I sat down with Leandro Mars, up and coming photographer, to talk about his career so far.

Click here for more information on Leandro Mars

This past election has cast a dark shadow over the world of journalism; falsified news being spread just as quickly as fact and discrediting journalists who seek the truth. Christiane Amanpour summarized this perfectly in her 2016 Burton Benjamin Memorial Award acceptance speech. She states that the way the Trump presidency is panning out, journalists in the US may face the same prosecution and disrespect that is seen majorly in non-democratic parts of the world. Because of sites such as Facebook spreading false articles just as much or even more than truthful articles, this allows journalists to be easily demonized. I agree with the statements that Facebook should step up and not allow the easy consumption of falsified news and that journalists should fight back and continue to spread the truth in light of this incident. This would be a terrible time to back down from spreading the truth although there are corrupt forces out there trying to cover it up. There is also the idea that consumers are not doing their part in fact checking their information. Consumers should also know where their news is coming from and if it is really a credible source. We should not allow ourselves to lazily consume false information and form opinions based on that information.

I sat down with Gypsy Geoff A.K.A Geoff Marsh, professional magician, clown, mime, circus arts instructor and fire manipulator to talk about an organization very near and dear to him; Clowns Without Borders.

Click here to learn more about Clowns Without Borders

Click here to learn more about Gypsy Geoff

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/10/us/judge-approves-construction-of-oil-pipeline-in-north-dakota.html

The article U.S. Suspends Construction on Part of North Dakota Pipeline delves in to the cause of the sudden halt on construction on the controversial North Dakota pipeline. The United States has decided to stop construction of the North Dakota pipeline that has caused a lot of anger among Native Americans and activists. This pipeline was planned on being built near ancestral sites and under Lake Oahe, a water source for the Standing Rock Sioux. As a result of a recent federal court ruling, not in favor of the tribe, and tensions running high, the U.S. made an important decision to halt the progress of the pipeline. The Army Corps of Engineers plan on reassessing the area in which they plan to construct the pipeline. This article included many excellent uses of multimedia to give readers a better understanding of the situation. The video at the beginning puts faces and voices to the cause and a sense of humanity that they might not get from just the article. It also makes the situation a lot more real when you can watch a video that supports the article. The included pictures are also very important to this article because it once again brings to light that these are real people protesting about a real thing that matters to them. One thing I would have liked from the article would’ve been an audio clip of an interview with one of the activists, a tribe leader or a supporter of the North Dakota pipeline talking about their feelings on the suspension and situation so far.