THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2014
+
PAGE 3
Experts discuss Ukraine media coverage
JAMES LAMB
@TheJamesLamb
Jayhawks Without Borders hosted a panel Friday where they engaged in a discussion about the media's coverage of the conflict in Ukraine.
Presentations were about the different ways that the Ukrainian, American and Russian media have covered the situation. Presenters were Alex Tsiovkh, Russian, Eastern European and Eurasian Studies Professor of Ukrainian Studies; Bart Redford, Center for Russian and Eastern European Studies Assistant Director; and Raymond Finch, CREES Fellow.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
"Ukraine, Russia and the media [coverage], all that stuff is extremely relevant to today and interesting to students. They want to hear thoughts on that and discuss it," said Michael Wutrich, faculty advisor for Jayhawks Without Borders.
People walk past pro-Russian rebels in the town of Novoazovsk, eastern Ukraine on Saturday. The University hosted a panel of experts Friday, who discussed media coverage of the events in Ukraine.
More than 30 people attended the panel, intending to hear the discussion that focused on the way the media has portrayed the events in Ukraine since the mass protests in Kiev last November.
Tsiovkh talked about independent voices within Ukraine and the way the semantics of media reports can shape how audiences interpret a situation. Redford spoke about American media outlets and more specifically about domestically-based bias for both sides of politics, whereas Finch's presentation focused on revealing a lack of diversity in the media in Russia that is present in the other two parties.
"Anytime anyone is talking about conflict, we need to remember that the first casualty of war is the truth," Finch said during his presentation on Russian media. "Today, in Russia, nearly all the major TV, radio, newspaper and press services are indirectly controlled by the Kremlin."
Finch went on to speak about
how the U.S. government caused unrest in Ukraine and how it allowed for the creation of a narrative within Russian media. It seeks to spread chaos within the region in order to prevent Russia from re-emerging as a world superpower, he said.
Increasingly, this control was also spreading to online spaces and social media, but at least one student thought any Russian attempts to control online space would be unsuccessful.
"They [the presenters] said that access to the Internet is limited in Russia but there are certain ways that you can avoid some government restrictions, like mirror sites," said Gala Kornyiyenko, a first-year graduate student from the Ukraine. "This is what we used during the Orange Revolution in Ukraine [2004-05 protests against election fraud], when the government blocked websites and we couldn't get information that was not biased."
Though the panel primarily
focussed on media coverage, it did touch on political elements and how both Ukraine and Russia might act going forward. Korniyenko, who was in Kiev and was a participant in the protests almost a year ago when the current conflict began, has a strong perspective on what that future should be.
"Russia has to realize we are Ukrainians," she said. "We
have our culture, we have our language, we have our folk songs [and] traditions. But they think we are all like Soviet Union, one empire. We are not one empire. We have our own identity and we want to have democratic values. I don't know why it's so difficult to understand."
Edited by Ashley Peralta
RAMPS FROM PAGE 1
The Americans with Disabilities Act requires the University to take steps to create a more accessible campus. To hold the University accountable, the Senate had collaborated with AbleHawks and Allies, a student group that advocates for a more accessible campus.
The ramp is to be completed by late October. On May 3, 2013, AbleHawks and Allies, Student Senate and the Office for Institutional Opportunity and Access asked students to enter Strong Hall through the rear entrance to raise awareness for the difficulties of individuals with disabilities; at the time, only the rear entrance was in wheelchair-accessible.
Edited by Yu Kyung Lee
CDC to revise Ebola protocols for healthcare workers
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ATLANTA — Revised guidance for health care workers treating Ebola patients will include using protective gear "with no skin showing," a top federal health official said Sunday, and the Pentagon announced it was forming a team to assist medical staff in the U.S., if needed.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said those caring for an Ebola patient in Dallas were vulnerable because some of their skin was exposed.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is working on revisions to safety protocols.
Earlier ones, he said, were based on a World Health Organization model in which care was given in more remote places, often outdoors, and without intensive training for health workers.
"So there were parts about that protocol that left vulnerability, parts of the skin that were open," Fauci said.
The CDC guidance was expected as early as Saturday, but its release has been pushed back while it continues to go through review by experts and government officials.
Health officials had previously allowed hospitals some flexibility to use available covering when dealing with suspected
Ebola patients. The new guidelines are expected to set a firmer standard: calling for full-body suits and hoods that protect worker's necks, setting rigorous rules for removal of equipment and disinfection of hands, and calling for a "site manager" to supervise the putting on and taking off of equipment.
The guidelines are also expected to require a "buddy system," in which workers check each other as they come in and go out, according to an official who was familiar with the guidelines but not authorized to discuss them before their release.
Hospital workers also will be expected to exhaustively practice getting in and out of the equipment, the official said.
"... there were parts about that protocol that left vulnerability, parts of the skin that were open."
ANTHONY FAUCI
Head of the National Institute
of Allergy and Infectious
Diseases
the body fluids, you've got to be completely covered," Fauci said. "So that's going to be one of the things ... to be complete covering with no skin showing whatsoever."
"Very clearly, when you go into a hospital, have to intubate somebody, have all of
The American Nurses Association and other groups have called for better guidance that sets clearer standards on what kind of equipment, how to put it on and how to take it off.
"We're disappointed that the recommendations are still not available," association president Pamela Cipriano said. "Having a lag in official direction from the CDC doesn't instill the greatest confidence in their ability to rapidly respond."
Cipriano said she understands the guidance will also include a call for anterooms, apart from the patient room, where protective equipment must be put on and taken off.
The push stems from the infection of two nurses at a Dallas hospital who treated an Ebola-infected patient named Thomas Eric Duncan — the first person diagnosed with the virus in the U.S.
The nurses, Nina Pham and Amber Joy Vinson, were diagnosed with Ebola less than a week later. Officials say how they were infected remains a mystery.