Moderator: Jade Davis
Producer: Sammy Shaktah
Anchor: Daniel Martindale
Social Media Editor: Jiani Navarro
Reporters: Jade Davis, Kaylee Kealani, Daniel Martindale, Jiani Navarro and Sammy Shaktah
Fire is a word Californians are all too familiar with these days.
Every year people anticipate fire season, however more and more fires are happening outside the seasonal norm. Human activity as well as climate change have caused this irregularity.
“We used to think there was a fire season,” CSUN Geography & Environmental Studies Professor Amalie Orme said. “In our traditional way of thinking, probably from mid-20th century into the early years of this century, we always thought it was going to be sometime in the fall and maybe into early winter, but I think in the last two decades now, we’ve seen a very different type of pattern, where we can see fire year round.”
Data show that these fires are becoming larger as well. The most recent highly destructive fire in Southern California was the Thomas fire. It burned for more than a month, leaving thousands of acres burned and destroying nearly 800 homes.
In efforts to control fires, campaigns like Smokey Bear have been used. This wildfire prevention campaign educates the community on what it can do to prevent these fires with fuel management practices. Unfortunately, these efforts do not always work when Mother Nature gets involved.
“All these fires are driven by these natural things,” retired LAFD fire-fighter and FlameMapper.com co-founder Anthony Shafer said. “The real thing, that I personally think adds to it, is the buildup over the years of fuels, and the tons per acre of dry fuels on the landscape, and the fact that we haven’t figured out how to get rid of that, or decrease that.”
“You have this other dynamic in here,’ Orme said, “when you have this big fuel-loading, especially in areas that are difficult to access, because when you start to look at the way fires are patterned over time…we wind up with these mosaics of vegetation, which may not have the adaptive capacity to regenerate and prevent the understory from basically refueling itself.”
Climate change is another driving force behind these California flames. Temperatures are rising, causing landscapes to be drier for longer periods of time. The current California drought does not help the situation either, and experts say heavy rainfall may not even be enough to counteract the rising temperatures. These conditions leave certain areas more susceptible to catch and sustain fire.
These susceptibilities can change someone’s life overnight.
“When I was about 8-years-old, my family lost their home to the 1993 Topanga fire,” FlameMapper.com co-founder Shea Broussard said. “I didn’t really understand how to process the feelings of emotion at the time. It was very strange and very odd. When you lose your house, you don’t realize you lose that sense of place, that sense of home… You’ve had the worst day that could ever happen to you, and you don’t have a place to go home to.”
Broussard said no one can really prepare for the devastation of a fire. Fires occur unexpectedly, and many people do not know what to do after they’re over, or how they can protect their homes against the scorching flames.
“[People] don’t have their to-go bags,” Shafer said. “They don’t have all their financial information; they don’t have all their insurance documentation…That’s where the devastation is, the fact that they get to [shelters], and they’re sitting there on this bench, and they realize the only thing they’ve got in the world is what they are sitting there with.”
No two fires are the same, but they have similar and lasting effects.
“A fire can really change a community,” Broussard said. “It takes years to try to recover, and it’s a bigger event than people can actually wrap their brain around.”
Moderator: Angela Bickmann
Producers: Angela Bickmann and Marissa Martinez
Anchor: Marissa Martinez
Social Media Editors: Karin Abcarians and Melanie Rosales
Reporters: Karin Abcarians, Angela Bickmann, Jesyka Dunn, Marissa Martinez and Melanie Rosales
The conflict in Syria has escalated into one of the century’s most deadliest civil wars. It started in March 2011 as a peaceful protest against Syrian dictator Bashar Assad, but violence erupted and spread throughout the country.
Nearly 400,000 Syrians have been killed and more than half of the country’s population has been displaced, many of them fleeing abroad, according to the United Nations.
CSUN Cinema Television and Arts major Dilek Ince created the student film “AMAL”, about an American volunteer doctor who witnesses a tragic event that leaves a young Syrian girl named Amal without a family.
“I did this story for children that feel forgotten,” Ince said. “I knew I wanted to make this film because I wanted to reach as many people as possible.”
Ince said she wanted to tell a story about what’s happening on the other side of the world, a story that people may not know much about. She wanted to show how the war is affecting children’s lives, and she wants to make people aware of what’s going on.
“I researched a lot of articles and I spoke with people who went through this war, because I wanted to make the film as authentic as possible,” Ince said. “I also spoke with some organizations that help kids.”
Fadia Afashe, an artist, activist and a refugee who left Syria, said it wasn’t easy to survive in that country.
“The minute you start to question things, the minute they recognize you are out of order and you start to demand any human rights, you are on the list,” Afashe said. “[When you’re on that list, it means] your life, your family life, everyone you know will be in danger.”
Afashe said that when she was growing up, even before the war, her parents would discourage her from speaking up or voicing her opinions on certain issues in public. They feared there would be dangerous repercussions towards their family if she did.
“I started to be a women’s rights activist because I was witnessing horrible things happening in my society and I wanted to change it,” Afashe said. “Even just asking for women’s rights … was forbidden, and they put me on the list.”
Afashe said she couldn’t invite people over and didn’t have access to the internet to share information on women’s rights. Instead, she started using art to share that information.
“I started to think maybe art is the solution, because that is probably how I can get into every Syrian home, because Syrians love movie stars,” Afashe said. “I created my first movie in Syria about women’s issues.”
Afashe said she wasn’t able show her film on television in Syria, and she said people didn’t have access to the internet at the time. Now that they do, activism can spread more easily.
Both Ince and Afashe agreed that art can be used as a tool to educate the public on social issues.
“Definitely it can be used to spread awareness,” Ince said. “Even though it’s a fiction story, [the audience] get inspired by the real stories.”
Ince said films can also show people what they can do to help.
Moderator: Savannah Palacio
Producer: Son Ly
Anchor: James Farr
Social Media Editor: James Farr
Reporters: Karen Elle, James Farr, Kelcey Henderson, Son Ly and Savannah Palacio
Although the United States makes up less than five percent of the world’s population, 31 percent of mass shootings happen here, according to CNN.
Law enforcement experts, mental health professionals, politicians and survivors continue to ask what the driving force is behind these mass shootings, and whether there is any way to predict or prevent them.
The Parkland Florida shooter told authorities he heard voices in his head giving him instructions on what to do to conduct the attack, and Nashville’s Waffle House gunman claimed Taylor Swift was stalking him. Many experts say easier access to mental health treatment would help, but warn against suggesting that all mental illness leads to violence.
“The connection between violence and mental health often [leads to a] stigma,” Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health program manager James Coomes said. “It’s actually counterproductive [because] it prevents people from accessing mental health services if they need them.”
“Sometimes people think if someone is hearing voices that is somehow criminal, and someone should be locked up for that,” Coomes said, “[but] people live with psychosis every day.”
Many suggest that people be encouraged to speak up when they suspect a friend, classmate, or family member is contemplating violence.
“I definitely do believe there are signs,” U.S. Department of Justice investigator Sgt. Rod Clayton said. “Whether we adhere to them, or report them in a timely matter, is our biggest question.”
“The reality is one and every four people experience a major mental health issue at some point in their life,” Coomes said. “The vast majority of people who are experiencing mental health issues are not prone to violence. So, if we’re trying to predict who is going to engage in a violent act and who isn’t, there might be signs, like a collection of weapons, or aggressive behavior, [but not always].”
Others say parents should limit exposure to violent video games and movies.
“I would attribute a lot of it, in my personal opinion, to what we see or what we see our kids do on social media and video games,” Clayton said. “Anytime you can see where a person is becoming desensitized by what they see on the internet or the video games, there needs to be some intervention.”
Some say that if the mass media and social media users would stop reporting, sharing, reposting or retweeting the names, faces and detailed histories of killers, there might be a reduction in mass shootings, and some studies do suggest that ‘media contagion’ may be a factor.
“Media makes people copycat what they see,” Clayton said. “Now we see it more [and] people want to do it more. [It’s like] what we experienced in the late 90’s with vehicle pursuits. We saw it on the news so everybody wanted to do it.”
Crime statistics suggest society is not actually more violent overall, even as these mass shootings increase. But Americans don’t feel safer.
“In a public opinion poll, it was asked how much violence is out there in 2016,” CSUN Communication Studies Professor David Keating said, “and 70 percent of Americans thought 2016 was more violent than 2015. But the crime rate has been steadily declining for a couple of decades now.”
Law enforcement experts and mental health professionals said awareness can help.
“Learning to engage each other, and accepting each other a little bit more, and having more tolerance for each other [can help],” Coomes said. “Being open to a family member or friend that might be experiencing something they may not feel is normal or acceptable, and giving them an opportunity to talk about it, and then engaging support around them [can help].”
Moderator: Sammy Shaktah
Producer: Jiani Navarro
Anchor: Kaylee Kealani
Social Media Editor: Daniel Martindale
Reporters: Jade Davis, Kaylee Kealani, Daniel Martindale, Jiani Navarro, Sammy Shaktah
Nowadays, some young girls are living their lives through their social media pages.
Whether it’s Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, or Instagram, these teens and pre-teens are updating their pages and hoping they get likes, comments and follows. Sometimes there are great comments, a lot of likes, and thousands of follows, but there may also be bullying and degrading going on.
“Now I think students are getting more savvy with technology,” high school counselor Jessica Estrada said. “And they’re getting more brave, and they’re being meaner, because they’re able to hide behind a screen, [and] say what they want to say.”
Some teens are also relying more heavily on social media to create images of themselves that they may think are the images people want to see, but those images may be based on traditional and limiting stereotypes of women.
“I think that it’s really empowering, on some level, to be able to have the means with which to produce yourself, and distribute yourself to the world,” said CSUN Communication Studies Professor Gina Giotta. “But on the other hand, I think we’ve been compelled to produce ourselves and to author ourselves in ways that are often times consistent with those previous representations that were produced for us by the mass media…We don’t have a lot of other scripts besides those media have offered to us.”
Some educators said social media are also affecting the way young people write.
“A lot of the English teachers in my school are complaining about…text language, [for example] putting LOL [for ‘laugh out loud’], and IKR for ‘I know, right’,” Estrada said. “They’re using little acronyms, [and] we’re supposed to be graduating these kids to be college ready.”
But educators and parents said it may be impossible to take social media away from young people at this point.
“I think they’d eventually learn how to live without it, but it’s such an addiction that I don’t know that [you could abolish it]…I think they’d struggle with that,” Estrada said.
“I’m not a doctor,” Giotta said, “but I do know that people can survive without social media. People did it for centuries, so I think it’s a possibility.”
Moderator: Melanie Rosales
Producers: Angela Bickmann and Marissa Martinez
Anchor: Jesyka Dunn
Social Media Editor: Karin Abcarians
Reporters: Karin Abcarians, Angela Bickmann, Jesyka Dunn, Marissa Martinez and Melanie Rosales
The idea of eliminating tipping in restaurants has been brought up more in the media lately, but it is hard to say what will happen to servers’ overall salaries if tipping is eliminated.
Barcito restaurant owner Andrea Borgen has eliminated tipping in her restaurant. Barcito is a restaurant located in downtown Los Angeles, and the restaurant has been using the so-called hospitality-included model since 2016.
“I’ve been able to create a work environment where I am able to provide stable wages for my employees,” Borgen said. “Their income is stabilized much more dramatically. On average, they make the same amount as they used to make when they were making tips. It’s just not as many peaks and valleys. We’re also able to pay the kitchen [staff] a little bit better as a result, and we’re able to provide all of our full-time employees with health insurance.”
Being able to provide employees with health insurance is rare in the restaurant industry. A couple of years ago, several Los Angeles-based restaurants attempted to provide their employees with health care by adding a 3 percent surcharge to their customers’ bills. Customers were given the option to ask that the surcharge be removed, and a few reportedly did.
Another issue in the restaurant industry has been the increase in California’s minimum wage. Some local restaurant owners say this puts even more pressure on their ability to stay in business. Workers say they are glad of the raise, but still worry about their ability to make a living through tips.
“Tipping is incredibly unstable,” Borgen said. “There have been countless studies that have shown that it is sexist, and racist, and completely depends on the guest’s mood on that particular day. The idea [of eliminating tipping] was, at the end of the day, for the guest to still pay the same amount for the same experience, but on the back end of things; they are distributing the funds in a different way.”
Some restaurant consumers have raised concerns about the idea of eliminating tipping.
“One big issue, of course, is whether service declines if you are guaranteeing people money,” CSUN Professor of Marketing Art Shulman said, “and to what extent does service decline. People don’t have to work as hard, maybe, to make their money [if] they get paid anyway.”
“I do like the ability to control the amount that I’m leaving,” Shulman said.
“If there is an employee that is not meeting their potential, and that is not exceeding our customers’ and our guests’ expectations, [then] we as a business need to address that,” Borgen said. “It can’t just be that every individual costumer or guest gets to decide.”
Moderator: Kelcey Henderson
Producers: Karen Elle and Son Ly
Anchor: James Farr
Social Media Editors: James Farr and Savannah Palacio
Reporters: Karen Elle, James Farr, Kelcey Henderson, Son Ly and Savannah Palacio
Astrology has been a mystical topic of interest since the earliest of human civilizations.
In today’s day and age, more skepticism is surrounding the field, fueled by better reasoning, newer feats in science, and more knowledge of astronomy.
Astronomy is the study of celestial objects, space, and the physical universe. This field of study may be seen as a rival of astrology, since they share some of the core fundamental concepts, but astronomers don’t consider astrology to be the same kind of science.
“I don’t believe in astrology,” CSUN Physics and Astronomy Professor Damian Christian said. “It’s fun to see your horoscope, but most of them are pretty vague and …a little bit too positive maybe.”
“I personally don’t subscribe to it,” CSUN Astronomy Lab Associate Michael Artinian said. “But at the same time, different people get different things out of astrology. The thing is, there’s no scientific value in it because it doesn’t predict anything. There’s no hypothesis you can test; there’s no ‘hey we found this result, and it matched with our prediction’.”
The National Science Foundation reported in 2016 that fifty-eight percent of Americans consider astrology a science.
“It’s actually one of the world’s oldest sciences,” Santa Monica astrologer Austin Muhs said. “It’s an enduring representation of man’s fascination with cycles, along with fascination with nature and how that nature interplays into personal lives.”
Based on a fantastic read, it is mentioned that people’s interest and belief in astrology has definitely been an amalgam of fascination and a longing for answers.
“There’s certainly been a long tradition in astrology, that the positions of the heavens and the planets and the stars have some influence on our personality and our futures,” CSUN Communication Studies Professor Peter Marston said, “and that’s largely the component of astrology that I think most skeptics are struggling with.”
The National Science Foundation considers astrology a pseudo-science, and astronomers agree.
“Astrology is not [a science],” CSUN Physics and Astronomy Professor Wladimir Lyra said. “Astrology has been shown to not have any validity, either directly or when it comes to the data.”
“Those people [who believed the stars determined human behavior and fate hundreds of years ago] also believed that the earth was the center of the solar system, and that life generated spontaneously from filth, and all sorts of other things, that fortunately we’ve gotten past believing,” Marston said.
“Astrology is a relic from the time we did not understand well enough how the universe works,” Lyra said. “We’re a species that likes to find correlations in things. We try to connect the dots even when the dots are uncorrelated.”
Still, for many, astrology is a journey of self-exploration and deeper understanding.
“Generally speaking, people come to me seeking some sort on analysis of their life,” Muhs said. “Where they’re at; where they’re headed; how to get there. I generally work with them within whatever spiritual or theological framework they’re coming to me from … I try to help them accept, understand, and breed happiness within themselves.”
While stances vary on astrology, both astrology and astronomy provide contributions to understanding, culture, and the way we view the universe around us. Agreeing to disagree may always have a place in this ongoing myriad of interest for both astrology and astronomy.
“[Astronomers and people who believe in astrology] are interested in completely different things,” Lyra said. “If [astrologers] want to make people happier, great; everybody can use more happiness.”
Moderator: Jiani Navarro
Producer: Daniel Martindale
Anchor: Jade Davis
Social Media Editor: Kaylee Fagan
Reporters: Jade Davis, Kaylee Fagan, Daniel Martindale, Jiani Navarro and Sammy Shaktah
Activism is defined as the action of using campaigning to bring about political or social change.
These days, activism seems to be on a rise, with people coming out as a powerful force, to raise awareness about different topics like gun violence, immigration, women’s rights and more.
Could this era of activism be because of the Trump presidency?
“Yes! A thousand percent,” said CSUN Communication Studies Professor Amanda McRaven. “When you have something to push against, you fight harder.”
“In the eight wonderful years that we had Barack Obama as president, we thought ‘finally, we made it; we’re okay now; we’re on the right track; it’s okay’; and then Trump was elected, and it was suddenly: ‘we’re not’,” said Maria Collis, a representative of the San Fernando Valley Chapter of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.
These days, young people are also using social media as a tool for activism, and, particularly in the areas of gun control and immigration, many see young people as a driving force for social activism.
“Who else?” Collis said. “Absolutely, young people are the future.”
Voter registration drives are present at marches and protests, and many believe an increase in voting among young people may cause a shift in the political world, with more officials having to pay attention and address issues that often were ignored in the past.
“You have to constantly keep your elected officials accountable for what they are doing,” Collis said.
“I think…the youth are galvanized in a way,” McRaven said. “They’re signing up teenagers to vote, which is awesome! That hasn’t happened before. Teenagers signing up teenagers.”
“The most important thing you can do: if you’re old enough to vote, register to vote, and vote,” Collis said. “And vote for candidates that support the things that you support, and educate yourself, so you know who they are.”
Moderator: Jesyka Dunn
Producer: Jesyka Dunn
Anchor: Karin Abcarians
Social Media Editors: Karin Abcarians and Angela Bickmann
Reporters: Karin Abcarians, Jesyka Dunn, Marissa Martinez and Melanie Rosales
The news is important to a lot of us. It doesn’t matter if it’s a hard hitting piece about the Russia investigation, or the latest on a basketball player’s injury. People want reliable and current information.
“Journalism is fundamental to democracy,” freelance journalist Darlene Principe said. “I don’t think democracy can be successful without good journalism.”
But increasingly, newspapers are owned by chains not connected to the community of readers. For example, the company Digital First Media owns daily newspapers in 28 cities, along with weeklies in 48 cities, and many say this is not a positive development.
“I think, generally, the idea is that it’s a good thing for a local paper to be owned locally,” Los Angeles Times Reporter Tre’vell Anderson said.
“It’s small, local, community-type newspapers that are really ensuring that local governments aren’t corrupt,” Principe said.
“Families, parents and grandparents love to get the local newspaper,” former newspaper publisher and reporter Matt Thacker said. “You can see your kids and your grandkids [in the local newspaper], and there’s that whole community experience.”
“When you have newspapers that are owned by Wall Street bankers who have no connection to the places where the papers are located, it’s less likely that you’ll have quality journalism,” retired journalism professor Richard Hendrickson said.
Another issue facing newspapers is the availability of free information online. Some newspapers have been able to move their content online successfully, but others have not.
“Too many newspapers shy away from going online because it costs money,” CSUN Journalism Professor Benjamin Davis said. “They haven’t figured out how to make enough money to pay their reporters and to cover other costs that they have.”
According to the Pew Research Center, digital newspaper subscriptions at some major newspapers went up following the 2016 presidential election. For example The New York Times added half a million subscriptions in 2016.
But not all readers like online newspapers.
“There is some credibility,” Thacker said, “with having an actual newspaper.”
“There’s something unique about print,” Principe said. “That allows you to cover something in a way that maybe [with] digital, you wouldn’t be able to.”
Another issue facing newspapers is the political divisiveness in the country, and the rise of what some call ‘fake news’. One way that people can combat fake news is to become media literate.
“I think more can be done on the media literacy tip,” Anderson said, “to ensure that, particularly [among] the people who are in the flyover states, who aren’t on the coasts, and who might not absorb as much news as we do on the coasts, that they are able to spot things that just don’t seem right.”
“You just have to be able to identify, or at least try and verify, whether something is credible or not,” Principe said.
Moderator: Son Ly
Producer: Karen Elle
Anchor: Kelcey Henderson
Social Media Editors: James Farr and Savannah Palacio
Reporters: Karen Elle, James Farr, Kelcey Henderson, Son Ly and Savannah Palacio
Almost one in ten California State University – Northridge students live in student housing.
Most would agree that a positive experience living on campus is made possible with the support from residential advisors. R.A’s take on many different roles, and spend a significant amount of time getting to know the residents. The list of their responsibilities is long.
“Crisis management; conflict resolution; budgeting for events; financial managing; making sure that you’re building community; putting on programs on your floor; making sure you’re documenting incidents; and information and making sure things are communicated effectively,” said Alwayne Spencer, a former residential advisor at CSUN.
R.A’s at CSUN used to be compensated for their work through a stipend, and with free room and a meal plan, but, as of August 2017, the stipend was taken away. Now, many R.A’s and dorm residents are wondering why R.A’s are not getting paid for what they do.
“Our R.A, Taylor, does so much for us,” said a current CSUN housing resident who asked to remain anonymous. “He’s always there for us when we need him. Sometimes he gets phone calls at 6 a.m, telling him to unlock a door or something from the outside, and [now] he doesn’t even get payment for it.”
In fall 2017 a meeting was held to see how R.A’s can be better taken care of, and some R.A’s asked then if it would be possible to be paid more.
“…[CSUN] housing makes … around 3 to 8 million dollars a month on residents who are paying for housing,” said Spencer. “If we all get a raise, and get paid such and such an amount, it wouldn’t put a dent in housing’s budget.”
But instead of getting a raise, Spencer said residential advisors were informed, via email, that their stipends will be ending altogether.
“The Chancellor’s office sent a memo to HR in June,” said Melissa Giles, CSUN’s Associate Director of Residential Life. “It did ask all CSU housing departments to compensate student residential student leaders, R.A’s, mentors, with only in-kind compensation, [meaning] they removed the R.A classification from the classification standards, rending us unable to use it anymore.”
After the classification was taken away, R.A’s started receiving 200 dining dollars and 14 meals per week. But many R.A’s said that form of compensation was not enough, especially when their R.A stipend had been their only source of income, and they had been given no warning of the change.
“I think we did deserve a stipend, and it wasn’t clear why it was taken away,” said a current residential advisor, who asked to remain anonymous.
“To me, [taking it away] was quite disrespectful,” Spencer said. “But also [the change] caught everyone by surprise, only because [the stipend system was] what R.A’s initially signed up for.” Spencer said he resigned from his position in protest.
Giles said CSUN had no alternative but to stop paying the R.A.s with a stipend. “By taking away the R.A classification, there was just no way to pay the R.A’s anymore,” she said.
Representatives from other CSU’s, such as San Diego State University and Humboldt State University, said they still paid their residential advisors.
“That is an option: to pay [them as] a student assistant,”Giles said. “[But] we were told in the memo very specifically that we couldn’t pay for R.A responsibilities. I can’t speak for other campuses and what their HR departments have advised, but we go with what our HR tells us.”
Still, many R.A.s and dorm residents said R.A.s are an important part of dorm life.
“We juggle a lot of residents, about 54 students on a floor, the average is probably 33,” Spencer said. “So I feel like we do a lot of work, so I believe that’s worth enough to get paid.”
Moderator: Daniel Martindale
Producer: Jade Davis
Anchor: Sammy Shaktah
Social Media Editor: Kaylee Fagan
Reporters: Jade Davis, Kaylee Fagan, Daniel Martindale, Jiani Navarro, Sammy Shaktah
