Media Coverage of January 7, 2015

Charlie Hebdo, a French satirical magazine came under a terrorist attack On January 7^th, 2015 in Paris leaving 12 people dead.

As the nature of the case was savage, and it was unexpected, the terrorist attack found exclusive space in every news outlet around the world. We are still watching, reading or hearing daily aftermath coverage from many news organizations.

World leaders condemned the attack, and they also marched against terrorism in Paris.

The protests against Charlie Hebdo attack reached a point where counter protests started as some found remarks offensive to their religious beliefs. People marched against the terrorist attack in Muslim countries, while some other people marched against the magazine’s coverage.

While some news outlets named the attack as Islamic terrorism and the attackers as Muslim terrorists, some reasonably separated Muslims from terrorism. Some journalists even held the Muslim world accountable for the attacks as the attackers were identified as Muslim French citizens.

On the same day, January 7, 2015, according to various news sources (AP, ABC News, NYT), a bomb attack in Iraq killed 12 people. A car bomb has killed more than 30 people and left more than 50 people wounded in Yemen. At least nine people some of them children were killed in Afghanistan when a bomb blasted. Same day, the US military officials have acknowledged that the air strikes against ISIS might have killed civilians too.

To find the initial information I wrote about Charlie Hebdo attack, I didn’t have to do much search as almost any news outlet I checked had some story on the case.

On the other side, to be able to find the information in the latter part, I had to go through several outlets, and compare data from different aspects. I certainly believe there are more, but it is so hard to find all as they are not covered as exclusively. Few news outlets actually covered the stories of people killed in the other parts of the world.

As well as news media, people strongly reacted Paris attack, while Middle East routine did not receive much coverage. What a shame, right? I said routine. Yes, terrorist attacks and killings in Middle East are routine. As they are not happening anywhere near us, or they are not directly affecting us, we do not even care. The deaths are such a routine that Jerusalem Post posted a story on January 8, 2015 about Syria with a headline “Zero killed in Syria combat for the first time in 3 years.”

One time, our news writing and reporting professor had said “If something is not interesting, it is not news.” We are at such a point that hundreds of people being killed is not newsy anymore. It is only newsy when they are unexpected or near us.

In that case, can we say the news coverage is fair, balanced and ethical?

Sports Plus Helps Prepare Children with Disabilities to Life - Reporting from Gaithersburg 7

Midway through the pool, Mark was uncertain. But with coaching from his swimming instructors, the 12-year-old kicked continuously and made it to the wall.




Mark Posing for Camera. Photo: Katmer

"One more! One more! One more!" he shouted, as his father proudly took a photo.

For Jim Lynch, it was a bittersweet reminder of his son's obsessive-compulsive disorder. Many kids enjoy repeating an activity they are learning, but with Mark it was always a question of when he would stop.

On this day, it was not a problem. Mark's instructors work with Sports Plus, a local nonprofit that works with children with developmental disabilities and they have been trained to deal with his issues, which includes Tourette's syndrome and hyperactivity.

Sports Plus initiated in fall of 2015 as a pilot program for soccer by Tom and Natalie Liniak. Montgomery County offered entertainment programs for children with disabilities. They wanted the program help kids learn how to set goals, not just to score them.

Liniaks worked collaboratively with sports coaches, education professionals, and therapists to create a curriculum in fall of 2004. The first pilot program ran successfully the following summer, so they decided to branch out into other sports. It also led the program run year-round starting from fall of 2005.

"Not everybody loved soccer," said Mr. Liniak. "We went into a gym program. We would have fitness training, basketball, volleyball. We even piloted a baseball program."

Their son John loved going to ocean. But they worried about his safety in the water.  Montgomery County offered programs where only volunteer instructors taught swimming. But they worried it wasn't effective for their son. So they piloted the swim program in the summer of 2007.


Liniak Family, Courtesy of Sports Plus.

The program now includes summer camps, soccer, basketball, volleyball, field and track and swimming dedicated to help children with developmental disabilities learn to stay on their feet while enjoying their time. One of the main purposes of the program is preparing these children for real life. Even though they have some challenges, they also are good at doing certain things, in some cases better than we are.

"What about a world where we could teach the base skill, so within the early years when they go to the water park, they can go down the slide just like everybody else? What about a world they can jump in or play tag or do whatever it is just like everybody else? But they don't need me. That's the key," said Liniak.

According to Mr. Liniak, Sports Plus reached its set goal in helping children. Jake, 15, who has been in the program since its establishment is in drum line in his high school band. He is an accomplished piano player. He is also in his swim team in the summers swimming B meets, which is the slower time swimmers and some A meets, which is faster swimmers' group.

When Tom Liniak learned his son had autism at the age of two, he was working as a lawyer frequently travelling around the country. At first, he thought he could handle it like so many other problems, by throwing money at it.

"People paid me a lot of money to fix things, solve problems, so I was going to do that for my son," he said.

But over the time he realized that wouldn't work. He quit his job and family sold their house so that he could start a consulting program and work on Sports Plus to help his son and other children.

Hundreds of children joined the program since it started. Once a child is in the program, Tom and Natalie review his or her activity log and advice parents what activities would best fit their needs to best help them gain abilities they can use in future.

Michael Hoffman, a financial advisor said his son Matthew get the chance to interact with other people, and will stay in the program as long as he enjoys it.

"The biggest thing for him is engaging with other people. That's really the big obstacle of the disorder," he said.