Jose Antonio Vargas

I have a special feeling after reading Jose Antonio Vargas' story especially the day after the U.S government decided to expand Chinese students' validity of visas. I happened to talk about the immigration problem with my boyfriend last night. I joked him because his visa was rejected one year ago since the U.S. embassy thought he had tendency to immigrate. He still didn't know why he was considered to have the immigration tendency, but as a result, he lost his chance to come here for graduate school last year.

It was always very interesting for me to talk about the visa problem.

As a foreigner, I was always asked: do you want to stay here after graduate? Are you considering to be a U.S citizen. Even when I interviewed people before the election,  people always asked me, did you vote? When I answered "I don't have the right to vote since I'm not an U.S. citizen", they would continue, but you will be in the future right?

I don't think I'll be a U.S. citizen in the future. But being asked for several times, I begin to be curious about how Americans think about foreigners who study or work here? How do Americans think about immigrants?

I do know that many foreigners want to stay here. They try different ways to get citizenships.

 Back to 2013, when I first went to the U.S. embassy to apply for my Visa before I came here, I met a girl sitting outside of the door, crying. She told me that it was her fourth times that the U.S. embassy refused to grant her visa . "I'm done," she said, "I have to give up. I can't even travel in the U.S.  My family can never immigrate to the U.S. ". Barely no one can get their visas passed after being rejected for four times. She said her parents applied for immigration when she was 8 years old, but failed. Her family wanted to immigrate through her study in the U.S. So the family record might hurt her.

I also knew that some mothers came to the U.S. to give birth in order to get their children U.S. citizenships. I also heard that some people even some friends at UGA  got married with Americans in order to get their green cards.

Also, some people, like Jose Antonio Vargas' mother, sent their children to the U.S. illegally for better life.

To some extent, I understand them.

I saw a documentary several years ago. A famous universities' professor chose to stay at the U.S. illegally during his conference in the U.S. I was shocked because as a professor who taught music, he had high social status and good salary in China, why he chose to stay at the U.S. and even had to sing on the street. I can't remember if he said because of his son. But I remembered he felt regretful about his choice. He can't go back to his original life. His can't speak English well, and can't get involved in Americans' life. "I am outcast," he said.

Back to Vargas' story and journalism ethics. It's often the rule that journalists should avoid their stories related to they themselves. It could obey the objectivity. And journalists cannot write stories  for their private interests. However, this seems not apply to this case.

For Vargas, he is not only fighting for his own interests, but also those millions of undocumented immigrants. No one else knows more deeply about the hard situation than him.

We can never deny that his reporting or stories on newspapers were too subjective for those who support to send undocumented immigrants back. But sometimes not all problems have right or wrong answers.

I don't think it is right to immigrate illegally. I do think it may urge more  people immigrated illegally if the law permits illegal immigrants to get the U.S. citizenships when they are qualified some criteria.

However, back to the journalism ethics, this is a public topic. I think the journalists have the right to write the issue. At the same time, others have the right to write the opposite opinions.

Reading Response

My senior seminar class for my history minor was a class that focused on American immigration policies, world events that led to mass immigration, and the lives of new immigrants. Though much of what we discussed and eventually wrote about concerned legal immigration, the professor, from Canada, felt as though we could not talk about immigration in American history without addressing illegal immigration, particularly in the case of people arriving in the American Southwest from Mexico or arriving in the United States by traveling through Canada.

Vargas' story was unlike anything we were able to read or watch because of the honesty with which he told it. The vast majority of illegal immigrants are (understandably) too scared to tell their stories. I never really stopped to think about what actual daily life is like for someone who has to hide who they really are in terms of legal status in this country. Maybe most telling, he considered coming out as gay to be far less scary than revealing he is here illegally. I honestly can't imagine how exhausting it must be to have to live with such a heavy secret. Obviously it's somewhat ironic that he chose to pursue a career in journalism all the while using fake documentation. I think that his decision to stop hiding that part of his identity certainly was influenced by his conscience.

The most complicated part of journalists being required to "exercise their personal conscience" is the idea of personal conscience. How do we know that all journalists have the same internal standards that make up someone's personal conscience? I think that it's true that in order for journalists to feel as though they can do that, managers/editors/etc need to create and continually foster an environment that encourages everyone to speak their mind. No one is always right and no one never makes mistakes, so in order for the collective conscience of the paper or magazine or whatever to be sound, individuals have to believe that what they say and how they "exercise their personal conscience" is heard.

Vargas story

The part of the reading I enjoyed the most was Jose Antonio Vargas's moving story on his struggles with being an undocumented immigrant, especially at such a young age. From starting with a language barrier, to getting a driver's license, to coming out as being gay, Vargas had many hurdles to overcome.

What I found uplifting was that most of the people in his life that were close to him didn't turn their backs on him once they found out that he was he was undocumented. People's understanding of his difficult situation was pleasantly unexpected. I like when he said he called his former employers and friends and apologizes for misleading them, they still allowed him to use their real names in the story.

Reading Response: Book/Jose Antonio Vargas Story

          The ethics chapter in News Reporting very insightful. I think one of the main problems behind society’s negative perception of journalists is that anyone can try to act like a journalist today. Because of all our online resources and ways of communicating, a lot of time those reading don’t realize they may not be getting information from a real reporter. This also goes along with the problem of not having licensed journalists. People can try and act like a journalist and write things for the public to see, and “only the public, by patronizing specific news outlets, decides whose writing is valuable” (468). I also thought this section was interesting in the chapter because I never realized all the different laws that are pushed in the favor of journalists, and I thought that was motivating.  

         The Jose Antonio Vargas story was very moving, and the writing made it even better. I enjoyed how he sectioned off parts to explain each of his challenges as he tried to fit into the United States. The story was also quite an eye-opener. You hear of all these instances where illegal immigrants are being deported, but I never really think about what the circumstances might be on the ends of those being deported. It really is scary, and although his mother was trying to give him a better future, it was still illegal.

            The story really shows the complicated issues with immigration and immigration laws. I loved the part where he explains why he realized he wanted to be a journalist, and it was because it was his open door of acceptance and what made him feel like an actual part of the U.S. I was also surprised of all the support he found along the way through his life of trying to achieve. So many people saw his potential, and rather than letting him fail, they helped him get around the laws. I couldn’t believe people would risk so much, but it just shows how immigration laws don’t work in people like Jose’s favor. I also really enjoyed reading the comments at the end of the story. He gained more supporters after telling the public the truth.  

Blog Post 11/10

Before I read the chapter about ethics in News Writing and Reporting I knew there was a code of ethics among journalists. I did not know however that there were so many facets to this code of ethics. I had never heard of deontological, teleological and antinomianism ethics. The type of ethics a journalist adheres to can influence the type of journalist they are and how they write.  After reading more about what each of these types of ethics entails I wondered why any journalist would limit himself or herself to adhering to just one type of ethics. Why wouldn’t they follow deontological, teleological and antinomianism?  If one of the main rules of journalism is to be objective, it seems like you’d need to also not limit yourself to one kind of ethics.

The New York Times Vargas story was really moving. I thought it was interesting that he talked about how he felt like he had to prove that he belonged in America and decided to prove himself through journalism. I was surprised how many people supported him and accepted the fact that he was an illegal immigrant with forged documents. There is so much emphasis put on the negative aspects of illegal immigrants that we have lost site of the people who come to this country to make something of themselves and truly believe that being an American citizen will give them a chance at a successful future.

Jose Antonio Vargas'

Jose Antonio Vargas' story was a really touching and passionate piece of journalism. I'm sure certain conservatives are incensed by his idea of a "real American." Frankly, I feel conflicted about his story. His family did break the law, but Vargas had been in the country for four years before he even realized that he was here illegally. So, if there is anyone to quote, unquote blame, it would be his parents or grandparents who purposefully broke the law.

Immigration reform has been a hot button issue in America because of its many flaws. If immigrants are productive members of society, and contributing members to the communities in which they live, I believe they deserve a chance to stay. I really like his quote, "Actions are illegal, never people." It speaks to the underlying issue with immigration reform where American law makers and citizens attack the issue with an underlying racial prejudice rather than the morality of being undocumented. Nevertheless, I applaud Vargas for telling his story. He used his platform as an esteemed journalist to help others plagued by be undocumented. That show true character and good use of conscience.

2 news videos

http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/dr-lapook-on-stricter-cdc-ebola-guidelines-for-health-workers/

The first video is about Ebola on CBS. It's CBS morning news. I like the style: two hosts and one guest. The guest can well explained the questions that the guests asked. The video also had some infographics during their talk.

http://news.ifeng.com/world/special/ebola/#playerDiv
The second video is also about Ebola on CCTV (China Central Television). I chose the second one to compare with the first one. Most of the news sources are from American news reporting.  Basically  the host explained how the Ebola virus came while the scene showed some related pictures or shots.