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   When I first heard that I was to put a portfolio on my web page, I had no idea what I was going to do. So...here are a couple pictures (one that I actually took) for you to puruse. I also included several writing examples I did last Spring and this summer that exemplifies my writing.

   I will be a junior JOMC-PR major at the Journalism School at UNC-CH. I'm not exactly sure what I want to do but I imagine I'll figure it out for sure soon. I'm a brother at Chi Psi fraternity which is where I am currently living. I also "work" at the Student Union - checking email and playing Snood (the most addictive game ever).

   I'm originally from Springfield, Mass., but I was raised in Charlotte. I have a little sister, Mary, who just turned 16. We both attended Charlotte Country Day where my Dad works as Dean of the Upper School.

This is also another friend of mine, Carrie "Morimoto" Jacobsohn. Look at those biceps!

Selected Writing:

   Deadlines vs. Conscience: The Saga Continues

   Mrs. Janet England has long been an important piece in the jigsaw puzzle of professional journalism. She has worked in journalism for over 25 years both in the reporting field and, presently, as Vice President of a Charlotte public relations firm - Communication Concepts, Inc. England began by working as a television anchor for both CBS and ABC affiliates. One of her more family-oriented segments won her team an Emmy because of the positive ways in which it helped the community. England is not only a talented journalist and leader, but also a mother and wife. Her family includes her husband, William, and her sons, Brett and Chandler. By following England's lead, journalism can take a turn for the better by focusing more on community issues rather than on the violent sideshows that news stations are producing.

   Obviously, in England's vast experience, she has encountered many ethical decisions in the past two decades of her career. Her opinion about journalism's fast changes is that they, "began in the eighties as the growth of media competition expanded byond the traditional three network [s]." England regrets that with the need for high ratings, the quality of news stories begins to depreciate. The lack of ethics and pursuit of high ratings is exactly the cause of her dilemma with a local story about an accidental homicide that occurred during the 1980s.

   She begins: "Obviously, today, children are interviewed frequently on television. When is it appropriate? When is it inappropriate? What do you do when you know you are dealing with a minor who has a parent with little education who may be making a decision that may not be in the best interest of the child?

   I was assigned to cover a story where a youth had accidentally shot and killed his brother. When I arrived at the scene the surviving brother was young, less than ten years old. Police had already finished their preliminary investigation and charges were not going to be filed. The child had found a loaded gun on a playground area and the kids began playing, the gun went off and the brother was killed. The family lived in a public housing project that had a high crime rate. The mother was a single parent distraught over the death of her child. At the same time she was a little star struck that I was there with a television crew and invited me into her home.

   I had already interviewed police for the background and the mother said she would go on camera, and I could even interview her surviving son. Here came the ethical question for me: I knew my editor would love it. An exclusive interview with the kid who pulled the trigger. The mother, bless her, was thinking about how nice it would be to see her son on television. I could only think of the emotional trauma for the child. The child appeared to be in an almost trance-like state. Quiet and obviously still terrified at all that had happened. Police had already offered some assistance and I knew that a counselor would be assigned to the family soon."

   Essentially, the main problem England encountered was whether or not to report on the story. She knew her news editor would love pictures and interviews of the mourning mother and the traumatized son. Television viewers tune in every night to hear the latest trauma going on in the community. The story is all the better if it involves bloodshed...especially in the case of accidental homicides. Ratings would go through the roof if this particular news station aired same day interviews and camera shots with the mother and son. Possibly, this station may gain the reputation of getting the hard facts first. This thought process is all too appealing to most reporters. However, there is also the fact that these "hard stories' intrude on the privacy of the victims and family members. Should this reporter get these interviews that portray the raw, saddening emotions of the family members, or should she give the family some time to regroup and then return for the story?

   Janet England concludes: "I decided that I could not take advantage of the situation just because the mother was not protecting her child. With the camera off, I began to discuss with the mother how her child probably needed some counseling and that police and her social worker could help with that. I also explained that her son was a minor, and she had a right to refuse to have him interviewed by any reporters. I said he had been through a lot and so had she and maybe she should think about things a little more. The shooting had occurred that day. I told her I would come back another day and we could talk if she felt she had something to say and that it could help prevent a similar tragedy. I left without the video interviews, but included that I had spoken with the mother and child.

   I later returned for a television interview with the mother and how she wanted parents to teach parents to teach their children that if they saw a gun...they should not touch it and go tell an adult. We also began doing other stories about crimes in neighborhoods like this one and how playground areas needed to become safer."

   In this case, the reporter prioritized the family members first. Not all reporters would have made the same decision, but each story differs from case to case. Clearly, the shock had not set in with the mother, who was making irrational decisions that would affect her son. The son was also in deep trauma after killing his own brother, and to exploit the two for news ratings and reputation would have been wrong. In this particular case, England concluded that the family receiving help was more important than relaying a story to the public.

Journalism 53 Assignments:

#1 Edmund Ball

June 6, 2001

Beach

    In a world where most young people are starving for the next big internship or the next high-paying job, Rebecca Beach, a junior Advertising major from Wilson, NC prefers giving herself back to the community.

   "I think it's important to become involved in one's community. I've seen different perspectives that allow me to appreciate the things that I have," she said.

   During high school, Beach would volunteer four days a week at the hospital as a "candy striper." She would often visit with patients as they were recovering from surgery.

   After being accepted at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Beach knew that she would continue to volunteer. "When I came to Chapel Hill, I decided I still wanted to be involved in the community."

   Beach's favorite volunteer service is the Big Buddy program. Volunteers take underprivileged children out for ice cream or movies, or just talk to them. She became involved her freshman year and plans to continue this fall.

   "I can see how it makes a difference in one child's life, so I hope that one day's worth of fun will have a lifelong impact on the child," she said.

   Beach is heavily involved in her sorority's service projects - serving as coordinating chair of Alpha Chi Omega's Fall Brawl. The sorority hosts a basketball tournament amongst all the UNC-CH fraternities to raise money for the Durham Coalition for Battered Women.

   "Alpha Chi brought me into a situation where I learned I could become involved in so many activities," she said.

   Her sorority is also involved in Rainbow soccer, a soccer league for children. Often University students will volunteer to coach and help out with teams. Beach and several of her sorority sisters act as team moms by bringing the players drinks and snacks and by cheering them on during games.

   Her love of service will continue even after she graduates. She said, "I'll continue to volunteer in Chapel Hill, and I plan to continue in whatever community I'm in after school."

   She said, "Volunteering makes me feel good about myself because I know I'm helping the community."

   Hopefully, college students like Rebecca Beach will inspire other young people to try and make a difference in their own communities.

#2 Edmund Ball

June 8, 2001

PFADP

RALEIGH - Almost one hundred people will protest the death penalty Sunday night outside of the federal prison in Terre Haute, Ind. where Timothy McVeigh is being executed Monday morning, according to a spokesperson for an anti-death penalty organization Friday.

Stephen Dear, director of People of Faith Against the Death Penalty, announced Friday afternoon during a press conference outside of Central Prison that his organization and other anti-death penalty groups will hold an all-night vigil to protest the execution of Oklahoma City bomber, Timothy McVeigh.

Dear said, "We will be leaving from Pullen Memorial Church to join other death penalty opponents. We expect 100 people…."

PFADP will take two buses from the church Indiana's federal prison, the location of McVeigh's execution.

He went on to say, "People of Faith Against the Death Penalty does not support…the reactionary attitude reflected in its citizens…for many, true justice has a different meaning than revenge."

PFADP is a faith-based anti-death penalty organization that believes that executions only add to the violent nature of society.

Dear supported this statement with FBI statistics: for states who have abolished the death penalty, there are 5.1 murders per 100,000 people; for states who have the death penalty, there are 9.1 murders per 100,000 people.

Dear said that his organization could not support the execution of any person, no matter how heinous the crime. McVeigh is no exception. Over a hundred people died at the Oklahoma City federal building in 1995, including women and children.

Although recently released documents from the FBI show that there were others involved, McVeigh has become the scapegoat for the bombing. On Thursday, McVeigh was denied a second time at an appeals court in Denver.

He has been taken to an Indiana Federal Penitentiary where he will be put to death Monday at 8 a.m. (EST).

Dear invited anyone who wanted to participate in the all-night vigil to either visit PFADP's website, www.unitedchurch.org/pfadp, or meet at Pullen Memorial Church at 1801 Hillsborough St. in Raleigh on Sunday morning at 5:30 a.m.

#3 Edmund Ball

June 11, 2001

BushStatement

WASHINGTON - President Bush released a statement shortly after the execution of the Oklahoma City bomber, Timothy McVeigh, on Monday morning calling McVeigh's death a "reckoning."

"The victims of the Oklahoma City bombing have been given not vengeance, but justice, he said."

Timothy McVeigh was executed by lethal injection early Monday morning after being convicted of destroying the Oklahoma City Federal Building in 1995 and killing 168 people. It was the first federal execution since 1963.

His original execution date was postponed after the FBI submitted 4500 pages of evidence after the trial. McVeigh's defense attorneys argued that the new evidence could possibly sway the jury into overturning the death sentence.

All the appeals were denied, and McVeigh was sent to a federal prison in Terre Haute, Ind. where he was executed Monday morning.

In Monday's statement, the President addressed the many victims of the bombing, especially to the families who were still mourning, including McVeigh's family.

"Today every living person who was hurt by the evil done in Oklahoma City can rest in the knowledge that there has been a reckoning," Bush said.

He also recognized the efforts of rescuers, Oklahoma City officials, and other community members who had helped the city get back on its feet.

"At every point from the morning of April 19, 1995, to this hour we have seen the good that overcomes evil," he said.

The President continued: "Under the laws of our country, the matter is concluded. Life and history bring tragedies, and often they cannot be explained. But they can be redeemed. They are redeemed by dispensing justice."

He concluded, "May God in his mercy grant peace to all, to the lives that were taken six years ago, to the lives that go on, and to the life that ended today."

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Last Updated: 13 June 2001