Hofstra changing the PR program

I don't know if this is rumor or not but I hear that they are changing up our PR program here at Hofstra, combining 102 and 104 to start. While I am a little disappointed they are doing this after I am graduating, I think it will be really beneficial to future PR majors. Research and Case Studies basically go hand in hand and can easily be covered in one course.

What I am curious about is what class are they adding in its place? I hope they consider adding more writing to our program because I feel that is something that was lacking during my time here. I would have liked to see another course similar to 103, where we get the opportunity to practice writing press releases, pitch letters, blogging, and things like that.

Osama Bin Laden News Coverage

Clearly the biggest news this week is the death of Osama Bin Laden. I personally didn't think we would ever find him. I thought that he would be found when he was already dead, not that U.S. troops would ever catch him and kill him. To be honest, I'm still not so sure that's what happened. I only say this because despite the President's address and all the media coverage on the death, there still isn't much proof.

While they claim that there were DNA tests, that Osama's wife stood over his body identifying him, and that there was an 8 month campaign into the discovery of Osama Bin Laden, United States citizens have yet to witness any actual proof.

(http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/03/world/asia/osama-bin-laden-dead.html?hp )

According to the New York Times, "Bin Laden died near the end of what officials described as an intense, 40-minute firefight that began 12 hours earlier when a team including helicopter-borne Navy Seals raided a heavily fortified compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. He had been living for years in relative comfort with his family on the second and third floors of a home inside the compound, located at the end of a narrow dirt road in Abbottabad, a city an hour’s drive north of Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad." New York Times also states, "His body was washed in accordance with Islamic custom, placed in a white sheet and then inside a weighted bag, a senior defense official said. A military officer read religious rites — translated into Arabic — and then the body was placed on a board, tipped up and “eased into the sea,” the official said."

Although along with many other American's I am glad to see justice be done for 9/11 but also want to take note of how much power the government and the media have in a situation like this. While they claim there was a DNA test, we as the American public might never know if there really was one. We haven't been shown the proof of any test, and we never saw the body either. We also haven't been shown any footage or testimony of the one of Osama's wives that identified his body. Lastly, we haven't seen anything of his burial either. Now in the weeks to come, some type of footage may be leaked(it is likely with YouTube and Google) but it also may not. We are expected to completely trust the media, to trust the government and our President. Just something I was thinking about while watching the news yesterday and this morning.