Hispanic Link premiado por cobertura sobre Rubén Salazar

Por Bianca Fortis

Escritores de Hispanic Link News Service ganaron homenajes en tres de nueve categorías periodísticas durante el segundo banquete de premios anual de New America Media (NAM) en Washington, D.C. el 15 de febrero. La competencia, para noticias o variedades publicadas o emitidas en el 2010, fue auspiciada en cooperación con la Escuela de Comunicaciones de la American University, con el fin de dar reconocimiento a la excelencia de los medios étnicos en la región metropolitana de Washington, D.C. Más de 100 entregas de prensa escrita y transmitida en nueve idiomas fueron juzgadas por paneles políglotas de periodistas y educadores del periodismo. Se unieron doscientos invitados al brindis realizado en la sede de la Universidad de California en la capital.  NAM vincula una red de más de 700 organizaciones noticiosas. Los periodistas de Hispanic Link ganaron dos de los premios más importantes y otro de segundo lugar, “mención honorífica” por sus entregas. Frank O. Sotomayor ganó en la categoría de Mejor Noticia de Investigación, por su narrativa de 2.800 palabras, “La muerte extraña de Rubén Salazar — ¿Accidente o asesinato?” publicada el 10 de noviembre en el semanario de Hispanic Link y distribuida a nivel nacional por Scripps Howard News Service.

Hispanic Link’s Salazar coverage wins award

By Bianca Fortis

Hispanic Link News Service writers won honors in three of the nine featured journalism categories at New America Media’s second annual Washington, D.C. awards banquet Feb. 15. The competition, for news or features published or broadcast in 2010, was cosponsored by the American University School of Communications to recognize ethnic media excellence in the Greater Washington region. More than 100 print and broadcast submissions in nine languages were judged by panels of multilingual journalists and journalism educators. Two hundred invited guests joined in the salute, conducted at the capital’s University of California headquarters building.

Media Report – February 11, 2011

LATINO MEDIA REACTION

Response by the Latino media to President Obama’s Jan. 25 State of the Union speech was, for the most part, a positive one, with headlines such as “Obama pide esfuerzo bipartidista para ganar el futuro,” found in Univisión.com

Univisión and Galavisión offered voice-over translation of the live speech. As did other print and broadcast media, San Antonio’s weekly La Prensa highlighted a number of issues of greatest concern to the Spanish-speaking community. It stressed, “Immigration reform and the DREAM Act are still priorities of  President Barack Obama, according to statements from the White House,” and continued, “This is the third time that the President defends the need for immigration reform in a speech before Congress.”

With education being at the top of the list as the means to “win the future,” Obama took the opportunity to mention the “hundreds of thousands of students excelling in our schools who are not American citizens.”

He urged Congress to work in harmony in addressing once and for all the issues of illegal immigration and to “stop expelling talented and responsible young people who could be staffing our research labs or starting a new business, further enriching this nation.”

In a column syndicated by Hispanic Link News Service, José de la Isla, author of The Rise of Hispanic Political Power, saw the President’s comments as “an interesting juxtaposition of student situations.”

“Had the DREAM Act passed, the ‘best and brightest” U.S. resident students it covered already would have been home” de la Isla said. In Obama’s plan for innovation, research for cleaner energy technologies plays a big role to increase job opportunities and compete with other nations.

La muerte del periodista Salazar: ¿accidente o asesinato?

Read this story in English

Dos primos mexicanos mueren a manos de la policía de Los Ángeles en un caso de identidad errónea. Dos agentes del Departamento de Policía de Los Ángeles (LAPD por sus siglas en inglés) le dan una advertencia a un importante periodista referente a su cobertura del fusilamiento. Poco después, el mismo periodista se reúne con altos funcionarios de la U.S. Civil Rights Commission (Comisión sobre los Derechos Civiles de EE.UU.) para decirles que sospecha que está siendo perseguido por la policía. Saca todo de su billetera y despeja el escritorio de su oficina. Días más tarde, está muerto por un proyectil de gas lacrimógeno de 10 pulgadas de largo que disparó un asistente del alguacil de Los Ángeles.

Journalist Rubén Salazar’s Death — Accident or Assassination?

40 Years Later, Questions Persist

Lea esta historia en español

Two Mexican cousins are killed by Los Angeles police in a case of mistaken identity. A prominent journalist is cautioned by two LAPD officers about his coverage of the shootings. A short time later, the journalist meets with staffers of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission and tells them he suspects he’s being followed by police. He cleans out his wallet and clears off his office desk. Days later, he is dead.

Media Report – November 15, 2010

CONGRATULATIONS

The National Association of Hispanic Journalists announced Nov.9 winners of its video contest “Tell Us Your Story.” Jackie Díaz of Silver Spring, Md., won in the professional category, and Paula Machado of Central Florida University won in the student category. In the announcement Ada Alvarez wrote, “As journalists, we tell stories every day. We represent those who wouldn’t have a voice if no one told their story. This time, 15 people told theirs.”

NAHJ is increasing its efforts to return to financial stability. Its 2010 convention did not produce enough revenue.

No chUTEP without chU

WASHINGTON D.C. — Hey, there’s a brave new world out there! It’s been almost two years since my graduation from college and I was very happy to have a chance to walk around the UTEP campus and run into Ms. Esther Barragan last week, who was a major part of ensuring that my experience at UTEP was filled with internships. We talked about a lot of concerns that she has been hearing from students who are a little shy about doing things like taking an internships or studying abroad, which sounds like basically a fear of doing anything outside of El Paso. I would like to spend the next couple lines sharing how doing just those things made me able to have a “Why not?” attitude, which has really helped me to find a fun life in Washington, D.C.

When I was a junior at chUTEP, do you guys still call it that? Hopefully somebody will put that on a t-shirt, which can be very lucrative for clubs.

Hispanic Link Founder Charles Ericksen Still Going Strong at 80

As the sun rises over the nation’s capital, Charlie Ericksen takes the elevator down from his seventh floor apartment to his office on the first floor. In that office on N Street, Ericksen is touching the lives of aspiring journalists and changing the way mainstream media covers the Latino community. Ericksen, 80, is the managing editor and founder of Hispanic Link, a syndicated bilingual news column published by dozens of news outlets nationwide. He founded the Link in 1980 because he felt the Latino community was not getting adequate coverage and opportunities from other news outlets. In 1979, there were three Puerto Rican reporters nationwide, according to Ericksen. Many issues, he said, were seen from the perspective of “black and white,” and mainstream media rarely covered stories that affected Latino residents.