On the Job

Hate in America

Anonymous — Tue, 21 May 2019 23:08:12 +0000

Hate in America Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 05/21/2019 - 17:08

Hate in America

Students travel the country to investigate hate

By Stephanie Cook (MJour'18)

Ashley Hopko (Jour鈥�19) surveyed the Hattiesburg, Mississippi, landscape as 93-year-old Ellie Dahmer sat in a chair nearby. The two chatted about gardening. Dahmer loves blue flowers, she told Hopko. They remind her of her husband.

A leader in the civil rights movement and former president of the Forrest County, Mississippi, chapter of the NAACP, Vernon Dahmer鈥擡llie鈥檚 husband鈥攄ied of smoke inhalation in 1966 after the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan firebombed the family鈥檚 farm in the middle of the night. As Vernon exchanged gunshots with members of the Klan, Ellie and three of their children escaped through a window. Ellie rebuilt a home on the same land and still lives there more than five decades later.

Over the summer, Hopko and other students interviewed Ellie and her daughter, Bettie, as part of the Carnegie-Knight News21 fellowship program. Afterward, the group toured the still-operational Dahmer farm.

鈥淭hey鈥檇 just walked us through this event that ultimately lost them their husband and dad,鈥� Hopko says. 鈥淚t was almost a story of recovery, how they鈥檝e moved on with their life and family business. It was overwhelming.鈥�

Based at Arizona State University鈥檚 Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, Carnegie-Knight News21 is a national reporting initiative that brings together top journalism students from across the country to produce in-depth reporting and multimedia projects for major media outlets, including The Washington Post, NBC News and USA Today.

As fellows in the program, CMCI students Hopko and Tessa Diestel (Jour鈥�18) worked with 36 other students from 19 universities to report on hate crimes, racism and intolerance in 36 states. The result is an ambitious project called Hate in America, which includes a feature-length documentary, longform stories, a blog, a podcast, data analysis and photo stories. The team also collaborated with ProPublica on its Documenting Hate project, and with the Anti-Defamation League.

Diestel compared the experience to a bootcamp. In 10 weeks, she co-produced the documentary American Hate while conducting interviews and shooting video footage in California, Oregon and Florida. The experience was emotionally charged and logistically challenging.

In Los Angeles, she reported on the murder of Viccky Gutierrez, a Latina transwoman who was stabbed and burned in her own home.

鈥淢y team and I visited her apartment a few months after this happened, and it was still charred and being cleaned out,鈥� Diestel says. 鈥淚t was difficult to stand outside and look at her apartment and think about the horrific way that she died.鈥�

On another assignment, in downtown Portland, Oregon, Diestel and four other students filmed a clash between supporters of the far-right group Patriot Prayer and anti-fascists.

Los Angeles County Sheriff鈥檚 Department Hate Crime Coordinator Christopher Keeling speaks with fellows at his office. Photo by News21 fellow Angel Mendoza.

News21 fellows Angel Mendoza and Tessa Diestel prepare their shot while filming in Los Angeles, California. Photo by News21 fellow Brendan Campbell.

News21 fellows Ashley Hopko and Justin Parham conduct an interview with Alex Monsour, the South Ward alderman of Vicksburg, Mississippi. Photo by News21 fellow Alexis Egeland.

"We believe these stories are important and can have a bigger impact, if only they get told.

鈥淚 found that it was very difficult to interview anyone who was protesting because they did not want to be on camera, show their face or tell me their real name,鈥� she says.

Hopko conducted interviews throughout Mississippi and in rural Texas. She spoke with sources who鈥檇 been impacted by hate, or who identified with a range of social groups and ideologies, including an antifeminist classified as an 鈥渁lt-right mommy,鈥� undocumented and documented Latino immigrants, and families whose lives had been torn apart by the KKK.

鈥淚 still don鈥檛 understand why people have such extreme hate in their hearts for certain groups of people, but one thing that did surprise me: They鈥檙e still humans, and they still share certain traits of humanity that everyone else does,鈥� she says.

Her work on the project also put her face to face with a former KKK grand wizard, and the experience was far different from her expectations.

鈥淥ne thing that was eye opening and slightly startling for me to realize is that people鈥檚 personalities are extraordinarily complex,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 impossible to stereotype a person. Just because they鈥檙e friendly and outgoing and have a compassionate personality doesn鈥檛 mean they might not be extremely racist or have biased beliefs that don鈥檛 align with what you might see when you first meet them.鈥�

The students also met with groups working to stem hate and aid victims.

Hopko spoke to people from the Southern Poverty Law Center and Anti-Defamation League, and Diestel interviewed officials from the Guatemalan-Maya Center in Palm Beach County, Florida; the TransLatin@ coalition, based in Los Angeles, California; and the Los Angeles Sheriff鈥檚 Department Hate Crime unit.

For Hopko, the fellowship was far more emotional and fulfilling than she鈥檇 anticipated, and it shaped the type of work she hopes to do after graduating this spring, she says.

鈥淭his was a total career shift for me, and I鈥檓 walking out of this with a renewed passion for the industry and enthusiasm for my future,鈥� she says. 鈥淏efore this, I didn鈥檛 think I wanted to do anything nearly as investigative, but I kind of fell in love with it during the program.鈥�

Diestel, who graduated and works as a social media manager while pursuing a career in broadcast journalism, agrees that the experience was formative.

鈥淲ith a project like this, I think it鈥檚 difficult to walk away from it without the people and their stories impacting you,鈥� she says. 鈥淎fter all, that鈥檚 why we do it. We believe these stories are important and can have a bigger impact, if only they get told.鈥�

Tessa Diestel adjusts the lighting while she and Brendan Campbell prepare to interview Maria Roman, a board member of the TransLatin@ Coalition and friend of Viccky Gutierrez. Photo by Angel Mendoza.

Tessa Diestel interviews Tim Gamwell, director of the Guatemalan-Maya Center in West Palm Beach, Florida. Photo by Angel Mendoza.

Ashley Hopko and Alexis Egeland conduct an interview. Photo by Justin Parham.

Anna Blanco (Jour鈥�19) contributed to this story.

As students in the Carnegie-Knight News21 fellowship program, Tessa Diestel (Jour'18) and Ashley Hopko (Jour'19) traveled the country investigating intolerance, racism and hate crimes. Their project, Hate in America, won the 2018 Edward R. Murrow Award for Excellence in Digital Reporting.

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On the job: Fall 2018

Anonymous — Fri, 09 Nov 2018 20:51:58 +0000

On the job: Fall 2018 Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 11/09/2018 - 13:51

More than 450 students completed internships for credit in 2017-18.

Designing Women

Senior Barrett Batson studies strategic communication with an emphasis on public relations and a minor in journalism. She spent the summer in Austin, Texas, as the public relations intern for designer and CEO Kendra Scott.

Out of all the PR internships to choose from, why Kendra Scott?
I knew I鈥檇 be working for a company created by one of the leading self-made female entrepreneurs in the U.S., and I wanted to put everything I鈥檝e been learning in school to the test in a corporate public relations environment.

What is a typical workday like?
After preparing for meetings and checking in with my boss, I might draft quotes for a press release, create briefs for Kendra, build and update media lists and databases, coordinate or attend events, work with social media influencers or answer interview questions for various news outlets.

What makes your experience at Kendra Scott unique?
All 27 interns from different departments are working together over 10 weeks to launch a loyalty program. I鈥檓 drafting a press release, writing pitch emails to news outlets and helping with the marketing strategy. On the last day of the program, we鈥檒l present the project to the whole company, including Kendra.

Has the experience affected your career goals?
After college, my goal is to secure a job with a major PR agency. This internship reinforced that goal and made me feel more prepared to go through the hiring process. Now, I鈥檒l feel confident going into interviews. I鈥檒l have work samples for my professional portfolio with detailed accomplishments in developing communication strategies.

The Next Big Thing

Lina Takahashi is a senior studying broadcast journalism with minors in Japanese and technology, arts and media. Over the summer, she was a news intern at 9News in Denver for Next with Kyle Clark.

How do you spend an average workday?
I write multiple web stories for Next with Kyle Clark every day and help the web producer with the show鈥檚 social media platforms. I enjoy shadowing the producers and seeing how all of the shows come together in the newsroom, as well as in the control studio.

What have you learned about working in a newsroom?
The most surprising experience has been being in the newsroom during breaking news. It鈥檚 chaotic, but each person plays a crucial role in making sure that important information is reported as quickly and accurately as possible. The air changes and it is the most exciting place to be.

What do you want to do Next?
I grew up watching 9News, and this internship confirmed that I鈥檓 a news fanatic. As a short-term goal, I want to be a reporter for the Tokyo Olympics in 2020. The reporters and anchors I鈥檝e met at 9News are all so passionate about what they do. Every day is different, depending on the stories they cover, the places they go and the people they meet. I want that to be true for my career.

Data Days

Senior Benjamin Ward is an information science major with a minor in business. He interned in the Longmont office of Xilinx, a San Jose, California, technology company that supplies programmable logic devices.

What stood out about Xilinx?
This internship had a specific project outlined and emphasized an interest in someone who loves challenges and problem solving. I really identified with Xilinx鈥檚 goals and the kind of person they were seeking.

What surprised you about this internship?
I never would have guessed that I鈥檇 be collaborating with engineers every day and learning so much about their field. I鈥檓 glad I haven鈥檛 been pigeonholed in data analysis and have been trusted to work on other projects.

Has the experience shaped your plans for the future?
It鈥檚 validated the excitement I get when working on data-based projects. I鈥檝e gotten a lot of great exposure to what the day-to-day life of a data analyst is like. My long-term goal is to work with data for political or health care organizations.

Students discuss their summer internships doing public relations for designer Kendra Scott; producing Denver鈥檚 top 6 p.m. newscast, Next with Kyle Clark, at 9News; and digging through data at the technology company Xilinx.

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