Helinski+Communication+Source+2


 * 1. Full citation: **

Brainard, Curtis. "Inside BP’s Media Blockade : CJR." // Columbia Journalism Review //. 14 July 2010. Web. 01 Mar. 2011. .
 * 2. Where does the author work, what else has s/he written about, and what are her/his credentials? **

Curtis Brainard has done extensive for the Colombia Journalism Review. Many of his articles are environmentally focused and touch upon many topics involving the environment. Everything from new findings in the animal world to effects of global warming to different aspects of the environment are topics that have been involved in some of his writings BP has essentially enforced a media blockade that has prevented much of the media from getting anywhere close to any of the cleanup efforts that are being acted out by BP. This article focuses on a BP relief worker that was approached by media and denied to talk but was later fired from BP becoming a reliability. This worker then returned to the media to give an insight of what is actually occurring out of sight from the media.
 * 3. What is the main topic or argument of the text? **
 * 4. Describe at least three ways that the main topic or argument is fleshed out. **

This article is based around a previous worker for BP who had firsthand experience about the cleanup effort which is another area of focus in my presentation. Having direct quotations from his experience is concrete proof and information that is very impacting coming from a firsthand source.
 * 5. What three quotes capture the critical import of the text? **

1)  “I was down there to do the right thing, to clean up. They just don’t know who they’re messing with.”    2)T  o enforce its media blockade, Dillon says, the company turned to its security force, largely made up of guys like him, ex-military and law enforcement personnel. “They were given orders to herd the media away,” he says, and they followed those instructions just like he did. “They didn’t know the reason behind it—they were just told keep the media away from [the cleanup workers].” He adds, “That’s a First Amendment violation… You can’t keep the media away. It’s a public beach. We weren’t under Martial Law.”  3) “I will always have loyalty to my country. My country comes first, and what this what this company is doing to this country right now is just wrong.” 
 * 6. Explain how the argument and evidence in the text supports your research focus. **

This article focuses on the media which coincides with a portion of my presentation which focuses on the media blackout that has been put into place. It is concrete information that I can use.
 * 7. List at least two details or references from the text that will be useful to other members of your research group **

1) The article talks about what has been restricted from media access but workers are allowed to see. With the digitalization of media this information could leak out even without the media having their eyes on it.   2) The concept of keeping the media out is the definition of how communication has been effected so any example involving the media blockade could be useful.