• Hofstra Student Reporting

  • By: WLIW-FM
  • Podcast

Hofstra Student Reporting

By: WLIW-FM
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  • Summary

  • Hofstra students Camryn Bowden and Kenny Forman report from the field during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago leading up to the 2024 presidential election. Listen to their newscasts below.
    Copyright 2024 WLIW-FM
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Episodes
  • Interview: Reflecting on the 2024 DNC on Heart of the East End

    Interview: Reflecting on the 2024 DNC on Heart of the East End
    Aug 23 2024

    Camryn Bowden and Kenny Forman spent the past week at the 2024 Deomcratic National Convention in Chicago, filing stories from the field with WLIW-FM each day. They joined Gianna Volpe on the air to talk about their experience and share clips of the eventful last day.

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    17 mins
  • Feature: Social media playing unique role in 2024 presidential election

    Feature: Social media playing unique role in 2024 presidential election
    Aug 23 2024

    Transcript:

    Since its Advent, social media has played a number of different roles in presidential election years, especially for younger voters in the political process. What you're currently hearing is a remix of the now viral Coconut Tree meme from a TikTok user known simply as MX Welch 03.

    My mother used to she would give us a hard time sometimes, and she would say to us, I don't know what's wrong with you, young. People. You think you just fell? Out of a coconut tree. You exist in the context of all in which you live and what came before you.

    Micah Loewinger, co-host of the popular WNYC radio show On the Media, says this now very famous speech was originally meant to hurt the Harris campaign.

    The coconut tree meme came from this clip that actually the RNC dug up in an attempt to make Kamala Harris seem meandering and scatterbrained and not as serious politician. But this clip actually had the opposite effect.

    That backfiring stemmed from the co-opting of this speech by younger voters, mainly those in Gen. Z.

    Clips from that now-viral video have been used in remixes of Charli XCX songs and Chappell Roan songs on TikTok and beyond, and it's really became a rallying cry for her campaign, when she announced her candidacy.

    And since the use of singer Charlie XDX's Brat summer with Harris's speech, the singer-songwriter herself endorsed Harris.

    One of the big celebrity endorsements that we saw right after she announced her candidacy was Charli XCX, tweeting that Kamala Harris is brat. The reference to Charlie XCX's hugely popular summer blockbuster album, Brat. Kamala Harris had started adopting the iconography of the album, her social media channels now read Kamala HQ, using the same faded arial black font against a chartreuse lime green background. The same style of Charlie XCX's album cover.

    Loewinger is unsure if it will have any longstanding impact.

    Does this virality translate into actual voters in November? And that's just a really hard question to answer. There are still months ahead before November.

    Some Hofstra students who have a podcast that features politics weighed in on this trend. Emma Rizzo, a Long Island freshman forensic science major, shared their thoughts on the impact of this popular. Social media trend.

    It's very good for reach because she's able to connect to the this generation that- They're newer to politics, with some of them being their first election, and it's kind of just like grabbing us and gravitating us towards voting because we feel comfortable with social media.

    Another first year Hofstra student, Megan Mancuso, studying speech pathology, says she was going to vote Democratic in this election, but the trend further cemented her choice as Harris.

    I think it was definitely reassuring, especially after, like Biden dropped out and stuff. It was kind of very confusing cause no one really knew what was happening. But now, because of the rise of these like memes, kind of reassuring in a way cause it's like, OK, the Democratic Party, they have this under control. There's nothing we need to worry about.

    On the other side of this election, former president and Republican presidential nominee. Donald Trump has used social media in a similar way, but with differing results. Recently he was interviewed by Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and owner of X, formerly known as Twitter.

    Biden actually did something that was impossible. Both sides hate him. You know, both sides. Yeah. That was a hard thing to do. Unification.

    That clip was from the Daily Mail.

    Trump has joined content creators with massive followings, and what some see as an effort to shore up support among what one New York Times reporter described as "a...
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    7 mins
  • DNC speakers mock Project 2025; Tim Walz gives impassioned speech

    DNC speakers mock Project 2025; Tim Walz gives impassioned speech
    Aug 22 2024

    Camryn Bowden reports for WLIW-FM from the 2024 Democratic National Convention.

    Former President Donald Trump has tried to disassociate himself from Project 2025, a conservative government restructuring plan that aims to drastically change the political landscape of the US. But DNC speakers last night weren't buying this. Saturday Night Live comedian Kenan Thompson walked out on the stage with a prop: an extra large fake book titled Project 2025.

    You ever seen a document that could kill a small animal and democracy at the same time?

    The crowd could not stop laughing. The keynote speaker, Tim Walz, Kamala Harris's running mate, also made reference to Donald Trump's connection to Project 2025 in his closing speech.

    They spent a lot of time pretending they know nothing about this. But look, I coached high school football long enough to know, and trust me on this, when somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they're going to use it.

    On the last night of this convention, more speakers are likely going to continue to push this narrative that Trump or his close associates are leading Project 2025.

    ***

    Kenny Forman reports for WLIW-FM from the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

    It's the last day of the convention, and possibly the most important night, as delegates here and many more tune in online to hear from Kamala Harris. For those who missed last night's big moments, here's a recap the theme of day three was a fight for our freedoms and celebrity: Speeches included Oprah Winfrey, Mindy Kaling and Keenan Thompson, as well as Stevie Wonder and John Legend. When Kamala Harris's running mate Governor Tim Walz finally took the stage, he was a force to hear.

    Kamala Harris is top. Kamala Harris is experienced and Kamala Harris is ready.

    Before Harris speaks tonight, more speakers will take the stage, including Arizona Senator Mark Kelly and his wife, Gabby Giffords.

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    2 mins
Politics & Government
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