications services. I don’t know how I feel about Comcast seeing what I do on the Internet, but nowadays nothing is private information. But I do think that it is strange that net neutrality is still a debate in the U.S. In many European countries you pay for Internet by bandwidth. Which means, a person who only uses the Internet for checking email and browsing news websites would pay much less for their Internet connection than someone who plays online games or downloads movies. This also easily targets those who download illegally. In France, not only do you have to pay more if you’re an illegal downloader, but you could also face loosing your Internet connection. A new law put in place last March allows ISPs to report people who are caught using bit torrent programs, and then they are disconnected from the Internet. A Time article analyzes how the law came into place. In France, since they already have pay-by-bandwidth, the new law comes down to protecting major record companies and movie distributors. The debate over net neutrality and illegal downloading is confusing. The Internet is so new that nothing is in black or white and no one knows how to regulate it or whether to regulate it. However, I will have to say I enjoy being able to watch whatever I want and listen to whatever I want without worrying about running out of internet connection or having to pay for a new song.

What does ethics mean to a citizen journalist?

Citizen journalists. It is a term that has been questioned over and over again in the past few years. People outside the media field see this term as meaning someone who does the job of a reporter but has not been trained as a reporter. Many people I have talked to about the future of media mention that journalism is becoming something anyone can do as long as they have access to a computer and the Internet. It is true; anyone can broadcast or publish anything on the Internet and then they instantly becoming a "citizen journalist."

Some of these people have even broke major stories like Mayhill Fowler, who broke stories on both Obama and Clinton during the presidential campaigns last year. She may have broken a huge story but the way she got the story is ethically questionable. One thing that differs a trained journalist and a citizen journalist is ethics.

Ethics is not just one course in many journalism programs, but something that comes up in daily class discussions. A trained journalist knows they are making a huge impact when releasing a story, especially if it is as juicy as the ones that Fowler released. There should be a thought process that goes through a journalist's mind before they publish important information. How will this story affect the people involved? Why is this information important? Did I get this information ethically?

I am not saying that all journalists go through this thought process, and I am sure less and less do now that cycle of information is updated in a matter of seconds. However, ethics should be in the back of their mind, ingrained from their j-school days. Citizen journalists are not taught about the ethics of journalism.

The day Mayhill Fowler got Clinton's rant on her recorder she looked like an average citizen out to support his wife's campaign. When she asked him a question she was just another person behind the rope. If she were a trained journalist she probably would have identified herself and whom she was reporting for. That would have been ethical. Instead, she recorded the answer to the question and then threw it up on the Internet for the whole world to hear.

I don't think the way she went about getting the story was ethical. I also have a problem with the value of the comments that Fowler got (well more like stole, because both times she didn't ask for a comment for a publication, she just pressed record or eavesdropped). Why was it so important the world know these inner thoughts of these political figures? Shouldn't we be more concerned with their ideas for the future of our government? I would have liked to know the ethical process Fowler went through before uploading to the Internet.

Germany proposes a protection for journalism online

Germany is proposing a new idea that they hope will bring more revenue to their dying newspapers. The chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel; the Christian Democrats and the Free Democratic Party, is behind the idea of protecting copyright for journalism that is online. An article in the New York Times claims that the party is trying to "level the playing field with Internet companies like Goggle, which German publishers accuse of exploiting their content to build lucrative businesses without sharing the rewards." The copyright law would allow publishers to charge for the use or mention of their work on the Internet if the website is for commercial means. Like how movies must pay to use artist's songs or product brands. The law would create a whole new market, journalism royalties. Many of the establishments behind the proposed law are large publishers and owners of newspapers. Burkhard Schaffeld, corporate counsel for the German Newspaper Publishers Association, was quoted in the New York Times article saying: “Freedom of information is important. But quality journalism costs money. There is no fundamental right to information for free on the Internet.”

The proposed law would mean that bloggers who have ads on their website would not be allowed to link to articles from newspapers without contacting the news outlet and then negotiating a deal with the journalism royalties society.

To me, it seems like this law would protect print journalism but eliminate a lot of online journalism. Also shouldn't information be free? What do you think?

Obama goes to Dover to salute fallen soldiers

Right after President Obama was elected Defense Secetary Robert Gates lifted the ban on news coverage of soldiers' remains. Last night President Obama went to Dover to salute the fallen soldiers coming back from war. The ban allows family members to decide whether they do or do no want coverage. I think that it is very important for the press to be given the option to report the deaths of soldiers at war and when their remains return home. There is SO much press on the war; the bombings and the operations but for years it seemed as though we were sending young people over there and where did they end up? We would hear about a number of soldiers dying during a mission but as disturbing as this sounds, these reports became redundant and desensitizing to viewers that those numbers and that report was actually a group of human Americans. The reporting was never complete. In order to remain completely truthful reporters should be allowed to cover the tragedies of war even on the American side.

The picture of Obama saluting a soldier in Dover last night brought up controversy over whether it was a just a photo-op. How could someone even think that? As the President of the United States I would think it was his responsibility to show respect for the soldiers that were lost at war and to remind the United States that it is losing some of it's best.

Kate Sheppard discusses making it in Independent Media

Yesterday Kate Sheppard, an Ithaca College alum, visited our Independent Media class to talk about life after graduation and making it in the world of independent media. Sheppard graduated from Ithaca College in 2006. Since then she has been writing for various online independent news outlets including, The Nation and Grist. She has also written for The Guardian, which I think is amazing considering she is only 25. Sheppard mentioned a few important ways to get noticed in journalism:

1. Gain a presence on the internet. Is very important for young journalists to be able to Google your name and get results with your work or blogs.

2. BLOG. Its one way to practice writing and craft your skill while also getting your work out there. You knows who will stumble upon your blog.

3. Develop a special interest. Having a "speciality" or "niche" will set you apart from other aspiring journalists.

4. Network with people. Find out who accepts or reads pitches at a publication. Keep in contact with people you meet even if you don't think they may have anything to do with what you want to do. You never know.

5. Be persistent. Craft your pitches and be aggressive about getting them out there. Eventually, people will be contacting you, instead of you trying to chase down jobs.