KREVOS Journal #7

Okay, let's go. I'm having a little trouble finding the direction of my film, but I have a few ideas. I've been editing my film over the week end, and I have to say I really miss editing a film with this much tenacity. I am so thankful for the interview I have, but I think an interview of an Exxon representative would be really great. My goal for my film was to find the obvious bias that nation, state, and community felt against Exxon, but now I want to investigate the media's role in the spill locally. I feel that that is a realistic and achievable goal, due to the myriad of testimonials that are at my advantage. So yeah..

KREVOS Movie Narration Post

The fateful day of March 24th 1989 still has echoing effects unto this day, but in the days that followed media coverage was key in sustaining the social economy of the community, state and nation. But there is never only one side to one story.

Local meetings helped remedy some of the social anxiety Kodiak was feeling by well informing the public.

Emotions towards Exxon intensified in the community of Kodiak.

A myriad of Alaska citizens emphasized the social and psychological impact of the oil spill. It almost seems as if Exxon failed to hear their cries.

Exxon and several other entities involved in public relations made a large effort to put a positive spin on the entire event. It was also very obvious that Exxon tried to separate themselves from the Captain Joseph Hazelwood, the captain of the tanker, by firing their 20-year employee and severely publicly reprimanded Hazelwood for endangering the entire ecology that was in the vicinity.

Exxon tried to bring the focus of the media on the environmental disaster and their cleanup effort, rather than the myriad of legal cases that were being filed against them.

Not to mention the impact of the spill on marine animals.

KREVOS Journal#6

Okay, so I skipped a few blogs because I wanted to get this one don tonight. One, thing I learned is that the Anchorage Daily News used disaster narratives to portray the spill while also getting their attention. I think Exxon was trying to naturalize the spill to deflect attention from the media. Okay note: Disaster narratives were used by every major news source at this time. I guess it was used as the most important technique by mainstream media at the time. One similarity that I see is that almost everyone besides Exxon publicly says that the  so called "clean-up efforts" were futile. The notion of it was just Exxon trying to get good publicity is being strengthened. I thoroughly enjoyed the reading. Not only did it talk about the spill but  there was Alaska Native's subsistence needs and a few other interesting tidbits. Also, Exxon is being portrayed as the "bad guy" in most of these readings, and it's not that I don't agree. It's just that they're getting a lot of hate for trying to save their own skins. I'm not saying that they did enough to help put or that they did all that they could, I think they could have done a lot more. They knew that those clean up efforts weren't helping, all of that time, money, and energy could have been diverted to something more efficient.

KREVOS Journal #5

Okay, so while finishing the reading, there is one similarity between every single reading, and it is to be expected, the fish. One thing universally known about Kodiak is the fishing industry. Honestly, I love fishing. I think that this spill has made Kodiak's economy less reliant on fishing, depending on who you are talking to, that could mean yes or no. What I'm trying to get at here is that the oil spill may be influencing today's economy as well. I just thought that was interesting. The second reading was pretty similar to the first one. I guess that's because all of the interviewees have a lot in common. It's either that or the effects of the oil spill were so broad that they reached every member of Kodiak with the same intensity for them to relay similar messages.

KREVOS Journal #4

Honestly, I enjoyed this reading. It certainly accomplishes its goal, to provide various perspectives on the oil spill and its affects. So far, it has been fairly one sided though. It would have been cool to get an Exxon or Veco person's point of view. They might have a different story, because there is always two sides. The only detail about the Exxon representatives is that they did want it to get better, it just didn't seem realistic at that point. One thing that really struck me from this reading is Jane Eisemann's quote, "You can't repair emotions and you can't repair the loss of an ecosystem." I think this really sums up the community morale. There was a widespread range of emotions during that period, the effects are still felt today. There were those who were angry for lack of an answer, or the notion that Exxon wasn't doing enough, others were just angry that they couldn't fish or make money. They all wanted take care of the oil spill as soon as possible. And those people are just a fraction of who were affected. But through personal background, the people of Kodiak rolled up their sleeves and got to work.

KREVOS Journal #3

Okay so, this is the "Psycological And Social Impacts of the Exxon Valdez ..." post. This reading really puts into perspective the magnitude of the oil spill in local communities.  The reading states, " Will there be fishing this year? Will there be long-term damage to fish resources?..." These are real questions that real people had. I can't imagine the stress this and every communities went through. I am fortunate enough to not have ever personally gone through a traumatic event even similar to this one. That's why I enjoy journalism so much. It gives me and those around me a chance to learn, to experience, and to empathize more for a certain subject. In the case of the oil spill, it is a well known event, but I wonder how many people realize the intensity of the actual event of the lives of the people it affected. For example, when I heard about the last typhoon in the Philippines, I really felt bad about it, but I didm't realize the magnitude of it unit l I saw a news report of a child and the 22 loved ones he lost to the floods, including his mother, brothers, sisters, and I'm not sure who else. I really journalism that actually teaches as well as informs. Sorry that was a ramble, next. In terms of my topic, I found a quote. The reading states, " Despite reports of social and psychological distress in human communities, the media, the spiller, and various government entities remained focused on natural resources damages and the Exxon Valdez oil spill became known as an "environmental disaster." This portrays the passive view on the human damages of the spill. Also, the reading does seem a little one-sided against Exxon. "Under these conditions the Exxon-sponsered cleanup undermined the spirit of cooperativeness...It established a monetary basis for working." It does seem as if Exxon took the spirit out of the work ethic and replaced it with monetary greed or sustenance

KREVOS Journal #2

Okay, so this will be the start of what will be a really long and informative night for me. It's clutch time, let's get to work. I'm going to do this in chronological order in the book, so this post is for the "Ethnography Essentials" reading, and so on. Although I have read this reading multiple times, it never fails to bring a new insight and perspective. Being a journalist or a reporter is similar to playing an instrument in the essence of you can't really master the art, but are able to go beyond your initial expectations. I really like how it talks about how "ethnographic data" is fleeting, and it's the duty of the ethnographer to record it or preserve it as long as possible before it disappears. It almost seems repetitive when I say it provides invaluable tidbits of information that are fundamental for real  journalism. It taught me this time that all five senses are more important than just two. It isn't enough just to participate you need to observe the sights and smells and the feeling as well. Okay one down, more to go.

Kodiak Remembers Exxon: Journal 1

The readings were really interesting, to say the least. I think one of the lawyers that represented Kodiak, Matt Jamin, was actually my neighbor. Skype interview? It's a possibility. Also, the chronology of the event really put the event into perspective, like who was ready to help, how fast we could be prepared and how prepared we really were. Additionally, Toby's article was very informative and slightly entertaining. It portrayed the choice between staying honest and going hungry and all the tricks in-between. For example, the cool Skipper, that let them have supplies after the Veco rep passed out, that was cool. Also, the set netter liaison's words of friendly advice was...informative to say the least. Another thing that interested me today, was the Toby's story of the people of Kodiak and their protest against Exxon. In my opinion, they won. I never really knew that there had been any real protests, I thought those happened other places besides our quaint little town of Kodiak.