Newest articles on The Sacramento Press tagged as "cnn"

Joe Maloof named CNN "Hero of the Week"

2010-06-14T03:15:39Z

Joe Maloof never will forget what happened to competitive skateboarder Jake Brown in 2007.

Brown was in first place in the X-Games 13 Big Air contest, in which competitors slide down a mega ramp that launches them into a sea-sized half-pipe. After splashing into the half-pipe, the score is determined by the airborne tricks and by measuring the amount of air the skater gets coming off the opposite side.

Brown was in first place before the jump, but what happened next diminished any importance of rank. He landed the first 720 in the Big Air competition, but followed it with a 40-foot free fall. He walked away a few minutes after falling, something most skaters would not have been able to do.

This event inspired Joe Maloof to start the Maloof Skateboarding Assistance Foundations(MSAF), which builds skate parks and offers financial assistance to skaters who are considered too high risk to insure.

Because of what Maloof has done for skateboarders across the world, CNN has named him CNN Headline News “Hero of the Week.”

Through his foundation, Maloof has benefited young people who are rarely taken into consideration.

Some might think that the Maloofs are “loaded,” so they should spend their money on other people. But Joe Maloof went out of his way to help youngsters who often are thought of poorly by the public.

The Maloof Money Cup provides an avenue for skaters to show off their skills. The event, begun in 2008 by Joe and Gavin Maloof, continues to evolve.

The competition started in Orange County but was held earlier this month in New York City. Next year, it will move to South Africa, and other countries have asked to host the Cup.

The foundation continues to support skaters such as Brown, who are unable to find insurance while participating in their high-risk sport.

Locals join national "Stop Lou Dobbs" campaign

2009-10-22T03:28:05Z

Noon-hour visitors to Cesar Chavez Plaza were able to view more than just a farmer's market Wednesday.

They also witnessed about 20 activists and members of the media in a press conference announcing the "Stop Lou Dobbs" campaign created by the national Latino community group, www.presente.org.

The group formed as a response to anti-Latino sentiment in the media, starting with who they feel is the worst offender: CNN's Lou Dobbs. According to the group's website, www.bastadobbs.com, Dobbs uses his news program "Lou Dobbs Tonight" to spread false information about immigrants and Latinos.

Held only hours before CNN debuts a four-hour documentary called "Latino in America," the group came together to challenge what it called "CNN's hypocrisy."

"I think that CNN can't continue to present this dichotomous view of Latinos as strong people and then (have Dobbs) trash our heritage," said Rafael Aguilera of Sacramento's La Raza network.

Gathering around the statue of Cesar Chavez, several of the speakers included Sacramento's Chicano Consortium director Efren Guttierrez, CSUS ethnic studies professor Eric Vega and Sacramento's Council on American-Islamic Relations director Basim Elkarra.

"The location has always been symbolic of Chavez, a humanitarian who fought for all of us, at the center of our hearts," Guttierrez said.

"Lou Dobbs and others have been spreading hatred through the airways," he said in a speech to the small group of local media and gatherers.

A press release from www.bastadobbs.com said that out of 140 broadcast hours from Jan. 1 to July 23 of this year, 77 hours of "Lou Dobbs Tonight" included segments on immigrants. The website stated, "Dobbs helps popularize the myth that Latino immigrants flood the U.S. with disease (and) a third of our prison system is made up of illegal aliens." The website states both claims are not true.

It also said that Dobbs promoted extremist groups such as Federation for American Immigration Reform and The Minutemen on his show.

"Incitement (of hate) leads to hate crimes," Elkarra said. "Organizations like CNN have a responsibility not to support hate."

"Dobbs hides behind the first amendment, and his speech leads to an increase in attacks against Latinos," Vega said.

Local photographer Francisco Dominguez said he thinks Latinos have suffered racism since this country's inception.

"(Racism) has no business on television (posed) as news," Dominguez said. "There needs to be checks on the program, (especially when) the No. 1 victims of hate crimes are Latinos."

Rob Griffith, a local reporter from Capitol Television News Service, said that while he's never watched Lou Dobbs' show, the Stop Lou Dobbs campaign is misdirected.

"The people behind (Stop Lou Dobbs) misunderstand how the first amendment works," he said. "Efforts to silence opposition violates American freedoms."

Guttierrez explained that www.presente.org has already received 70,000 signatures on a petition to pull Dobbs off the air, but the goal is 100,000. Though Guttierrez urged Latinos and others to watch the CNN program airing tonight, Domiguez said that he was ready to boycott CNN entirely.

"CNN will understand that," he said. "It's the same thing that Chavez did with the grape growers. He was a master organizer."

Guttierrez said that he would watch "Latino in America" out of respect for the people whom the program features. He mentioned that CNN is the most trusted name in news, but added "if this is how CNN builds trust, (they) will lose it."

Film Reviews/Discussion: State of Play & Sin Nombre

2009-04-24T23:27:36Z

State of Play
Directed by Kevin Macdonald

and

Sin Nombre
Written and Directed by Cary Fukunaga

By Tony Sheppard
Capitol Weekly

The news media get a bad rap for assorted reasons. Every major outlet is either too liberal or too conservative, depending on whose eyes are doing the beholding – and regardless of how much one goldilocks (see urbandictionary.com) one’s way around the news channels, the commentators never seem to find one that’s just right. If it’s not perceived bias, then it’s the perception that stories are avoided in order to appease corporate overlords with corporately overlordish ties to the subjects of scandal.

This topic of avoidance surfaces briefly in “State of Play,” in which the Washington Globe’s crack reporter, Cal McAffrey (Russell Crowe) is chasing down a story that is suitably full of suspicion, politicians, infidelity, and murder. The lead researcher for Congressman Stephen Collins (Ben Affleck) falls (or was she pushed!?) under a train while prepping for hearings that Collins’ committee is holding. McAffrey and Collins just happen to have been college roommates, and they lead us on classic whodunit with plenty of interest and a side helping of conflict.

The action also includes Helen Mirren as McAffrey’s long-suffering editor (“long suffering” being a job requirement for movie newspaper editors), Rachel McAdams as the newspaper’s online blogger, Robin Wright Penn as Collins’ wife, Jeff Daniels as Collins’ party whip, and Jason Bateman as a rather colorful co-conspirator. The cast is as solid as one might expect and if the story suffers, it does so as a result of an apparently obligatory but rather unsuccessful attempt to trick the audience.

“Sin Nombre” is written and directed by Student Academy Award winner Cary Fukunaga, who also won directing honors at Sundance for this film. It tells the powerful story of two young people who are brought together by the worst of circumstances. Sayra (Paulina Gaitan) is traveling from Honduras to the U.S. with her father and uncle. It’s the first time she has seen her father in years. He is leading the family towards an illegal border crossing after his own prior deportation. Willy (Edgar Flores) is a member of a violent Mexican street gang who is targeted by his former gang-mates after a deadly fall from grace. They meet on the roof of a freight train, amidst countless other aspiring undocumented workers.

But both “State of Play” and “Sin Nombre” are intriguing for other news-oriented reasons. Each tells timely stories in a manner that seems to beat the CNN’s and Fox’s at their own game – and they aren’t alone in doing so. Some of the best coverage of immigration issues in the last year has been in movie theaters (and covered extensively in this column: “The Visitor” and “Under the Same Moon” for example). Topics related to war and resources in the Middle East have also had ample recent screen time from 2007’s documentary of incompetent occupation “No End in Sight” to the surprisingly meaningful “Stop Loss” (2008) from MTV Films.

The critical force behind the circumstances in “State of Play” is the Blackwater-esque private military contracting firm PointCorp. The parallels are profound, from no-bid/yes-shoot government contracts in warzones, to a massive U.S. training facility, and post-Katrina “security” involvement. This is a story from a powerhouse writing team with all the right subject matter experience: Matthew Michael Carnahan (writer of “Lions for Lambs” and “Kingdom”), Tony Gilroy (writer/director of “Duplicity” and “Michael Clayton” and writer of the Bourne screenplays), and Billy Ray (writer of “Breach” and “Shattered Glass”). The extent of the power, reach and financial stakes in the contracting world are, not surprisingly, very well articulated.

“Sin Nombre” illustrates at least two current affairs topics remarkably well: The hardships and danger that people are willing to undertake for their chance at an illegal American dream, and the extent and nature of gang culture in Mexico. This is not a neighborhood group of thugs that Willy (or El Casper as he is known on the streets) can escape by running away. This is networked organization that can call ahead hits across vast distances and international borders. It’s as if two great American traditions have been studied, adopted, and combined – gun violence and corporate franchising.

I’ve watched and read many stories about government security contractors and, especially recently, the rise in Mexican gang violence. But we’re a nation in which many people get their news from comedy monologs, movie scripts, and crime shows that play out like last week’s headlines. That may seem like a sad state of affairs. It is reassuring at times to find stories that carry such interesting and powerful messages, whether it be the (very) thinly veiled corporate interests of “State of Play” or the blunt brutality of “Sin Nombre.”

They will, of course, still be filtered through our own political biases, but either way, it’s an interesting week at the movies.