Posts by Aleksandra:
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- May 11 is Spanish artist Salvador Dali’s Birthday. Groups and individuals from Florida and other parts of the world visited today the Dali Museum at St.Petersburg.
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Design, Media and Freedom of Press – A view from Skopje
September 10th, 2012Journalism is always connected to good, clear and powerful images, design and creativity who help to send the story message across the platforms.The point where all intersect is new world of digital media in combination with some old writing techniques. Cooperation between media, photographers and designers is unique experience that communicates world stories globally. Republic of Macedonia capital Skopje was part of the world last week with Skopje Design Week and presentation of several works of the Art Directors Club exhibition. At the center of old Turkish stile Kurshumli An, visitors, designers and other media professionals enjoyed in examples of cooperation of designers and media houses, despite having an opportunity to see some pure design or advertising materials. The following pictures were part of Skopje Design Week 2012 exponents and Art Directors Club prints related to the world of design and journalism. Photos show examples of cooperation and photos with media of Village Voice, Time and New York Times. Art Directors Club is a non-profit founded in 1920.
Will France’s Mr Normale balance on austerity?
April 24th, 2012Aleksandra Dukovska
Francois Hollande won Presidential election in France with 51,63% to Nikola Sarkozy who won 48,37% of French voters on run off that took place on May 6. At the center of changes that happen in France are hopes of less austerity measures in the national economy of France. Will this be an easy task for a new elected French president who stated will visit Germany right after his inauguration wich possible date is May 15?
How the discussion of France new elected president with German Chancellor Angela Merkel will reflect on future relations. First disputes over Europe is the cover of French newspaper Le Figaro. In an online article of Marie Bartnik she writes German Chancellor Angela Merkel congratulates to the new elected French president with “open arms”, although defend her “rigorous concept on economy policy in Europe”.
At the same time, experts already were “sketching out the likely contours of an agreement”:
“A putative Hollande-Merkel deal would go something like this. Mr Hollande, as he has already hinted, would modify his demand to renegotiate the new EU fiscal pact – the deal that makes a move towards balanced budgets legally binding. Instead Germany would agree to a vaguely-worded new growth pact, which could sit alongside the fiscal pact”, writes Gideon Rachman, a columnist of Financial Times in the column The Greek Crisis will fast expose Mr Hollande.
Economic issues, voters concerned with sluggish growth and rising unemployment have dominated the first round of presidential election in France. Despite the information that socialist Francois Hollande and incumbent president Nikolas Sarkozy will head for a runoff on May 6, of the winners after the first round was worker’s favorite National Front leader Marine Le Pen.
Marine Le Pen told “supporters Tuesday that she would back neither incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy nor Socialist frontrunner Francois Hollande in Sunday’s French presidential run-off”, writes online english of AhramOnline today.
Le Pen won third place with 18,1 percentage and has enough support to be the key and decisive factor that will determine stay or go situation for Sarkozy two weeks from now. Le Pen attracts voters with her anti-immigration platform that targets mostly Muslims living in France”.
“The race is on now to sway Le Pen’s voters for the decisive second round. Le Pen herself told AP last week that she was not going to give instructions to her voters. While Sarkozy has borrowed some of her anti-immigrant rhetoric and campaign themes of national identity, Le Pen has repeatedly criticized Sarkozy and says he is a has-been with no chance of returning to office”, explains Politico in their article on presidential election in France.
Economist in online edition ask in article: Are 18% of French people racist? Then summarize: “Her electoral success reflects, rather, a mix of disappointment with Mr Sarkozy, despair at the level of joblessness, bewilderment in the face of globalisation, frustration at the impotence of Europe, and disillusion with the political class”.
Further in an online article from February 25, 2012, How Marine Le Pen became worker’s favorite in the north, writes“the Front’s local success is partly down to her efforts to make the party more presentable, ridding it of neo-Nazi links of her father and predecessor, Jean-Marie, who made his base in the south of France”.
Marine Le Pen is perceived as a people voice in France who challenged not only immigration but also has questioned secularism, jobs and euro. Economist argued: “With a magic wand, the candidate of the powerful has become a candidate of the people”.A day after the ending of the first round she warned incumbent Sarkozy not to count on her supporters backing him in the second round.
Regardless if she decide to send a signal to her voters or will keep her strength for upcoming parliamentarian election in June, the second round of presidential election in France are reserved for socialist Francois Hollande and conservative Nicolas Sarkozy.
Is France ready for a change? Online edition of Le Monde Diplomatique in the article Sacking Sarkozy won’t be enough written by Diplomatique’s editorial director Serge Halimi underlines the new French president “will have to make a decision about European treaty that will demand still greater austerity”.
“The choice will affect the future of France, and of Europe”, writes Halimi and comments “new president’s first priority must be to question the Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance (TSCG) and other austerity measures and “success or failure in this will determine everything else: education, public services, fair taxation and employment”.
France Socialists presidential candidate Francois Holland announced today if he is elected, he will re-negotiate euro financial agreement and France will not ratify the already proposed austerity measures.
With so much energy and efforts inscribed in the TSCG by Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel this spring it is obvious Germany could be against renegotiating of this treaty and possible questioning of financial shock therapy that could be imposed by forthcoming president of Fifth Republic, if changes happened.
A Painter and a soldier
April 14th, 2012Aleksandra Dukovska, Skopje
Every war has his its own painting. Art can be precise in freezing of human sufferings, struggles, death and bereaved feelings after death. It is unknown which is the painting of the Bosnian war that can artistically speak on such level of historically generated hate on the European ground after the Second World War. We do not know what Sarajevo’s Guernica painting would look like. It is unknown if someone paints personal stories of Bosnian war while the siege of Sarajevo. This war begs the question? Does the art can save individual from beset of war darkness?
Angelina Jolie’s director debut In the land of the blood and honey poetic attempt to leave in behind the film evidence on atrocities and human suffering during the Bosnian war follows the love story of a soldier and a women painter with different ethnic backgrounds. With no epic scenes of movies that speak on individual struggle during the time of war, such was in Spielberg’s Empire of the sun – Jolie’s movie has one message that is slightly different then existing opinions on Balkan wars in the nineties. The guilt for the atrocities, rapes and human humiliation has real name and surnames among the nationalities. The new wars cannot be collective guilt of one nation. It was my reading of this movie that belligerent individuals hungry for glorifying national myths are those responsible for seeding the hate and reopening of historical wounds. The closing scene of the movie is an auspicious sign on such conclusion.
Even though poetic in attempt to challenge the beauty of art and war cry and by that to assuage the fears and new hate Bosnian war created, In the land of blood and honey will not be an epic film of women suffering during it. It might be that Jolie, a member of Council on Foreign Relation, deliberately choose to follow love story instead really to focus on the raped women in Bosnian war, who suffered regardless of their nationality. After watching it, there is of course anger because the art, no matter how much we want cannot be arbiter in a time of madness. It presence can only hold to the moment when colors instead of life paints war criminals and easily explains what many westerners define as conflicting passion of Balkan people.
If divided linguistically by using Turkish meaning of Balkan as written signs of blood and honey, than the title of the movie is correct in the explanation of the passion and hate on this ground. Further, it is real insight of the team who created it, the open the movie with the song of one of the greatest rock-bands from ex-Yugoslavia, Belgrade’s Ekaterina Velika.
Only real Balkan settlers from eighties can recall the time when music created in the former federation was passionate fighter against the war. That is catchy point in the movie that speaks on the generation of Bosnian’s captured in the vicious circle of history replaying.
What In the land of blood and honey avoids to answer is do the war is necessary for next generation to live in peace. In a place as Bosnia with such convergence of civilizations and past, only people are those who can live in peace together.
NEWS21 Berkeley
June 21st, 2011A view on News21 Berkeley on VUVOX
Dance Against AIDS
June 5th, 2011
Members of Fusion Dance Team at Downtown Phoenix Civic Park perform to raise awarness aginst AIDS
This month, the USA marks 30 years of HIV/AIDS pandemic. The first case of person infected with HIV/AIDS was reported before three decades. On annual level more than 50.000 people are infected with HIV.
Many ways exist to fight and raise awareness against AIDS. Campaigns, interviews, walking tours, speaking with people. You can use everything to share the information with people how to protect of AIDS.
The members of Fusion Dance Team from Phoenix are working on raising awareness against AIDS by dancing and giving the outdoor performances.
Rocku Koen is the member of Fusion Dance Team and he practice with its members almost every day at the Civic Park at Downtown Phoenix.
According to UNAIDS estimates, there are now 33.3 million people living with HIV, including 2.5 million children. During 2009 some 2.6 million people became newly infected with the virus and an estimated 1.8 million people died from AIDS.
Every time they dance and perform, they try to educate the community and the people at the community on the AIDS and how to protect you and the others from.
No More Re-Enacted Photos From The White House
May 13th, 2011The White House decided to put an and on the practice of presidents re-enact TV addresses for the still photographers. What brought the White House to this decision? It is the practice that last for years, although many wire services such as The Associated Press and other news services argued for that.
After President Barack Obama’s late speech on May 1 on the death of the Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, according to Huffington Post, “five photographers were ushered in to shoot pictures as the president stood at the podium and re-read a few lines of his speech – a practice that news organizations have protested for years”.
“Even though The Associated Press and other news outlets said in captions to the photos that they were taken after the president delivered his address, many people who saw them may have assumed they depicted the speech itself. That raised questions of whether news organizations were staging an event”. underlines Huffington Post.
Kenny Irby – responsible on the visual journalism at the Poynter Institute at St.Petersburg, Florida responded on my question for the White House practice of re-enact photos from presidents speeches.
Here is the link with the video with Kenny Irby: Kenny Irby explanation of re-enact photos after TV adresses of the USA presidents
When The Time Flys – It Is Dali’s 107th Birtday
May 11th, 2011
May 11 is Spanish artist Salvador Dali's Birthday. Groups and individuals from Florida and other parts of the world visited today the Dali Museum at St.Petersburg.
Today I visited the Dali Museum at St.Petersburg Florida and enjoyed in the magnificent paintings of this Spanish artist. Most of the Dali’s paintings at the museum are from the private collection of A.Reynolds and Eleanor R. Morse which they decied to loan to the St.Petersburg museum at Florida. This link leads you the story how they decided to share their private collection of Dali’s art work with the world:
The collection of Dali’s early and latter arts work in the Dali Museum contained couple of most famous Dali’s art works: such as: Slave Market with the Disappearing Bust of Voltaire, Cadaques – that differs from his other paintings because he not use the intensive colors such in his other paintings, the Discovery of America by Cristopher Columbus – one of his masterwork in which not only he is painting the parts of the Spanish and American history, but it is trying to explain his personal discovery of America where he lived during the World War II.
One of his best arts is Gala Contemplating the Mediterranean Sea which at Twenty Meters Becomes the Portrait of Abraham Lincoln. This painting shows the will for experiments he has as a surrealist. He experimented with shapes and visual double entendres and according to museum audio guide he made this painting in the manner of 1024 pixels for the portrait. This art contained painted pixels and maybe is showing Dali’s visionary of today’s mass digital content.
One week before Dali’s birthday I spoke with Kevin Gallant – a tourist from Canada, who visited the museum because Dali is his favorite artist from its childhood.
Kevin Gallant from Canada visit to Salvador Dali\’s museum at St.Petersburg-Florida
Misuse of digital media – Situation Room Picture
May 10th, 2011Ethics is always important in journalism. Especially today when we are surrounded with the different media and when every one can have access to the computer and change the reality. For the journalist and the photo journalist is important to present the reality without changes and not to deceive the public. A photo image of President Barack Obama and the other important USA officials at the Situation Room at the White House was a subject of ethics debate after different media outlets tried to play with this iconic photo.
A Brooklyn – based Hasidic newspaper Der Zeltung published a story this week with the manipulated version of the historic image of the Situation room. The editors Photoshopped two women in the picture – Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and Audrey Tomason, the director for counterterrorism. The newspaper, which is written in Yiddish, removed the women because of religious issue, reported Paul Bently, from mail online in the article: “Where did Hilari Clinton go? Hasidic newspaper edits Secretary of State out of Situation Room photo.
Edited or Photoshopped photos are point of debate after President Obama announced one week ago the death of Osama bin Laden after the secret raid of American SEAL forces in Pakistan. President Obama decided not to publish the photo of death Osama bin Laden.
A photographer and Pounter Institute group leader in visual journalism spoke with me on the possibilities of misusing the digital media. Everybody with the laptop now can do the photo manipulation – underlines Irby.
Follow the link for statement on misuse of digital media:Kenny Irby from the Poynter Institute on misuse of digital media
Interview: Jill Geisler – Poynter Institute: Manage emotion of change
May 10th, 2011
Giving feedback so the people feel inspired. Because the award they will get today is not the fat bonus check – it is going to be honest feedback that reminds them on the meaning what they are doing.
Aleksandra Dukovska
Jill Geisler is a former broadcast journalist engulfed as leadership and management group leader at Poynter Institute at St Petersburg, Florida. Geisler believes that leaders should be extraordinary in managing change through education. At the time journalism is changing – Geisler underlines importance of inspiration, motivation and recalling on the meaning of what you are doing in journalism
What is your responsibility at Poynter Institute?
I help to design and administer programs here for people who are in management position in print, broadcast, so everything from program of new managers, mid level managers, potential managers.
Emphasis on emerging technologies – we have program for digital strategies for managers, but we would like help develop not just craft skills, how to put better newspaper together, but how to be a leader who produces good journalist, who helps people do their best work.
We teach a lot of human skills: communication, collaboration, conflict resolution, motivation, emotional intelligence – things that leaders need to know in order to help people to do their best work.
What is the most important skill that leaders in journalism need to have to create journalists?
Today, leaders have to be extraordinary in managing change and some of the key aspects of managing change are the managing education, people have to learn new things. You have to understand how people learn, you have to manage emotion of change, whether they have to let go the things they have to deal in the past, they have to be superb in communication because information is currency during the change, and leaders have to recognized that.
They have to be tremendous in collaboration because we don’t work in closed space anymore and people are multitasking much more than the use to do. And so, it is communication, collaboration, change management, the emotion, the teaching and the training, and understanding how people are motivated.
It is not about money and becoming reach – it is about intrinsic value of what journalism means to the people who practiced it.
Did journalists in the USA have leaders to guide them?
I am writing a book now, What great bosses know, my column is called What the great bosses know and what do you think how I know that?
People who come to our programs at Poynter to have feedback, 360 feedback from their bosses, other managers and people who report to them. I really had to chance to see, not just aspiration, but behaviors of people who are really good bosses.
There are no perfect bosses but in the terms of journalism now, a lot of the people in leadership position or managers, they have to do some terrible things, they have to cut their staffs, which inevitably could cause someone to loose the fait and confidence.
It is easy to be a leader when everything is good, when people may love or hate us, but the advertising is buying our advertising space.
But, when you are the leader saying we have to do more with less, we have to make very tuff choices, you have to be very skilled and not only griming thorough changes but recognizing that in order to success have to be inspiring people to want to follow you.
I think within the journalism now, they are remain excellent leaders and the smartest thing is that they are always learning, even though they have to be terribly business focused, they can’t be exclusively focused on that, that they kill the enthusiasm of the remaining journalists who are there because they still deeply care, even though they have bruised by the changes, but they are tweeting, the are reporting on FB, they are using social media, they are connecting with the audiences in the way they never do before. For many of the new generation of journalist that is exciting.
What are the leadership stiles you will appreciate the most?
My feeling about leadership styles is that have to be the right style for the right situation. For example, if you are in a crisis, then people want a commanding style of leader. But they don’t want that person every day. I don’t mind being told: you move now. The building is on the fire.
Take that exit – don’t waist any time. I would appreciate the fact that the person has not any time to tell me anything but the orders what I have to do. But there are bosses who are acting like that all the time commanding and control style is not work well.
Even though in the military will tell you, this not works well. What the military is trying to do is commanding structure, but to build critical thinking skills because the ultimately people fall love in the idea that they are own creation. My feeling on leadership is that the leader should provide vision and inspiration.
I did a Webinar with managers from small newspapers and they asked how do you keep motivation alive when people are tired, being through cutsand I said to them – do you remained them on the meaning of what they are doing.
Are you still mourning the fact that you cannot do long stories and that you are doing short one for the web. Guess what, I believe that I can look on your employee stories on the web and find meaning on what they are doing.
I may say, Joseph, a lot of parents are a lot a smart today, because of the short story on change in the school program, it was really helpful, or that you really make me smile with the feature and who decided to put that slideshow there. It is just raised to another level. I am not saying that you need to spend all of your time being blindly optimistic. I think the leader is contagious.
And if the leader says we need to be vigilant, changes are in the air – we will be vigilant. If I said to people take a deep breath, you are doing good work – you should be proud of yourself, I want to be that person that build that reputation that knowing what they are doing – giving feedback so the people feel inspired. Because the award they will get today is not the fat bonus check – it is going to be honest feedback that reminds them on the meaning what they are doing.
Fishing At Florida One Year After the BP Oil Spill
May 8th, 2011
The fishing is permited after April 19. The questions on the seafood safety still remains
Photo and text: Aleksandra Dukovska
Visitors, children, young couples and other tourist enjoyed in recreational fishing with shrimps this Saturday at the Pier in St. Petersburg, Florida. Will they eat some of the seafood they cached today and will they believe that the seafood is safety for their health?
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration re-opened 4, 213 square miles of Gulf of Mexico federal waters in April 19 one year after the Deepwater Horizon devastating oil spill.
In February this year, NOAA reopened the substantial portion of federal waters in the Gulf to royal red shrimping after the series of the consultation with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, according to Web page Food Safety News, presented by Marler Clark.
Is the seefood really safety for consumption?
The safety of seafood has been questioned after BP oil spill polluted water with crude oil and methane gas, a year ago. A law firm Beasley Allen has filed lawsuits against British Petroleum and several others companies with ties to the DeepWater Horizon oil spill.
According to their Web page, “people have questioned the safety of Gulf seafood ever since BP flooded the water with crude oil and methane gas a year ago, then sprayed and pumped the spill with unprecedented levels of chemical dispersants.
“The oil disaster hit just as shrimping season was about to begin, closing once-fertile fishing grounds and drawing attention to the scope of the spill. Were shrimpers and fishermen out of work just for the season, or would the environmental and economic impacts linger for years” – asked from the firm Beasley Allen.
Recreational fishers use shrimps as hook for fishing
What is the real safety of this food remains under the question. Many fishing grounds shut down during the spill have reopened and Gulf seafood has been deemed safe to eat by government scientists. But fishermen have been pulling a lot of diseased fish out of the Gulf waters since winter, according to the St. Petersburg Times.
“The fish had dark lesions on their skin, some the size of a 50-cent piece. On some of them, the lesions had eaten a hole straight through to the muscle tissue. Many had fins that were rotting away and discolored or even striped skin. Inside, they had enlarged livers, gallbladders, and bile ducts,” the St. Petersburg Times reported.
What is the impact on pelicans envirnonment after the BP oil spill last year?
In October last year, agriculture commissioner Charles Bronson said BP will pay $20 million to the state over the next three years to help pay more inspections of gulf seafood and to check the lingering effects of the last summer oil spill.
Almost half of that money will go to convince the public the seafood is safety, according the St. Petersburg online article BP to pay $20 million for more seafood monitoring and marketing from October, 25 2010.
In the same article, St. Petersburg Times underlines that Bronson asked for $59 million over 10 years and concludes that now he is satisfied with the $20 million agreement. “The agreement with BP says that the money could be extended another three years if fishing areas are closed because of oil spill contaminants”, published online St. Petersburg last year.
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