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For this week’s blog, I have curated the top 5 best sources to go for sustainable fashion information online. These sites range from traditional media, to blog posts, to documentaries, and each gives a little bit of a different perspective on the sustainable fashion industry. 

1. The True Cost 

“This is a story about clothing. It’s about the clothes we wear, the people who make them, and the impact the industry is having on our world.”

The True Cost is a documentary that covers a lot of different areas of sustainable fashion in depth. If you don’t know a lot about the topic, this is a great place to start. It covers everything from the environmental impact of fashion as a whole to the greater problem of human rights within the clothing industry. 

The film is directed by Andrew Morgan and released in 2015. 

2. Vogue Business: Sustainability 

The sustainability section of Vogue Business is, in my opinion, the best place to go for sustainable fashion news. Their content is well rounded and covers everything from specific sustainable brands to the industry as a whole. They’re mainly focused on the business side of the industry, but this is important since a lot of other sources don’t. 

3.  Business of Fashion

Businessoffahion.com is a good source of fashion news in general, but their sustainability section is a good place to look for news as well as advice about how to be more sustainable yourself. Even if you aren’t a fashion business owner, reading these advice articles can help give anyone a good idea of what it really means to be sustainable in fashion as well as why it matters. 

4. Harper’s Bazaar: Sustainable Fashion Explained

This opinion article is a quick read from Harper’s Bazaar, but I think that it’s a good introduction to sustainable fashion and why it matters if you maybe don’t have time to watch the whole True Cost documentary mentioned previously. It looks at where the fashion industry is now, where we are headed, and what it means to be sustainable in 2020. 

The article is part of a larger series by Harper’s called Sustainable Style. According to their website, the new series offers “lessons on how to shop sustainably, deep dives into what the future of fashion really looks like, and plenty of myth-busting along the way.” 

5. Sustainable Fashion Matterz

Sustainablefashionmatterz.com is a blog that is solely focused on the topic. Their blog posts are typically short and to the point, but where the website shines is their “good to know” section that discusses what sustainable fashion is as well as some general fashion facts. They make a lot of vital information really easy to digest and puts it in perspective of why it should matter to you. They also list all of their sources at the bottom of their pages to make it easy to access even more information. 

The next section of this blog post is going to be about my media use for the week in relation to my media use in my first week’s blog post. 

I’ve still been spending a lot of time on Instagram and Youtube overall, as I’m sure I always will, but I have been a lot more mindful about where I get my news from as well as making reading the news a priority. 

I have been trying to start each day by reading the first page of The New York Times. Before when I woke up, the first thing I always did was check Instagram. Even though I’m not fully reading every story that is on the front page, I try to read at least a couple.

 I’ve found that this method of integrating news into a part of my daily routine has been helpful. Before, I don’t think I was really ingesting enough news to be considered an informed citizen, but I now feel confident that I am up to date with current events. 

Another thing I’ve started doing is following right winged twitter accounts. Before we discussed confirmation bias, I didn’t realize how important it is that we are interacting with opinions that don’t just match our own. Following accounts like Breitbart, Red State and Michael Jones allow me to minimize my confirmation biases and helps me have a more well rounded view of our political world. 

Although I may not enjoy reading these posts or the replies under them, if I hadn’t started implementing them into my regular news feed cycles, I’d have no idea what was happening on the conservative side of spectrum, or why it should matter to me.

For this week’s blogging assignment, I became a curator.

Each day, I visited a variety of media outlets in order to put together a list of the week’s best stories about streaming TV. On one hand, I’m lucky that I chose a topic that gets a lot of coverage. It wasn’t hard to find interesting stories. On the other hand, it was hard to narrow this list down to just six items.

After that, I spent time reflecting on my media use this week. Working on this assignment disrupted some of my usual habits.

This Week in Streaming

Quibi: Watch All the Trailers From the New Streaming Service

On Monday, I discovered that Indiewire has started to compile a brief guide to all of the new shows that will be available on Quibi when it launches in April. As it is updated whenever a new trailer is released, I think it would be smart for fans of television to bookmark this link.

Streaming TV Usage Nearly Doubles in Less Than 2 Years, Nielsen Says

On Tuesday, The Hollywood Reporter published a story with fascinating new data from Nielsen about the use of streaming services in the US.

“The ratings service’s latest total audience report takes a deep dive into the streaming ecosystem, revealing that the majority of TV consumers pay for more than one SVOD service, that streaming usage in OTT-capable households has nearly doubled in less than two years and that there is a virtually endless supply of content available to those users.”

Pilot Season Slows Down as Broadcast Networks Rethink Strategy in Streaming Era

On Wednesday, Variety covered how this year’s broadcast pilot season looks different than it has in years past thanks to the rise of streamers. Streaming’s impact on the broadcast networks most often comes up when discussing the decline in live ratings, but it’s impacting the production calendar as well.

Why NBC Blanketed the Internet with Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist

On Thursday, Vulture looked at how NBC has attempted to harness the power of streaming to find an audience for its new musical drama, Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist.

“NBC has used the long gap between installments of the Jane Levy–led series to make it ubiquitous, striking deals to place the show’s first episode on a slew of large digital platforms like YouTube, Hulu, Facebook, and Spotify, while also embedding the hour in ads the network took out on sites such as Playbill, Bustle, and yes, Vulture.”

While many network shows have seen an increase in viewers between seasons thanks to the ability to catch up via streaming, using this approach to grow an audience between airings of the first and second episodes is much more unique.

Roku Tops Wall Street’s Q4 Estimates, Growing to Nearly 37 Million Active Accounts

Also on Thursday, Deadline reported on Roku’s impressive fourth quarter numbers. As more and more streaming services roll out, Roku is well-positioned to be one of the biggest beneficiaries.

Canada Wants Streamers to Start Paying More Taxes

Finally, on Friday, The Hollywood Reporter covered calls for streaming services to start paying more in taxes and to do more to subsidize local content in Canada. The US-based streamers do quite a bit of filming in Canada and aren’t currently subject to the same regulations as local broadcasters.

My Media Use

As I noted in the original 24-hour media use assignment, I tend to sit down and read the news over breakfast in the morning and at some point in the evening. This week looked a bit different. Eager to find interesting articles for the curation assignment, I found myself visiting entertainment-focused media outlets throughout the day. Funnily enough, it actually helped to curb my social media use. Rather than scrolling through Twitter on my phone when bored, I scrolled through sites like Entertainment Weekly.

When it comes to the sources I turn to for news, this assignment also led to some temporary changes. On a typical day, I seek out a good mix of coverage of current events, pop culture, technology, and sports. NPR, The New York Times, and The Athletic are sites I visit daily. This week, those outlets took a backseat to sites like Vulture and The Hollywood Reporter as I honed in on coverage of streaming services. Typically, I only visit a site like Vulture once or twice a week. For the past few days, I’ve been visiting once or twice a day.

While this class hasn’t led me to give up on any sources that I regularly use, I have started to make a mental note of any disclosures I encounter while reading. I can see why it’s important to consider how financial stakes or personal ties could be influencing coverage and to be cognizant of potential conflicts going forward. For example, I learned that Vox, The Verge, and Wired have ties to some of the streaming services while working on previous blogging assignments. Now, when I visit those sites for coverage of the topic, I know to pay closer attention.

Overall, while I’ve enjoyed poring over streaming related content, I’m looking forward to returning to a balanced media diet. I feel under-informed about more important stories like the Democratic primaries or turmoil at the Justice Department.

Here is a list of sources that I curated about the effects of music and charity in the world. They consist of different sources and different events that happen, and these sources show why and how they are either great sources or not that great or a source.

1. Blistein, Jon. “How Rage Against the Machine Are Trying to Beat Scalpers.” Rolling Stone, 14 Feb. 2020, rollingstone.com/music/music-news/rage-against-the-machine-scalpers-reunion-tour-tickets-953247/.

The article is mainly about how bands are basically cheated out of money by creating fake tickets and allowing charities to not get the money that is deserved. This source has been a reliable source of music news for years. This article contains actual quotes from the people that were interviewed. “Earlier this week, scalpers started posting tickets — before they’d even gone on sale “- Blistein

2.   Corey, Russ. “Music of Sam Phillips to Benefit Two Shoals Charitable Organizations.” TimesDaily, 13 Feb. 2020, timesdaily.com/news/music-of-sam-phillips-to-benefit-two-shoals-charitable-organizations/article_46a54734-22df-5b9f-8576-561b8a3817c0.html.

This article is about a band that has Sam Phillips music to perform and raise money for a specific charity. The source of this article seems to be pretty reliable because of the information that has been presented and where the information comes from. “It’s awesome people can come to support more than one charity,” – Manchester. It is basically providing advertisements for the band and the charity.

3.  CBS News. “Panic! at the Disco Lead Singer Brendon Urie Partners with Charity to Inspire Young Musicians.” CBS News, CBS Interactive, 8 Feb. 2020, cbsnews.com/news/panic-at-the-disco-lead-singer-brendon-urie-on-bringing-music-education-to-young-people/.

“Panic! at the disco” is a music band that is very well known around the world. This article is about the way the music band used their talents for a charitable cause. The source of this information seems to be legit because of where it is located which is CBS.

4.  “The Powerful Voices of the Yazidi Women’s Choir.” The Economist, The Economist Newspaper, www.economist.com/prospero/2020/02/13/the-powerful-voices-of-the-yazidi-womens-choir.

This powerful article describes the impact that music has on the world and on the women, who fled Iraq during the massacre of thousands of people. There many sources that support this source and there is even a video from MSN that supports this incredible source.

5. “What Role Do Record Labels Play In 2020?” Kerrang!, kerrang.com/features/what-role-do-record-labels-play-in-2020/.

This article is an article that talks about how the record labels contribute to the music world. This source would not be considered a reliable source for me because there really is no credibility here. This seems to be more of an opinionated piece of writing rather than factual information.

This class has actually taught me to truly understand the importance of finding a credible source to use to retrieve news from. This is such a problem that people have had and looking at Module one’s information and sources that were used, I definitely changed the way I choose my sources.

This is even regarding the different social media that is used because of many people posting so many unreal posts. You have to fact-check this information as well and be very media literate when it comes to Instagram and another social medium.

Before we examine the five best media sources for cruelty-free beauty products, what is your definition of cruelty-free? Wikipedia states that cruelty-free is a label for products or activities that do not harm or kill animals anywhere in the world. Products tested on animals are not considered cruelty-free since these tests are often painful and cause the suffering and death of millions of animals every year. In 2002, California became the first state to prohibit testing cosmetics and personal care items on animals, when an alternative test is available. In 2007, New Jersey was the next state to ban animal testing followed by New York in 2014 and Virginia in 2018.

After combing through all of the best media sources for cruelty-free beauty, I have found the five best sources to help you navigate through the cruelty-free product world. I have broken my research down into five different categories. I focused on finding the best website, best blog, best YouTube channel, best Instagram, and best app providing cruelty-free product information. 

“Animals” by Peter Zembol is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0

Best Website: Leaping Bunny

Leaping Bunny works with companies to help make shopping for animal-friendly products easier and more trustworthy. Leaping Bunny was formed by eight national animal protection groups that banded together to form the Coalition for Consumer Information on Cosmetics (CCIC). The CCIC promotes a single comprehensive standard and an internationally recognized Leaping Bunny Logo, making it easy to identify cruelty-free products. Leaping Bunny has a standard by which they certify companies that apply for Leaping Bunny cruelty-free certification. Leaping Bunny provides an up to date list of all brands that they have certified as cruelty-free on their web site.

Best Blog: Logical Harmony  

Logical Harmony is a blog by Tashina Combs. Tashina consistently uploads a mix of written and video content weekly regarding living an animal-friendly lifestyle. Per the site: Logical Harmony strives to make cruelty-free beauty easy.” Logical Harmony maintains an up to date list of cruelty-free brands and non-cruelty free brands as well as a list of pending brands and grey area brands as well. The blog states: Logical Harmony strives to bring you the best in beauty, lifestyle, fashion, health, and diet. The content focuses on vegan beauty and the promotion of a healthy and animal-friendly lifestyle.

“Baby bunnies 1” by giltay is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Best YouTube Channel: Kelly Gooch Cruelty-Free Beauty  

Kelly Gooch posts videos testing cruelty-free products from makeup to cleaning products, to hair products. She uploads new videos twice a week. Kelly went cruelty-free in January of 2017, and she enjoys sharing everything about her journey with her audience. Kelly provides videos that provide a step by step process for anyone interested in becoming a cruelty-free consumer. Kelly consistently updates her audience with brands that are newly cruelty-free as well as brands that have fallen off the list. 

Best Instagram 

Cruelty-Free Kitty by Suzana Rose provides consistent updates on brands that are cruelty-free as well as updates on brands that are no longer on the list. Suzana’s reviews are uncensored and honest. Her Instagram profile keeps her followers up to date with cruelty-free news as well. Suzana links her posts to very informative blog articles with reviews and valuable information on cruelty-free products such as, “30 Makeup Brands That Still Test On Animals In 2020.”  

“Miaow” by flicksmores is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Best App: Cruelty-Cutter 

Cruelty-Cutter by the Beagle Freedom Project is a very convenient app. It lets you search, browse, and scan products while shopping to determine if they are cruelty-free or not. They offer a Cruelty-Free directory list by the company’s name, category name, and product name. The app also provides a company’s information with direct links to websites, Facebook, and Twitter accounts. The Cruelty-Cutter website states, “We are rigorous in evaluating these companies; we independently research their practices as well as directly request statements from them, and compare to other cruelty-free authorities when available. 

In the end, if f you want to be 100% sure that your product is cruelty-free, the best way to find out is to contact the company directly yourself. It is always best to do your own thorough research to ensure that you are receiving correct information. Explore all of the information online and check your results against each other to determine what may or may not be correct. You will find the web sites and blogs that appeal to you, and in time, you will find the sites that you feel provide the most current and correct information. Be sure that you have fun researching and know that you are doing a good deed for the beautiful animals on this earth.  

Taking this class has definitely changed my source of news. Due to spending such a significant amount of time researching my topic of interest, I have found several new blogs that I enjoy reading as well as several new YouTube influencers that I enjoy as well.  I have found additional sources to use when trying to determine if a product is cruelty-free or not with a long list of sites that I can reference for cruelty-free companies. 

I have also added several new media sources to my list that I found from taking this class, such as the Logical Harmony Blog, the Ethical Elephant Blog, and the Cruelty-Free Kitty Blog. I have found myself referencing the Cruelty-Cutter app every time that I go shopping. This app has made my research regarding cruelty-free products so much easier. 

“Puppies!” by alasdair massie is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Intermittent Fasting and How the media interprets it. The task of FINDING items on my topic was not the issue. The problem came when to choose the best items on my topic. I wanted to find pieces of content that didn’t simply graze over the diet or portray it as a cure-all diet, that gets rid of your stretch marks, student loans or any other problems in your life. The content that I found to fit best gives an accurate, credible, truthful and unbiased look on Intermittent Fasting. (I’m sure you can see where the challenge has now come in!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zTBIZcB8YA

“We Tried Intermittent Fasting For a Month” – Youtube Video

• I chose this as my first piece of content because the way the video is cut, edited, and organized really gives the viewer a full comprehensive look on what it’s like to try this diet and the effects that the “test subjects” had after a month. I would also like to note how adding in the segment with the nutritionist at the beginning of the video adds more trust and credibility to me. While one of the people who were trying the diet to lose weight, the other was participating to lower his higher blood pressure and high cholesterol, expressing the perspective that this diet isn’t just a “lose weight fast” fad.

“What I would recommend you eat during those eating hours, is the same I would recommend  for someone who wasn’t Intermittent Fasting.”

https://fueledbyscience.com/intermittent-fasting-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/

“Intermittent Fasting – The Good, The Bad and The Ugly” – Blog Post

• This blog, “Fueled by Science” article gives the honest, no sugar-coating truth about Intermittent Fasting. Chana Davis, the curator of the blog, has her PhD and uses her knowledge and research to “empower others to make food choices from a place of knowledge rather than rooted in fear or hype.”

” Thus, while I am excited to share our success story I want to emphasize the importance of being honest with yourself about your habits and of developing a long term, sustainable plan for healthy eating”

https://www.abc.net.au/triplej/programs/hack/wheres-the-line-between-fasting-and-eating-disorders/11258758

“Where’s the line between intermittent fasting and eating disorders?” – News Article

• I wanted to include one piece of content that stretched into somewhat of a “taboo” subject. This article properly illustrates the possible dangers that this diet and the way that social media often portrays it can be on people.

” Although eating less a couple of days a week can be good for you, health experts are becoming concerned that, at least for some people, #fasting may just be a glamorous re-brand of eating disorders — old-style crash diets repackaged as Instagram ‘body positivity”

https://www.shape.com/healthy-eating/diet-tips/how-intermittent-fasting-affects-mental-health

“How Intermittent Fasting Can Impact Your Mind According to Experts.” – Magazine Article

• “Shape” magazine takes a different approach to the diet as a whole, focusing on the mental and physiological effects that this routine eating can have on you. All “experts” mentioned in the article are promptly linked and credited, building my trust with the article and magazine as a whole.

”  it’s important you know more than just how the intermittent eating plan can affect your body but also your mind”

https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/wellness/story/intermittent-fasting-googles-searched-diet-2019-67662381

“Intermittent fasting is Google’s most searched diet of 2019: Is it right for you.” -News Article

• This Good Morning America article looks at not just my topic of Intermittent Fasting, but just how wide the trend reached in the past year, on all platforms of media. From Search engines to Social Media platforms. It gives a proper examination of article posts and Instagram posts and analyzes data from accredited sources.

“The good news, according to experts, is that intermittent fasting is one nutrition trend that can be safe and effective..”

My Media Usage This Week 

This week, in comparison to the first week that the 24-hour media usage assignment, and taking this class in general, I have noticed a massive shift in the way I view and take in news. For one, I use to almost never actively look for sources in articles that I was reading. Now, when scrolling through my phone, I ALWAYS have to see the sources listed, falling down a rabbit hole of looking at each source and determining if it’s legitimate or not. I also find that I have tried to take the “Slow News” approach when researching for this project. At the beginning of this session, I would have skimmed through articles, trying to find buzz words that fit what I wanted to say and copy and paste them into a word document. Taking a breath and truly giving my undivided attention to pieces of content that I’m taking in has changed my “second by second” news cycle that I have grown so accustomed to. I would say the most beneficial concept I have gained from this class is breaking the habits that I had subconsciously formed in terms of taking in media. The days of glossing over articles and posts without a second thought have happily diminished.

While looking at the topic of the media portrayal of the NBA, the article I have chose to analyze for this week’s assignment is ESPN’s article, “Damian Lillard, Blazers livid after missed call in final seconds vs. Jazz” that reports on an incident of a missed violation which cost Damian Lillard and  Trailblazers to fall to Utah Jazz, 117-114 Friday, Feb. 7.

When further analyzing how the media portrays NBA news, I chose ESPN  because I believe it to be one of the most reputable sources for sports news. ESPN refers to multiple sources within the content of the article which includes, NBA officiated assessment of the last two minutes of the game, Interviews of players of Portland and Utah, and mentions that the Associated Press had contributed to the article. All the sources and evidence enhance the content of the article and reporting on these events.

The sources ESPN highlights in this article all convey credibility other than interviews with players because that would be categorized more into an opinion. The NBA officiating report is a source directly from the National Basketball Association and can be confirmed credible. Associated Press, according to The AllSides Media Bias Chart, remains as a neutral, source online and continues to hold high credibility for news in our media environment today.

I did find the following  article on the internet via ESPN’s website but the article here includes many hyperlinks with more information on specific players, statistics of this specific game, and evidence referred to like the NBA report. The article includes embedded tweets and other media that refer or report on the same line of events which portrays and makes it easy to fact-check the information provided by media consumers. All of these strategies mentioned above make it less difficult for consumers to verify the information in the article and reinforce ESPN’s credibility.

ESPN uses one of the officiants  of the game, Josh Tiven’s interview from a Pool Report to reveal a view from the officiatiants’ standpoint. Tivens admits in this Pool Report that after the play was later reviewed, they had missed the violation. The article also includes a quote from Utah’s Rudy Gobert  mentioning his opinion on the missed call,  “Mistakes are made. Officials are human. I feel like it’s all part of the game.” 

Although there is no specific ESPN reporter credited for this article, I do argue that ESPN remains to be a credible source when reporting on majority of NBA news. ESPN uses interviews, official reports, and other news sources to allow them to remain credible and back up the information provided.

I would give the overall content and article a letter grade of A because I would argue ESPN news services has excelled at remaining factual and neutral on the the topic reported on above. The source, as I previously mentioned, provides multiple links to more information and official league reports to ensure the information within the article is factual. All of these practices shown while I analyzed the following article enhance ESPN and the sports news provided as credible, factual, and showing no bias.

The fashion industry is more than just glitz and glamour. For some, fashion is an outlet for expression. That expression often becomes stifled by the rising costs of fashion pieces. The following articles discussion affordable fashion with the good, the bad, and the awful. Each article tells a different perspective of affordable fashion from celebrities to major brands trying something new to make fashion more affordable and accessible for all.

1. “How Kmart made the Jump into Luxe Fashion” – This article discusses how Kmart stores have made affordable fashion, high fashion. Kmart is making their own high end looks cheaper and more accessible for all. Kmart is “aiming to provide shoppers with trendier products at a lower price point than upmarket competitors”. (Aiesha Saunders, 2020)

2. “Retailers Try Clothing Rental”– This is a super cool article about retailers like Bloomingdale’s and Urban Outfitters who are offering a rental program for their shoppers. This helps to reduce the waste associated with clothes because more people can reuse the same pieces. “A growing number of them are now offering customers the option to rent clothes for a monthly fee instead of buying them.” (Associated Press, 2020)

3. “More Affordable Trendy Items”– This article highlights brands that are making similar products to what you would see on the runway during fashion week but for much more affordable prices. Stores like Zara and Artizia are taking affordable fashion literally by making these high end pieces, affordable for all. Zara is “even more affordable takes on the most sought-after runway trends from fashion week” (Dale Arden Chong, 2020)

4. “Celebrities Love this Affordable Jewelry Brand”– This is the ultimate culmination of affordable fashion because it demonstrates that everyone is seeking to have less expensive pieces, even celebrities. “Jennifer Lopez has previously worn $33 earrings that would have worked nicely with her bedazzled Versace Super Bowl halftime look.” (Tara Gonzalez, 2020

5. “Kaitlyn Denver paired $47 Aldo Heels with Oscars Gown” – This was interesting to read because not only did she opt for an affordable shoe brand, she also chose a sustainable and affordable dress. This shows that affordable fashion can be made ethically and sustainably. “Dever’s Glyndwr heels are currently just $47 on Aldo.” (Kate Mendoca, 2020)

6. “Clothing Designed to become Garbage” – This article is not as positive as the others because it points out exactly what is wrong with affordable fashion. “The $2.5 trillion fashion industry is one of the biggest polluters and the second-biggest consumer of water.” (Emma Newburger, 2020)

After completing this curation, I realized that affordable fashion and fashion in general is not really reported on. I had to visit a different category of websites then I would have for regular news. This week, the New York Times and CNN were just not going to cut it because they didn’t have much on this topic. I was shocked because this was Oscars week which is often called fashions biggest night but there just wasn’t a lot of stories about affordable fashion aside from how to style it or where to shop for it. This was eye opening because I really had to step out of my comfort zone and look for credible news sites about my topic. I think it’s often easy for us to see the major news networks and say that they’re credible but to look at sites that might not be your normal sources it was much harder to decide what was fact and something I should include in my post. I also found myself lingering more on social media platforms for links to websites which is something I did not do in my initial media use exercise because I just knew those sites don’t always have the most accurate information.

The famous television show, America’s Got Talent, has been under the microscope recently for supposedly being a toxic work environment. These claims were reported by one of the hosts from the show, Gabrielle Union. Gabrielle was reportedly fired after speaking up about what she believes in; racial equality and woman’s rights.

Being someone who watches the show, it was clear to me that Gabrielle had very strong opinions on the contestants and seemed to be particularly keen to the more ethnic contestants. I find nothing wrong in what she was trying to do for the show and that was to shed more light on some of the contestants that may have been overlooked if she had not been a judge. I am not saying that this show is racist in any way, but she was able to connect more with certain contestants than other judges on the show could.

An article posted by The Washington Post goes into more detail about what really happened behind the scenes of this incident. This article was done by Elahe Izadi and the title of it is “Gabrielle Union’s firing from ‘America’s Got Talent’ draws celebrity condemnation and an investigation”.

A statement from NBC was included in this article and states that they take matters like this very seriously and work very closely with those involved in the matter in order to get the situation resolved. This article also incorporated stories from other news sources like Variety to add credibility. Although this adds different perspectives to the article, it also states that the source of the information was anonymous. This makes it difficult to know for sure if what is being said is accurate.

The incorporation of tweets from people affected by this situation add great insight as to how big of an issue this is. People are standing up for Gabrielle for not letting anything stop her from standing up for what she believes in. Many were upset with the fact that she was getting fired for something that should not be punishable.

After reading thoroughly through this article, I find it to be fairly credible. The Washington Post is overall a very credible source, but this article in particular included some sources that were questionable to me. They did not seem to provide much information or details about what specifically happened, but more so on the reactions of those involved.

To help verify some of the information provided, the article contained several hyperlinks. One hyperlink provided leads to an article from Deadline which goes into more detail about the statement given by NBC. This is beneficial for the readers so that we are getting the whole story and not just from the eyes of Gabrielle.

I tried to find one of the first articles reported on this topic to see where it all started, but it does lack very crucial information that more recent articles provide. An article from Fox News published yesterday offers more input from the other judges on the show. It seems as though no one else felt the same way as Gabrielle did. Heidi Klum, a previous judge, said “to me, everyone treats you with utmost respect”. Terry Cruz even said that it was one of the best experiences he has ever had in his life.

Based on information from other sources, I find that the initial article from The Washington Post did not provide much information at all and was more of a reaction to the claims that were reported. Since the article title had “investigation” in it, I was anticipating more of the whole story. With that being said, I would give this article a C letter grade.

Our story today focuses on a young artist you may have heard of: Billie Eilish. Margaret Abrams writes a piece called Billie Eilish: ‘I’ve worried that I was going to become the stereotype that everybody thinks every young artist becomes’  for The Evening Standard. This piece is particularly important because it delves into what young artists think we (listeners) expect of them – in their career, their body, etc.

Billie is raises the topic of body image quite often, as she is known for wearing baggy clothing so that people don’t just judge her body.

In this article, Billie relates herself to Britney Spears – another singer who had her beginnings as a teen popstar, but took a turn for the worst when she shaved her hair off from being under too much pressure. Billie does not want to end up like that, nor does she want people to have those expectations of her… which is why it’s easier for her to simply hide off a large portion of herself physically to prevent those expectations.

Now, diving into the actual source of this piece! A large portion of the article is based off of a Vogue interview with Eilish, which IS linked. It seems as though this author read the Vogue article and picked the pieces that are particularly relevant to her topic, which I find smart! It condensed this long interview into a smaller more digestible article to make a point relating to body image and mental health.

Abrams presents Eilish as a relatable figure, as she quotes Eilish saying, “I just hated my body. I would have done anything to be in a different one. I really wanted to be a model, really bad, and I was chubby and short.” A feeling we’ve all experienced in one way or another.

Another source Abrams uses is Eilish’s ad for Calvin Klein where she explains why she wears the baggy clothes: “Nobody can have an opinion because they haven’t seen what’s underneath. Nobody can be like, ‘She’s slim-thick,’ ‘She’s not slim-thick,’ ‘She’s got a flat a**,’ ‘She’s got a fat a**.’ No one can say any of that because they don’t know.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeMmUglv6wA&feature=emb_title

Other than Vogue and Calvin Klein, there aren’t any other relevant sources cited. The other links included are directed to other articles about Billie Eilish produced by the Evening Standard, but don’t necessarily have to do with the article’s core topic.

A quick search into author Margaret Abrams, and we can see she is a regular writer for the Evening Standard – primarily celebrity news. This does build her credibility and secures her spot as an established writer at least for this outlet.

Many of her articles are of a similar model in that she finds information straight from a celebrity interview or their social media and writes her pieces based off that. For example, she wrote an article about Jameela Jamil coming out as queer. She directly sources Jamil’s Twitter post:

https://twitter.com/jameelajamil/status/1225165342965669888?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fd-3132077297446485075.ampproject.net%2F2001251659540%2Fframe.html

While I thoroughly enjoyed this article and felt it touched on a very important topic, I wish the author had built her article out a little bit more. It would have been more multi-dimensional with a few more sources.

One story that came out recently had to do with Billie Eilish’s vacation to Hawaii with her friends. Eilish shared Instagram content in a bikini and her fans came to her defense as she was being shamed about these photos of her body.  This would have been a valuable addition to the article because it directly relates to what Eilish was quoted saying in the Vogue interview: “It’s funny, because when you’re a little kid, you don’t think of your body at all. And all of a sudden, you look down and you’re, like, whoa. What can I do to make this go away?” You know what makes someone want their developing body to go away? Public shame!

All in all, Abrams did a good job outlining Vogue’s interview with Billie Eilish and citing credible sources. I don’t think she did a good job of persuasion in her own words, she heavily relied on her sources to do the work for her. That said, it doesn’t mean she didn’t get the point across. For those reasons, I give her story a ‘B’ letter grade.