Response to Article

The article posted about the police beat stories were not what I was expecting to read. I didn't understand how much emotional and physical stress a crime reporter went through. It sounds almost like a cop and a crime reporter deal with similiar experiences. I believe my reactions of the crimes would be more emotionally stressed than physically stressed. I feel like the hardest part of being a crime reporter would be interviewing the victim's family. Reporter Rankin stated that she would find herself crying uncontrollably while talking to the members. The article caught my attention as soon I started reading it. The way things were descibed and discussed about made me feel like I was at the scence of the accident or murder. I agree with Dr. J. Beverly Anderson in her opinion of cops and crime reporters needing counseling. Smoking, drinking, and blocking out terrible things aren't the way to solve stress. Talking to someone and letting out your thoughts and worries is the best way. The cops and crime reporters seeing the things that they do daily should make it a high priority to go to a counselor at least once a week.

Article Response

I found the police beat article to be very interesting, yet emotional to read. I never thought about how hard it must be for police officers to witness death on a daily basis because it is something they are so accustomed to being around. In this article, various journalists talked about how these events impacted not only their lives, but also their writing. I found the beginning of this article to be enticing because it caught my attention in the first paragraph with the graphic description of the car accident. The fact that the accident discussed in the article was about college age students captured my attention because it is something I can relate to, being a college student myself. I never realized how difficult it must be to gather information from police officers when covering a murder, car accident, or other type of violence related stories because most of the time police aren’t supposed to release any information to outsiders. This article also brought to my attention how people cope with stress in various ways, whether it be smoking, drinking, or using substances to numb their pain.

-Emily Quatman

Article Response

This article was very interesting to me. I like the way it begins with the graphic scene of the car accident and how the journalist covering it felt. It really gave me a feel of what it is like to be a journalist who writes police beats. It was really intriguing to hear all the stories of the reporters, like Rankins and how it affected her. She became paranoid and constantly frightened. Also the story of reporter's Reilly and Statter, and how the story they covered included a sergeant they knew who was killed. The stories of the various reporter's made me realize how time consuming and risky reporting police beat's can be. It is hard to imagine taking on a job like this, seeing deceased families, and friends so heartbroken; and also seeing such graphic scenes. I know now for a fact after reading this that I would absolutely be negatively affected if I were a police beat reporter. Seeing a human dead in real life is not something anyone could ever forget and it stays with you. I think it is important for journalists to be debriefed and counseled like Dr. Anderson had stated. They could use more protection and attention, especially for experiencing such life changing things, just to write a story.

The High-Stress Police Beat

A steady diet of violent crime, fatal accidents and human tragedy takes a toll on reporters. Some think newspapers and TV stations should do more to help their staffers cope. 


After our police beat discussion in class today, read the following story from The American Journalism Review and post your brief reactions here by Thursday, 10 Nov.

Students Seek Meditation for Stress Relief

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFmJPyToKSY

Students Seek Meditation for Stress Relief

Students Seek Meditation for Stress Relief

[B ROLL] students studying at the library

[B ROLL] walking towards the counseling center with view of “University Counseling Center” sign

[STAND UP OPENING] “Some students are already feeling the stress from upcoming finals which has led them to the on campus counseling center for help. I’m Kristen Beyer reporting for 271-TV News”

[B ROLL] opening the door to the counseling center -> in script saying “the counseling center’s doors are always open with a staff more than willing to help ease students’ stress”

[SOUNDBITE #1] Dr. Josie Nicolson, Staff Counselor at the University Counseling Center

[SOUNDBITE #2] Sophomore journalism major, Hannah Whitten

[STAND UP CLOSING] “The counseling center at Ole Miss might just be the answer for those students seeking stress relief as finals approach. This has been Kristen Beyer, reporting for 271-TV News”

The University Counseling Center at Ole Miss will now be extending the amount of meditation classes they offer, including adding a “Meditation for Healing” workshop in the spring.

Dr. Josie Nicolson, a staff counselor at the University Counseling Center says, “were about to add three more meditation classes. Student’s tend to skip over meditation because there is nothing tangible at the end…there is not a paper produced, there is not a lot of sweat or whatever is an objective measure of having worked but [meditation] is work. It is just hard to take that time out for yourself”.

Sophomore Hannah Whitten thinks that extra work in meditation has benefitted her greatly, saying, “finals are getting so close and I went to the University Counseling Center and took a meditation class and it really helped me relieve my stress, so I’m excited they’re opening up more classes.”

Stress and lack of sleep leading up to finals can affect students’ health beyond measure. Dr. Nicolson has seen positive feedback in those students that have participated in the Counseling Center meditation classes and thinks there will only be more students seeking help as time for finals creeps up. Nicolson says, “were having to increase our services so I think that’s a sign students are finding meditation helpful.”

*uploading problems on youtube*

Ole Miss Sheds Some Light On The Grove

"Ole Miss Shines Some Light On the Grove"

OXFORD, MS: The Grove is a historic landmark for people of Ole Miss and with a lot of the history, if any changes occur it comes with a lot of talk. But what if the changes would make the Grove safer? 

Past reports say that with an increase in the student population, comes an increase in certain criminal activity here at Ole Miss. The physical plant has installed light poles in the Grove as well as made other improvements to increase security. Grace Pittard, a sophomore, a pharmacy major, explains her thoughts on the latest installment. "Well, since a lot of the games are night games and everything, I think that it will provide safer tailgating whenever it gets dark and people are still in the Grove. And since it also provides more cellphone service it will help for people to be able to get in contact with each other if they get lost or something like that whenever they are tailgating. " 

    According to a recent story written by the DM, the physical plant replaced the lights in the trees with light poles. The installment alleviated the problem due to the growing trees making the Grove darker. Gary Tomblin and Willie Cox, two of the men responsible for assembling the light fixtures say they feel that the lights will make the Grove safer in result.

The goal of the new improvements to the Grove are to increase security for all students and future tailgaters on game day. The total completion of all the improvements will not be completed until later this fall.