A night of hope after a year of devastation

The night was one of coming together to prosper and achieve as a group, not as one. Tackling the heroin epidemic, lack of military forces, and unemployment as a united force, not struggling as a broken line. The 2018 State of the Union Address was that of solidarity as a country no matter how big the problem may have seemed.

President Donald Trump encouraged those watching that by saying “Tonight, I want to talk about what kind of future we are going to have, and what kind of Nation we are going to be. All of us, together, as one team, one people, and one American family”

The overall theme was not one that many people expected. The President had a more solemn tone as compared to his usual boasting and outspoken one. He spoke graciously of the heroes of the past year from the tragedies the country suffered from. Those who risked their life to cover strangers from the rain of bullets in Las Vegas and those who gave up their safety in order to rescue families that had lost everything they ever knew in Houston were in the audience, personally invited by the President.

He mentioned several people who had to be brave in a split second time of need and made sure that people knew who they were and why they deserved praise. The introductions seemed long, but they were for a good cause.

“We all share the same home, the same heart, the same destiny, and the same great American flag. Together, we are rediscovering the American way,” said President Trump when speaking on how the country has done so well in the last year trying to be undivided.

The audience was made up of heroes and victims, democrats and republicans, the struggling and the wealthy, all races, all religions, and all backgrounds. Each person in that room had their own story to tell, whether they were there because it was their duty or their privilege.

The President could have talked about any number of things; many people expected him to simply brag on himself the entire speech. While he did do some bragging, there were also a fair amount of stories mixed in.

There was the story of Hope. This story is one that is heard all too often but yet not enough. The story is told that Ryan Holets is an officer with the Albuquerque Police Department in New Mexico. Like any other day, while he was on duty he happened to see a woman about to shoot up heroin. The only thing that made a difference is that this woman was visibly pregnant. He took it upon himself to tell the woman that what she was doing wouldn’t just be hurting her anymore, it would hurt her child. Because of that moment and that decision, Ryan and Rebecca Holets now have their fifth child.

Her name is Hope.

When asked, people often mention the bad things that are happening in the world because they seem to be more pressing than any of the good things. The good things don’t get anywhere near as much attention. The good things aren’t often headline news.

Hope Holets wasn’t headline news, but the heroin that consumes her biological mother’s thoughts is. By trying to find the good, an entire speech about the feeling of hope can be compiled. The speech given by President Trump was just that.

The events that sparked the devastation and then ultimately hope were what made the headlines across the world in the year of 2017, but the good that came out of reading in between the lines was the main focus that encouraged those who were watching the 2018 State of the Union Address.

Although President Trump didn’t talk in detail about the big issues, the audience had the opportunity to leave the building hopeful instead of discouraged.

2018 State of the Union Address: New topics being brought to the table?

President Donald Trump will probably brag on the economy, place blame for anything and everything on the democrats, and speak highly of the record-breaking stock market prices on Tuesday night when delivering the State of the Union Address.  

In previous State of the Union speeches, former presidents have spoken about the economy, education, and the military. While those topics are still relevant and needed, the President may bring a new heavy topic to the table: the drug epidemic.

President Trump said in the 2017 Joint Address to Congress that “we are removing gang members, drug dealers, and criminals that threaten our communities and prey on our very innocent citizens.” That was when the epidemic wasn’t at the severe level that it has now escalated to. While the topic has been mentioned slightly in the past, it is now one that has the potential to become an overwhelmingly large piece of the speech.

The drug epidemic focus could be mixed and tied into President Trump’s plans for border patrol. A large amount of the opioids and narcotics are coming from across the Mexico border. While there are measures being taken at all times to protect that border, there are still people and substances that slip through the cracks.

A main slogan from the Trump Campaign was “build the wall”, suggesting that the Mexico-United 

States border will not have easy-access and open borders if he were to be elected. There would be an actual wall built along the country’s lines to keep anyone from coming into the country illegally on their own side.

The stories of the heroin epidemic and opioid crisis as a whole have had fluorescent light shown on them over the past year with documentaries and in-depth news stories trying to show the public and those in governmental power what the addiction is really like. The film makers made it personal to show that the people using those drugs are human and not just something to be taken lightly.

It has now been a year since that promise was spoken in a same official setting as the one coming up in less than a week. There has not been a wall built or even started, or at least no common knowledge of one, and the idea is forgotten a little more every day. President Trump said in his Joint Address to Congress last year that the drug epidemic needs to “slow down and ultimately end” while he is in his early presidential years, but few to no measures have been taken; including the assembly of a hyperactive task force.

If the task force exists, the media doesn’t seem have any idea since that would be a story on every nightly news segment. If the worst of the worst drug-involved were being taken back out the country, people should know.

A task force with the purpose of bettering the country could potentially change millions of lives. Drugs bring addiction and violent crime that could be prevented if the top-dogs of the drug community were evicted from American ground.

Looking forward to the January 30 speech, there is potential for many topics on both new and seasoned issues. Jobs and economy growth will be a significant one, a mention of how health insurance matters are evolving, or even a military status update will most certainly be touched on. 

 The massive topic of the drug epidemic could get very little recognition like last time, or it could be a main topic of the evening.

If President Trump does decide to make the drug epidemic a main topic, he needs to bring solutions to the table, not just express sympathy. After the bragging is over and the applause has died down, those who watched or attended the speech will ponder where the President and the nation will take them on behalf of the promises made.

Has the social media trend in reporting made the reporters forget their original love of being social?

In a world where social media is sometimes the only news outlet that someone pays attention to, there is a call to reporters to be present on all platforms and engage in their online audience. This task can become difficult because the line that separates too personal and too professional is thin and harsh. Reporters seem to be slipping into only being their professional selves and losing anything personal about them.

The “Journalist’s Resource” dug in deeper to see what challenges reporters really face with professional social media accounts. The findings were that the pressure of having to keep a certain professional but very present attitude is difficult and tiring.

The study pointed out that “Reporters struggle with balancing their professional and personal identities online. They “feel pressure to stake a claim on their beat, develop a presence as an expert in their profession and area of coverage, and act as a representative of the news organization at all times. This leaves little room for aspects of personal identity such as family, faith, or friendship to be shared online.”

Being in the public eye can be daunting. Even in small local media, people are critical of everything from what a reporter wears to how they say a certain sentence in a story. If something is too personal on their professional social media page, people may get angry. If there are always only very professional “robot-like” posts on the account, then people won’t relate and lose interest. So where is the line?

The line is often given by the station. Some news directors could want a very engaged audience with reporters that constantly tweet updates, do Facebook Live feeds, and respond to comments directed towards them on all platforms. While a reporter is busy always looking at their phone to make sure they are socially updating enough, they could potentially forget that that have personal social media too or not even care to look at it after a long day using professional social media.

“This choice presents a paradox: if journalists choose to present too much of a personal identity, they risk punishment by their employers, if they present only a professional identity, they risk offending their audiences,” said the authors in the article.

It’s hard to really know how to sit right on the line that divides doing the right thing professionally; reporters often just have to take a guess and hope they are doing enough to do right by their “brand”. 

On many professional accounts reporters don’t really share personal information such as photos of their significant other or their pet peeve of the day but they do try to be relatable in the way they caption a tweet or post a fun Sunday morning brunch poll to get viewers engaged.

If a reporter wants to have or is asked to brand themselves a certain way professionally, they can do that. Reporters who want to be known for being serious and always having updates on their coverage areas as soon as possible, then they will strive to have a heavy social media presence. If that person wants to do the lighter side of news and a lot of feel-good stories, then a picture of a cute puppy wouldn’t be unlikely on that profile’s timeline.

The idea that a reporter is no longer their own person but a 24/7 reflection of the station’s brand is almost a sad one in a way. These people are of course dedicated to their work and want to do what is right, but don’t have the ability to truly do so do to needing the public to see them as professionals. Everyone has a different opinion on what is seen as professional and reporters try to please everyone, often forgetting what some of their own personality traits even are.