This story is about a couple who has become divided over the debate on the Arizona Immigration Law. The husband, Mr. Sotelo, supports the law and the wife, Mrs. Sotelo, opposes the law. The couple happens to be Latino, Mr. Sotelo is an immigrant from Chihuahua, Mexico, and Mrs. Sotelo grew up with her family in Colorado. Mr. Sotelo is extremely conservative while Mrs. Sotelo is more liberal which also divides their household and creates conflict. Social capital is being promoted in this article because Mr. and Mrs. Sotelo are standing up for their civic rights, even though they both have different opinions. Mrs. Sotelo is a teacher who sympathizes with immigrants in America; when the law was passed she saw how it had ... More »

This opinion piece talks about how border patrol has failed even though it was a $7.6 billion project. The money went to “the virtual fence” which was supposed to spot trespassers crossing the border, but instead it was a costly failure. The article gives references to people saying that we should simply close the border to avoid trespassers, but the editorialist believes that will not work because immigrants will always find another way to get into the country. This article hinders social capital because it doesn’t give any ideas to how the community or civic groups could help with this tragic situation. It instead states at the end of the article how this “virtual fence” was a wasted attempt at stopping border ... More »

The fault lines that are used in this news piece are race, gender, geography, and class. Race is focused on because there is a picture of a black male, Joseph E. Joseph from St Kitts, in front of a fence, and he is the man facing deportation. The article discusses the issue of immigrants voting and how if they are caught it is a criminal offense, and they are punished to the fullest extent of the law. It is not focused on illegal immigrants per say, but on immigrants who come to America and gain residency, but still are not allowed to vote. Geography is discussed by explaining how some municipalities actually allow immigrants to vote, so the issue gets complicated. The writer was looking at the issue through ethnicity lens ... More »

The fault lines used in this piece are geography, race and class. Geography is mentioned in the beginning of the article when it mentions Texas’s new border law, the Department of Homeland Security’s Secure Communities program, which is a program that searches throughout jails to deport illegal immigrants. The state of Texas believes that this will help their state get rid of the immigrants who are serious offenders such as rapists, murderers, and kidnappers. The article also mentions Arizona’s strict and controversial border law as a way of keeping illegal immigrants out of the country. Race is focused on when the article mentions racial profiling being a consequence of the program. Individualism is used because ... More »

This is not an example of good journalism because there were not many sources sited on both sides of the issue--this was an opinion piece. This is clearly an opinion piece that talks about the problems of immigration. He goes on to talk about how many more illegals are being deported under the Obama Administration than under any other presidential administration. There was not a sufficient amount of quotes that were listed in the article, which leaves me under the impression of whether his point is valid or not. He goes on to mention how we need to get illegal immigration under control, and how racial profiling would be necessary but unfortunately it is illegal. The article bashes the Colorado governor, Bill Ritter, saying ... More »

This is an example of good journalism because it focuses on the main reason why Latinos primarily vote Democrat rather than Republican. This article talked about how many Latinos are not helping swing the voted for the GOP candidates, but the number of Latinos that do vote are dramatically voting for the democratic nominees, Jerry Brown and Barbara Boxer rather than Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina. The article does mention Whites as being quite neutral in the race, while Latinos obviously prefer voting for more liberal candidates. There are more sources pointing toward Latinos voting more Democratic and there are several polls showing the statistics; Jerry Brown has a 19-point margin over Meg Whitman, and Barbara Boxer has an ... More »

There were not enough sources explaining how big of a problem illegal immigration is in Martha's Vineyard. The title has Obama's name but he was briefly mentioned, and was not important to include in the story. The story should have been more focused on illegal immigrants in Martha's Vineyard with enough sources backing up the issues the island is having.

This article talked about illegal immigration in China. Seeing the title I assumed it would be about illegal immigration in the US, but when I noticed it was China I was immediately interested in reading the rest of the story. This is good journalism because the story is touching on current issues, and it is about the borders of China which is more original than talking about US borders. This article did explain complexities to the issue of border control in China. The borders of China are not as heavily patrolled as the borders of the US. The Great Wall of China does not shield out illegal immigrants who are pouring in because China is surrounded by 14 countries. Since China’s economy has had a recent unexpected boom ... More »

This article was interesting because it was told by two Chinese journalists, Liu Lina and Jiang Xufeng, who work for a Chinese news group. They both explained how the US’s economy is getting worse, despite economists saying it was getting better. The economic recovery of the US is slower than previously anticipated and Lina and Xufeng gave sufficient sources and evidence as to why. The complexities of the economy are the high rising percentage of jobless Americans, and the housing market taking a complete nose dive. Many Americans are losing their jobs, which leads to them losing their homes in harsh economic times. Lina and Xufeng included many other opinions such as US President Barack Obama, US economist of Standard ... More »