The Muslim Link, December 19, 2008
COMMUNITY NEWS
D.C. Honors Ethnic Media, Community Storytellers New America Media, News Report, Cristina Fernandez-Pereda, Posted: Dec 12, 2008 WASHINGTON -- More than 100 people gathered Thursday for the first Washington, D.C., Ethnic Media Awards, organized by New America Media and American University School of Communication to honor excellence in reporting. “I’m really happy. I think this award is not for me but for the people we work for, for the communities,” said Luisa Fernanda Montero, winner in the Best Broadcast Category for her story on how native people honor their ancestors “Pow Wow – Somos un Pueblo Unido.” Montero, a reporter for the Hispanic Communications Network, emphasized the significance of honoring the work of journalists who show a community’s virtues and needs. Other ethnic media awards winners agreed with Montero that the awards were not just for the reporters but for the communities they are covering. Mark Lloyd, presenter and Vice President for Strategic Initiatives of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, noted in his speech the humility of the reporters who didn’t take credit for the award and gave it all to the communities they work for.
Dean of the American University School of Communication Larry Kirkman noted the first ethnic media awards in the Washington, D.C. metro area is taking place in the same year as the 60th anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights. He underscored the meaning of these awards and ethnic media. Article 19 recognizes not only the right to freedom of opinion and expression, Kirkman said, but also “the right to receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” Alfredo Duarte-Pereira, photographer for El Tiempo Latino, won the photojournalism award for his portrait of a 15-year-old autistic boy and his mother’s struggle to learn how to teach him through music. “This is a very important award for me, both as a photographer and as an immigrant. I came to this country not too long ago and now I’m being awarded for doing what I really like,” he said. For Nisa Muhammad, Final Call reporter and Best Local News Coverage winner for her story “Black Neighborhoods on Lockdown” about police checkpoints in some areas of Washington, D.C., the event was not just about the awards.
“I think it’s great that we are being awarded as journalists for writing about our communities and also for doing it with passion and emotion,” said Muslim Link reporter Asma Hanif, who earned an honorable mention under the Best Commentary/Editorial Writing Category for her editorial “Domestic Violence.”
“I’m totally surprised and also very happy for the award. But this kind of event has allowed us to connect with other communities we wouldn’t have reached any other way, we would have remained unconnected,” Muhammad said.
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we do have a number of dishonest physicians no doubt about that” said Dr. Hassan.
Association of North America -- started his discussion with evidence from the Qur’an and Sunnah to support the Islamic Perspective on health care. According to a hadith, the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) mounted the pulpit, then wept and said, “Ask Allah for forgiveness and health, for after being granted certainty, one is given nothing better than health. (Tirrmidhi) The state of the current healthcare system results in more than 45 million people without medical coverage. More have inadequate coverage, and 80% who do not have coverage are working class people and 20% are children. More than $100 billion dollars are spent on diseases that could have been prevented. This financial focus results in an attitude of covering up the problem instead of creating programs that will help to educate people about ways to alleviate preventable disease. “Forget the diet, take the medicine”, said Dr. Hassan as the overall attitude displayed by the pharmaceutical companies. Many people are bombarded with advertisements for many medicines that they should take. “Most physicians are honest, but
all these journalists I wouldn’t have found any other way. They are the ones who can really tell you about their communities,” said Tara Libert, deputy director of Free Minds Book Club and Writing Workshop. Event attendees included Pepco, regional electric service provider that sponsored the cash awards for winners, and representatives of government agencies such as the 2010 U.S. Census, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and U.S. Navy. “The presence of members of government agencies tells us how important this night has been,” said New America Media Executive Director Sandy Close. New America Media received more than 80 submissions from newspapers, TV stations, radio news programs, and web magazines from Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia. The outlets serve Vietnamese, Ethiopian, Muslim, Jewish, African-American, Korean, and Spanish-language communities in the region.
In 2007 the national health expenditures increased two times the rate of inflation. Total
“The reality is that the ethnic media plays a vital role in our society by bringing news and information to demographics that want more than what is delivered by the major media outlets,” said Alex Moe, NAM’s Washington, D.C. director. “NAM and American University School of Communication are honoring the tremendous contribution, often made on bare-bones budgets, the ethnic media offers.”
Americans are getting far too much unnecessary care. Of our total $2.3 trillion health care bill last year, $500 billion to $700 billion was spent on treatments, tests, and hospitalizations that did nothing to improve our health, said Dr. Hassan. Many Americans
Best Local News Coverage
Nisa Muhammad, Final Call, “Black Neighborhoods on Lockdown” Honorable Mention: Barbara Pash, Baltimore Jewish Times, “Star Crossed”
Best Immigration Coverage
Farkhunda Ali, Muslim Link, “Virginia Couple Reunited with Son” HM: Milagros Melendez-Vela, El Tiempo Latino, “Quiero Estar con Mi Mama” HM: Albert Hong, Korea Daily, “Please Help Us: Illegal Immigrants Family”
Best Investigative/ In-Depth Coverage
James Wright, Washington Afro, “Black Women in Criminal Justice System” HM: Peter Dao, Pho Nho Newspaper, “Students in Hanoi and Saigon Demonstrate Against China” HM: Farkhunda Ali, Muslim Link, “Local Palestinians Remember Their Catastrophe”
Special Award for Best Media Supplement
The Staff of the Washington Informer, “Nelson Mandela Supplement”
Best Arts, Sports, and Entertainment
Winyan Soo Hoo, Asian Fortune, “Kelly Tsai: A ‘Yellowgurl’ Poet” HM: Neil Rubin, Baltimore Jewish Times, “Now…That’s Funny” HM: Dereje Desta, Zethiopia, “Emerging Ethiopian Rock Star, Kenna!” Jose de la Isla, Hispanic Link, “Social Intolerance on the Rise” HM: Asma Hanif, Muslim Link, “Domestic Violence”
Best Photojournalism
Alfredo Duarte-Pereira, El Tiempo Latino, “El Mundo Según Zamir”
Best Broadcast Story
Luisa Fernanda Montero, Hispanic Communications Network, “Pow Wow – Somos un Pueblo Unido” HM: Marcelo Sanchez, Telemundo, “Down Syndrome: Buddy Walk” Source: New America Media
began to use the Emergency Room as their Primary care providers instead of using family doctors.
for healthcare, and which are currently not alleviating many of the diseases plaguing the nation.
We need to reawaken the idea of simplicity, said Dr. Hassan. He suggested that we start to correct our own behaviors.
Another problem lies in the inequalities in the healthcare system. Some doctors use prejudices when dealing with patients. A doctor may spend more time explaining how a particular medicine should be taken to a white American in comparison to an African American. As a result, the African American may find them in the same predicament dealing with the same health issues because a lack of education from their primary care provider. Published from the Institute of Medicine in 2002, the study committee was struck by the consistency of research findings: even among the better-controlled studies, the vast majority indicated that minorities are less likely than whites to receive needed services, including clinically necessary procedures.
“How many of you exercised this morning,” asked Dr. Hassan? Hardly a hand went up
Americans are getting far too much unnecessary care. Of our total $2.3 trillion health care bill last year, $500 billion to $700 billion was spent on treatments, tests, and hospitalizations that did nothing to improve our health, said Dr. Hassan. Many Americans began to use the Emergency Room as their Primary care providers instead of using family doctors. spending was $2.3 trillion dollars; 80% of health care expenditure is used by 20% of the population. Most of this is used in the last few months of life.
The Winners:
Best Commentary/Editorial Writing
“It was so great to be able to reach out to
He suggested problems stem from inappropriate care, inaccessible care, funds being inappropriately used, and care that is unequally available to those who need it.
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from the twenty or so attendees in the main hall of MCC. He than explained how his dad used to walk 10 miles per day, between walking to the Masjid to pray and operating his own business. Simple changes in hygiene helped to increase life spans in America from about 47 years to 77 years on average. We need to look at the simple changes that were made to improve human health that were not as costly compared to our modern day technologies that are eating up funds
If an ideal health care system can be expressed using the Vowels of the health care system as Dr. Hassan describes, healthcare would be: “accessible, affordable, appropriate, available, equitable, intelligible, obvious, universal, and utilized”. During the short question and answer period, the doctor was asked about the possibility of
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