Introduction: During his inaugural address, President Obama briefly mentioned shedding light on less fortunate countries and helping them to develop and succeed. By visiting his newly re-designed Whitehouse.gov website, one can see that his exact intention is to double the amount of U.S. foreign aid given to Africa by the year 2015. Intrigued by this, I decided to investigate it further, thinking it would be a fairly straightforward issue. I was very, very wrong. There are essentially two sides to this debate; the first being that doubling foreign aid, while not necessarily having a huge impact on long-term developmental growth, will most definitely help developing African nations in positive ways. On the other end of the spectrum, some believe that foreign aid is actually making certain African nations dependent on U.S. aid, ultimately hurting more than helping. In between those two points it is whole lot of gray area and many, many tangentially related issues and concerns. There is one thing that both these sides and all the space in between have in common though, every single one of the sources I noted believe that the current foreign aid system is antiquated and extremely burdensome to the efficiency and effectiveness of the aid that is distributed.

Background and Context: Foreign aid has traditionally been a hot-bed for debate. We should give tons of it. We shouldn’t give any at all. It’s really just neo-colonialism. We should focus on the problems within our own borders before trying to solve those outside them. We’re just funding corrupt governments. The issues are endless where foreign aid is concerned, and they always have been. So lets just start from the beginning. In 1961 The Foreign Assistance Act was drafted and has yet to be overhauled. The U.S. is essentially using the same guidelines they were using in 1961 to distribute and handle foreign aid. The problem with this is that it’s extremely inefficient and there is no absolute certain way to keep track of how U.S. aid money is being spent, which is how it ends up in the hands of dictators. Dictators who have their own interests in mind before those of their people. And that’s only skimming the surface of the problems with foreign aid. In 2009, most of the problems are still the same. There’s the accountability issue, the transparency issue, the dependency issue, the NGO issue, and most relevant right now, the economics of the issue. Given that last point, foreign aid seems to have fallen to close to the bottom of the presidential priority list, which may be a good thing for the moment, it could give policymakers and entrepreneurs more of chance to develop and reform the system before the state department can jump right in and start dishing out cash.

Competing Ideas
In Favor:
Those in favor of doubling foreign aid for Africa seem to like focusing more on the short-term and immediate effects rather than any sort of long-term development. Steve Radelet (Center for Global Development) and Jeffrey Sachs (Director of the Millennium Development Goals Program) lead the way for doubling foreign aid, though both men readily agree that reform of the aid mechanism is desperately needed. These two tend to focus on previous success stories, with the intention of building on those and hopefully being able to pull some form of long-term success out of them. Sach’s Millennium Villages Program has been extremely successful, with a lot of growth and good coming out of it. However, that success has been limited to very discreet, individual villages and has yet to spill out into the general population.

In Opposition:
Leading the opposition bandwagon is William Easterly, formerly on the World Bank payroll, he’s now a professor of economics at NYU and is an acclaimed author on the subject of African foreign aid. He’s against foreign interference, and while he readily accepts that foreign aid can accomplish good things and save peoples’ lives, he doesn’t think foreign aid will ever be able to foster long-term economic growth and independence in the global market. There are also a lot of theories (backed by empirical data) stating that, when it comes to foreign aid, there is a law of diminishing returns. This means that essentially there is only so much foreign aid Africa can absorb and put to use before the aid starts actively hindering growth rather than fostering it. Too much, too fast just ultimately ends up drowning a county because it throw off its economic equilibrium too radically. There are also cases like Ethiopia where they’ve become dependent on foreign food aid, it throws off their farming/selling goods equilibrium and now they can’t survive without food that comes from outside their own country.

Answer:
No. As of right now, the State Department should not be attempting to double foreign aid by 2015. They should be more focused on reforming the foreign assistance program, and investing in long-term financial and micro-finance projects in order to facilitate more independent and sustainable growth that the African people themselves can be involved in and tailor to fit their own individual country’s needs. I’m not advocating the U.S. pulls all their funds out of the foreign aid market, that would most certainly be devastating to the African countries that rely on it. I’m arguing that doubling foreign aid shouldn’t be the number one priority.

Opposing Arguments: An article in the Scientific American, argues that the only way to accomplish the above-mentioned Millennium Development Goals by their due date is to give more money, which is probably true, but there is no saying if even that would work. Aid alone won’t accomplish those gaols, and even if they are accomplished sometime in the next decade, who is to say they would lead to anything more sustainable? Yeah, they would’ve accomplished those goals, which is great and means that a lot of progress would have been made, but that doesn’t automatically mean that Africa would be able to survive on its own after that.

• Academic Research 1
• Academic Research 2
• Academic Research 3-Multimedia and Blog
• Academic Research 4-Multimedia
• Academic Research 5
• Citizen 1-Expert Blog
• Citizen 2-Stakeholder blog
• Citizen 3-Commentator Image
• Citizen 4-Expert Interview
• Citizen 5-Stakeholder Interview
• Institutional 1-Government
• Institutional 2-NonProfit
• Institutional 3-Government Image
• Institutional 4-NonProfit Multimedia
• Institutional 5-NonProfit Multimedia
• Journalistic 1-Mainstream
• Journalistic 2-Mainstream
• Journalistic 3-Mainstream Photograph
• Journalistic 4-Mainstream
• Journalistic 5-Alternative
• Miscellaneous 1-Multimedia
• Miscellaneous 10-Journalistic Mainstream
• Miscellaneous 2-Image
• Miscellaneous 3-Multimedia (audio)
• Miscellaneous 4-Citizen stakeholder Interview
• Miscellaneous 5-Institutional Government
• Miscellaneous 6-Institutional
• Miscellaneous 7-Journalistic Alternative
• Miscellaneous 8-Journalistic Mainstream
• Miscellaneous 9-Journalistic Mainstream

The hardest thing about the audio slideshow was choosing the best sound bytes that were related to my focus (for audio) that could also be related to the pictures I had. The interview itself was easy because all I had to do was just ask Jen my questions and let her go with it. She hit on all the points I wanted her to hit on and gave me a lot of material to work with so if my original focus didn’t work out, I could always sift through the material and find a different focus.  The most challenging thing was matching  pictures to the audio, next time I would probably do the audio first, find a focus from that and then take pictures that cold match that audio.

I owe a lot to Jen on this one because she was an excellent subject, so the main tip I would give to someone doing a slideshow would be to pick a good subject. It seems obvious, but choosing an interesting subject who interviews well is crucial to a quality slideshow.

Summary: A blogger by the name of Wondemhunegn Ezezew writes an entry pertaining to Ethiopia’s current addiction to foreign aid; highlighting the statistics that lend evidence to how ineffective the current aid system is and providing steps Ethiopia can take in order to start down the path to true independence.

Topic: Should the state department of the Obama administration double foreign aid for Africa?
Category: Stakeholder Citizen Blog
What Is It? A blog entry in the “Merkato” section of the Ethiopian website, Nazret.com

Title: Ethiopia – Time to End Aid Addiction?
Publication Information: Nazret.com blog, November 25, 2008
Author: Wondemhunegn Ezezew, an Ethiopian stakeholder
Location: http://nazret.com/blog/index.php?blog=15&title=ethiopia_time_to_end_aid_addiction&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1
Accessed: February 22, 2009

Support:
•    UNDP’s 2008 Annual Development Report
•    “Economists,” no specifics
•    The Bible
•    G8 Summit
•    The European Central Bank
•    FM Seyoum Mesfin, Ethiopian Foreign Affairs Minister
•    TPLF/EPRDF, Tigrayan Peoples’ Liberation Front/ Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front
Ezezew uses statistics from the UNDP’s 2008 report to support the assertion that aid is not helping at this point in time. “Economists” is used as a broad term to state a belief that many economists have concerning the amount of foreign aid being allotted as a percentage of the donor countries GDP. A quote from the bible is given relating to the fact that poverty will never be fully eradicated from the Earth. The G8 Summit is referenced as a way to give background on the current aid situation. The European Central Bank is referenced in relation to the current economic crisis, cited as having cut their base interest rate in order to stimulate the failing Western economy. The Ethiopian Foreign Affairs Minister is quoted as saying that it is likely that “no country” participating in the U.N.’s Millennium Development Goals program is going to reach all the goals. The TPLF/EPRDF are cited together in reference to the promises they made to the Ethiopian people.

Audience and Agenda: Nazret.com is ranked as the number one most popular Ethiopian News Website by Alexa.com, an internet information company owned by Amazon.com. Nazret.com is based out of Washington DC and was banned by the Ethiopian government on May 29, 2006. A lot of this site is either in or referring to Ethiopian matters, so it is hard to decipher what’s what exactly. It has a fairly wide audience in Ethiopia and seems to encourage citizen reporting through blog posts.

Usefulness: This blog is from a native Ethiopian’s perspective and provides an actual African’s point of view. This isn’t some report written up by a bunch of rich white Americans, it’s the view of someone who lives with the results of what those rich white Americans decide. The western policies on foreign aid directly affect them (or would if the system was adequate) and they have the functional and insider know-how that’s crucial to knowing how to shape effective foreign aid policies. It’s making the argument that simply foreign aid isn’t sufficient in and of itself to eradicate poverty and addressing this argument to a group of peers on a news blog website.

Works Cited:
Nazret.com about page
Alexa.com Internet Provider about page

A: Yes, because it creates equal opportunity for low-income kids to attend preschool. It provides a way for lower income children to start developing the social and cognitive skills that they miss out on if their parents can’t afford preschool.

Source 1: The Perry Preschool Program followed a group of kids from the same area from age 3 or 4 to 40; half of them went to preschool and half of them didn’t. They found that the ones who did go to preschool were more financially secure in their 40′s.

Source 2: Economics of Education study funded by Entergy because he figured if people had more money, they could spend more money on his company. Found that there were 70% more cases of arrest for violent crimes in those who didn’t partake in the study.

Source 3: The Pre-K Pinch report on the insufficiency  of current programs because they exclude the middle class children who can’t afford preschool but don’t qualify for aid.

9. Follow the rule of thirds as a default. You can choose to manually override it with your own artistic license, but it should be your default setting.

8. Patience is a virtue. A rather infuriating cliche, but in this case it’s true.

7. Take A LOT of pictures. The bigger the volume, the more likely there are to be some really amazing shots.

6. Adopt a different perspective. When in doubt, I get down and shoot looking up at my subject. It’s the easiest (don’t need anything to climb on) and it creates an interesting angle.

5. Keep your eyes open constantly. Start seeing the world around you in frames and it will carry over to when you have a camera in your hands.

4. Get up close. Rather than risk the zoom (at least with my camera), just get cozy with your subject.

3. Not enough is said for good lighting. Lighting can make or break a picture, so pay attention to what you’re working with.

2. Pick an interesting subject. Interesting subject = inherently interesting pictures.

1. Like any good boy scout, Always Be Prepared. Keep your camera at the ready at all times, you never know what you could miss while you’re fumbling through your bag.

It was kind of uncomfortable following someone around all day, taking pictures of them, and my subject (Jen) kept reflexively posing whenever the camera came out. It was tricky and awkward at first, but I just kept telling her to pretend I wasn’t there and I got better at taking covert shots. Halfway through we hit our stride: she forgot I was there and I was constantly prepared to capture candid moments. But getting over that initial hump was probably the most challenging aspect of the assignment.

I found it effective to wait until Jen wasn’t paying attention to me, get my camera ready, and then wait until she turned toward me or until I could get a good angle on her; those shots turned out to be really nice candid, portrait shots that capture a natural moment well.

It just so happens that on this particular day, Jen had exactly zero social engagements outside of work or school. Which was unfortunate because one of the reasons I chose Jen was because I’ve only ever known her to be an extremely social person. She seems to know everyone and can make friends with anyone. On the weekends her schedule is packed with social commitments and I was really hoping to capture her in that element, but it didn’t really work out.

The pre-visualization was effective to a point. I knew what kinds of shots I wanted (establishing, medium, close-up etc) and a very general outline of the kinds of activities I wanted (morning routine, between classes, work etc) but past that, it was hard to know exactly what was going to happen or how things were going to play out. You can plan all you want but it doesn’t necessarily mean that what you want to capture will actually happen when you’re there to capture it. I found it helpful to have that vague outline, but then be really flexible and use my instincts to get the specifics.

If I could do the assignment again, I would try to do it on the weekend so could capture Jen more in her own social element. I think it would have made a more interesting story.

There were a few challenges figuring out a time and place to meet with my interviewee, but with a rushed equipment checkout and a good amount of luck it actually worked out perfectly. I had to ask a few more questions than I had anticipated to really get her to open up, but that wasn’t really a problem.

About half-way through the great story she was telling, my interviewee started fidgeting with a piece of paper on her desk. It was right next to the MAR and ended up being picked up as background noise. It’s kind of distracting and it sounds like we were rustling papers around during the interview. So next time, if something like that happens, I will be more assertive and let the interviewee know that her actions are being picked up on the audio.

I had a few problems with saving my edited interview in mp3 format, but I think a lot of people had the same problem. In the end I just saved it as a .wav and converted it in iTunes and it all worked out. I would also like to learn how to eliminate unwanted background noise with Sound Studio. Had I known at the time I would have tried to delete the paper sounds.

In that case I’ll have to narrow it down; maybe to a specific region the new administration plans to target or specific aspects of their plan. But as of right now, my question reads:

Should the Obama administration expand the United States’ diplomatic presence to reach the more challenging corners of the world?

I’m interested in International relations and how the new administration plans to help foreign nations in trouble, in particular those in Africa. With this question I’ll explore the pros and cons of expanding U.S. foreign policy to include previously overlooked countries and those that are struggling to keep their citizens healthy and happy. Like I mentioned earlier, if this question is too broad I’d like to make it more specific by zeroing in on a particular region, namely Uganda. I know a lot of people believe that the United States needs to focus more on what’s going on within its own borders, while others believe that when the U.S. has an opportunity to offer a struggling country aid, they should readily do so. It will be interesting to see if my views on the subject change at all after spending so much time with this question.

The New York Times article I read was mostly event-based, with particular focus on the anticipation and sense of hope permeating the audience on the Mall in Washington D.C. They note the record-breaking size of the inaugural crowd and the number of African Americans present. The overall tone of the article is fairly objective and observant, but the focus on a sense of hope and extremely positive feeling in the crowd leave in leaning slightly to the left. The article then goes on to outline the main points of Obama’s inaugural schedule. The Washington Post was much more politically focused. Going on at length about the entirety of the new administration and its new members and the roles they will play in the future. They compare Obama to past presidents and use the most recent Gallup pole to back up the fact that Obama, at the moment, is the most popular president in history. It seems biased at first, but really they’re just reporting the fact that his current approval rating is 78%. Finally, the last source I looked at was the Wall Street Journal. Most of that article is dedicated to summing up Obama’s speech. They compare his speech to Bush’s second inaugural speech and note the discrepancies. Bush’s focus was on spreading democracy around the world, whereas Obama’s was more focused on home-front issues and the economy.

These legacy print sources are broad and event-based in order to refelct their huge audiences. They want to be as accommodating to all view points as possible in order to cater to everyone in their audience. They try to be the most unbiased sources and make less commentary on large-scale political events and more general observations. The title of all three articles was something close to “Obama is Sworn in as 44th President” or some variation thereof. I find it interesting because that kind of broad statement of fact seems to be a reflection of the kind of reporting these outlets are doing. The articles on their collective sites cover everything from an “interactive inauguration map” and Michelle Obama’s wardrobe to what was on the menu for the event. It’s interesting, seemingly trivial information that appeals to everyday people and their interests. By covering everything from fashion to in-depth politics, they can appeal to pretty much everyone in one way or another.

I also found the clip he played of some of his earlier recordings interesting and useful. He mentioned that every writer goes through dry/rough patches when they’re honing their craft. It’s encouraging that everyone goes through these fazes and you just have to push through them in order to get to the really rewarding aspect of the work. He also pointed out how stilted and unnatural he sounded in the beginning. It was because he was trying to sound like the voices he’d been hearing on the radio for years, when he should have just been trying to sound like himself. It’s more compelling to the listener, and easier to listen to if the person speaking it just being natural, rather then trying to imitate someone else. Stressing every three words is hard on the ears.

I liked that Glass explained the most successful framework for a broadcast story. It’s important to know the two essential aspects of broadcasting (anecdotes and reflections) right off the bat, so I can start looking for them in my stories from the beginning. If I know that I’m looking for those two aspects from the beginning, then I’ll be better able to tell which stories have them and which don’t. I’ll hopefully be able to cut out the bad parts more efficiently and effectively. By knowing the importance of anecdotes and reflections and how to use them effectively in the story telling process, I’ll be able to weight them correctly which will help me wade through all the material to hit on the most important bits.