Mike "Sarge" Preston, Program Director and DJ at KOFX 92.3

The faces behind the voices of radio disc jockeys

EL PASO – While you listen to your favorite song during your commute to work, there is a small team of radio disc jockeys pulling levers, pushing buttons, flicking switches and orchestrating the entire three-four minute performance. This is an inside look into the lives of three DJs and the DJ booth. Sarge Preston, Jojo Garcia and Victor Cruz are three local radio DJs at KFOX 92.3. The three DJs have a combined 91 years of experience. Their time spent on air is a very small part of their daily job responsibilities but it is also the favorite part of their workday.

With my youngest daughter at a field trip. (Photo courtesy of Francis Regalado)

My college degree is in sight despite all the obstacles

EL PASO – Ever since high school, I was categorized as one of the students who could never get a college degree, but now I am only months away from earning my diploma at the University of Texas at El Paso, part of the first generation in my family to graduate from college. In high school they had two kinds of plans, the advanced and the general plan. The advanced plan was for those students identified as college material and the general plan was for those students tagged only as high school graduates. My first D in geometry prompted the counselors to switch me to the general plan. Although they said I could still attend college, they pulled me out of geometry and put me in consumer math, which was an interesting class but not a class I feel I really needed.

Veteran White House correspondent, Sam Donaldson at the University of Texas at El Paso. (Robert Brown/Borderzine.com)

Sam Donaldson – From El Paso to covering the White House and back to his alma mater

EL PASO — The legendary, the tenacious, the former White House correspondent Sam Donaldson has earned many titles along his successful trek in journalism, but it all began in this southwestern border city. Donaldson, 78, is a veteran reporter for ABC news who does not hesitate at the opportunity to visit his former University of Texas at El Paso to talk about his passion for journalism and politics. Donaldson is best known for serving three times as ABC’s White House Correspondent covering presidents Carter, Reagan and Clinton. He covered the war in Vietnam, the Watergate trials and was the first anchor of ABC’s Sunday Evening News. “I enjoy talking to people who are interested in the news business and interested in the things that I have done from the stand point of learning about those,” Donaldson told Borderzine before taking the stage of UTEP’s Centennial Lecture Series on March 26.

Journalist, Mentor George Ramos, winner of three Pulitzers, dies at 63

The death of George Ramos, recognized journalist and educator, has created a void that aches in the countless hearts of those he touched in his lifetime. At age 63, Ramos had become the prime example of what devotion to journalism and the community he served really is. Who would have guessed that this Chicano boy born in Los Angeles would grow up to win three Pulitzer prizes? Ramos was once quoted saying, “I can’t just sit on my laurels. I didn’t get into journalism for the rewards.

Me gradúo y ahora… ¡Todo!

EL PASO — Hace unos días platicaba con un amigo sobre mis sentimientos de incertidumbre hacia el futuro fuera de la universidad. Le comentaba como, de cierta forma, me arrepentía de haber tomado cinco clases por semestre, clases de verano, cursos extras, y demás por lo cual me comentó, “Es carrera, no carreritas.” Me quedé boquiabierta y comprendí que tenía razón. Como quisiera haber escuchado tal refrán hace cuatro años. Entusiasmada por la vida universitaria, estudié más que nunca. Desde el primer día me dediqué a mis clases al cien por ciento, sentía que me podía comer el mundo entero.

Juárez journalists win the 2011 Knight International Journalism Award by exposing the epidemic of violence and fear brought on by the drug war

EL PASO – Juárez journalists, Rocío Idalia Gallegos Rodríguez and Sandra Rodríguez Nieto, were awarded the 2011 Knight International Journalism Award last week for their investigative work on El Diario De Juárez, in the world’s most violent city. The award symbolizes a “valuable recognition” of the work of journalists in Ciudad Juárez, Rodríguez said. She hopes that it also will change the commonly believed notion that Mexican reporters on the border have been silenced by the lawlessness in the embattled city. Joyce Barnathan, president of the International Center for Journalism said, “These extraordinary journalists dare to tell stories that few have the courage to address. Because of them, we have an essential understanding of the tragedies faced by citizens in México.”

Rodríguez’ and Gallegos’ investigative reporting has done much to expose corrupt government officials and the ruthless drug cartels battling for control in Juárez and other parts of México.

Freedom of the press cowers under fire in México

EL PASO — The June 20 shooting deaths of a journalist, his wife, and their 21-year-old son in their home in Veracruz, México, underscore the assessment by a Washington human rights organization that México no longer has a free press. Freedom House dropped México’s ranking to a “partly free” country citing the innumerable threats to the country’s media independence in the current climate of drug-war violence. México was listed as “partly free” in large part because of the self-censorship, violent and deadly attacks on journalists, and a feeling of fear that has taken over the nation. The murders of Miguel Ángel López Velasco, 55, a columnist for the daily newspaper Notiver and his son Misael López, a photographer for Notiver are more atrocities in an unrelenting series of criminal actions against Mexican journalists. Mexico’s National Commission on Human Rights estimates that in the past 10 years 83 Mexican journalists have been killed or have disappeared.

La muerte de la noticia: Muchas crónicas quedan sin publicar debido a los asesinatos de periodistas latinoamericanos

Análisis de Tyler Bridges

Read this story in English

Dos vehículos utilitarios interceptaron el automóvil de Valentín Valdés Espinosa en el centro de Saltillo, México. Unos matones armados obligaron al reportero de asignaciones generales de 29 años de edad a entrar en uno de los autos. Sucedió poco antes de la medianoche del 7 de enero de 2010. En los días precedentes, Valdés Espinosa había informado agresivamente sobre el arresto de varios narcotraficantes en esa ciudad norteña de México para su periódico, El Zócalo de Saltillo, y había cometido el pecado cardinal de identificarlos por nombre. En otro artículo, Valdés Espinosa había identificado a un agente policial que fue arrestado por estar en la nómina de los narcotraficantes.

Killing the news: Stories go untold as Latin American journalists die

Analysis by Tyler Bridges

Lea esta historia en español

Two SUVs intercepted Valentín Valdés Espinosa’s car in downtown Saltillo, Mexico. Gun-wielding thugs forced the 29-year-old general assignment reporter into a vehicle. It was shortly before midnight on Jan. 7, 2010. In the preceding days, Valdés Espinosa had aggressively reported the arrest of several drug traffickers in the northern Mexico city — and had committed the cardinal sin of identifying them by name — for his newspaper, the Zócalo de Saltillo.

Sam Donaldson — The new media wields a double-edged sword

EL PASO, Texas — Innovations in technology —more specifically the Internet— have changed every aspect of media, transforming journalism into a swift double-edged digital sword, according to veteran ABC News reporter Sam Donaldson. Donaldson told students at his Alma Mater, the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) Tuesday that, “Everyone today thinks they are a journalist. Everyone shoots off their mouths on the Internet. To some extent this is a problem. I would prefer to listen to someone who is presenting stuff that is factual.”

The borderland native attended Texas Western College, now UTEP, and began his TV career in 1977 as a correspondent for ABC News.

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.

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.

Periodistas mexicanos piden asilo político en Estados Unidos

EL PASO, Texas — Tres periodistas mexicanos, que esperan recibir asilo político en los Estados Unidos, expusieron los peligros y amenazas sufridas durante el ejercicio de la profesión en su país en una rueda de prensa en esta ciudad el 21 de septiembre. De igual forma condenaron la muerte de alrededor de 68 de sus colegas desde el año 2000 y urgieron al presidente Felipe Calderón Hinojosa para que dimitiera pues su gobierno no garantiza la seguridad de los comunicólogos, ni de los mexicanos. Durante la conferencia, en la que participaron diversos medios internacionales, los expatriados patentizaron la confianza de que el mandatario, Barack Obama, les conceda estatus legal, después de que esta semana en Washington se aprobara el asilo solicitado por el reportero chihuahuense, Jorge Luis Aguirre. “Felipe Calderón es el principal responsable de los actos criminales que ocurren en México; es, sin lugar a dudas, un genocida”, dijo, el ex-reportero de El Diario del Noreste, en Ascensión, Chihuahua, Emilio Gutiérrez Soto. Y agregó: “Debe ser llevado ante los juzgados internacionales para que responda por los crímenes constantes que se dan a diario en mi patria en donde no existe una sola familia que no haya sido tocada”.

Los sicarios toman la palabra en México

EL PASO, Texas — Emilio Gutiérrez quiere tener voz, sin embargo, sufre una afonía inusual. Un padecimiento que ni médicos, ni sociólogos, ni siquiatras pueden resolver. Y es que desde hace un tiempo para acá intentaron cortar sus cuerdas vocales (su libertad de expresión). Aunque en honor a la verdad, tuvo mejor suerte que muchos de sus colegas. A ellos, cerca de 30, no solo les truncaron las palabras, también los borraron de sobre la faz de la tierra.

Assassins gun down two young journalists in Juárez

Borderzine contributor Jago Molinet wrote this story in the newsroom of El Diario of El Paso a few hours after two young colleagues were gunned down in Juarez, Mexico. Molinet told me he wrote this in anger and frustration and as he wrote, his anger and frustration only grew. As I translated the article into English, I saw that he also wrote this lament with love, love for his fallen brothers and love for a profession that too often in Mexico today demands a journalist’s life. —David Smith-Soto, Borderzine Executive Editor

[Lea esta historia en español]

EL PASO, Texas — The news spread like wildfire through the newsroom —two young photojournalists from El Diario gunned down in Ciudad Juárez… one dead, one wounded. They went to lunch and ended up splashed in their own blood, riddled by bullets blasted from the empty minds of unscrupulous assassins.

Dos jóvenes periodistas caen baleados en Juárez

El fotógrafo de El Diario de Juárez Luis Carlos Santiago Orozco, de 21 años, fue asesinado  y su acompañante, el fotógrafo Carlos Manuel Sánchez de 18 años, resultó herido de dos impactos de bala en la tarde de Septiembre 16 en el estacionamiento del centro comercial Río Grande Mall en Ciudad Juárez. Hay golpes en la vida, tan fuertes… ¡Yo no sé! Los Heraldos Negros  de César Vallejo. (1918-“2010”)
[Read this story in English]

EL PASO, Texas — Fueron por comida y los cubrió la sangre.

Elio Leturia (far right) and his group of reporters, photojournalist John Freeman and multimedia professor Elizabeth Marsh, interviewing Kate Bonasinga, director of the Rubin Center. (Lourdes Cueva Chacón/Borderzine.com)

Dow Jones Multimedia Training Academy

Twelve journalism professors were welcomed in early June in El Paso where the temperature hit 110 degrees. “Summer started earlier for me,” I thought. We all had been selected to participate in a multimedia training geared to journalism professors who teach in cities with a large Hispanic population. The chosen states? California, Florida, Texas and Illinois.

La narcoguerrra sigue matando periodistas y la libertad de prensa mexicana

EL PASO, Texas — Siempre disfrutó el olor de los burritos. Los prefiere de nopales con huevo, de carne deshebrada, de chile rojo y verde. Jamás imaginó que tendría que dejar el periodismo para confeccionar platillos mexicanos. “Después de casi 30 años como reportero nunca pensé que los burritos salvarían mí vida”, dijo. Y agregó: “Aquí me vez, vendiéndolos entre mis amigos y viejos colegas”.

Pshh.

Internship blog

DALLAS, Texas — So just as I am psyched up for the week I have a moment of frustration. I walk into the office and there is actually some spot news breaking in the Dallas area. This would be a great thing had I been able to cover it. Unfortunately, this coverage started a couple of hours before I was set to be in the office and another reporter was already at the press conference by the time I got there 🙁

So there I was missing the action. To make things worse, during our daily staff meeting via conference call, the Houston editor has a tendency to forget I’m in the Dallas bureau.

Time is of the essence!

Internship blog

DALLAS, Texas — Well, 12 weeks may seem like plenty of time. It’s really not. After working last week (week two), and getting my weekly evaluation, I’m feeling a sense of urgency to get my enterprise stories written. I have been working on one in particular that I want to wrap up. It’s been challenging getting a few details squared away, but if all goes well, I should be able to have it done next week.

Red Ink

Internship Blog

DALLAS, Texas — Week one of 12 down! Well, it’s one when your job is to take a red pen to the copy. It’s another thing when the red pen is taken to your own copy. Before I graduated, I was copy editing for The Prospector so the red pen was in my hand. It’s inevitable with being a reporter that editors go over your stories with the red pen.

Day One With the AP

Internship Blog
DALLAS, Texas — Well, I survived the first day. It started out routinely enough, I left way too early in the morning to make sure I wouldn’t arrive late. Driving on 635 in Dallas can be slow at best during rush hour so now I know how long it takes to get to work about 15 minutes early and not almost an hour early (unlike today). I met mostly everyone in the bureau and was happy to find that my colleagues have good senses of humor. —Newsrooms can be intense and it’s great when people can find a little humor in the small stuff.

C-ya ‘round suckas!

EL PASO, Texas — It is The Prospector tradition that the graduating seniors write a goodbye column.
 So, now that my time here at UTEP is coming to a close, I can’t help but take a look back at my journey. Years ago, if anyone asked me what I was going to do with my life, I would not have had an answer. But now that I am graduating, I am excited to say that I have an answer to that question –a journalist. There are many people out there that will say that journalism is a dying field and that the odds of finding a job are slim. The truth is that journalism is an evolving field and this is a very exciting time to be entering the workforce.

Making The Most Out Of It

EL PASO, Texas — Every semester we hear from our teachers as well as guest speakers that internships are vital if you ever want to land a job. Most companies will not hire anyone unless they have some kind of previous experience. As journalism students, we have chosen a career that can be very tough to break into. To make it in this business you have to stand out. You prepare yourself to be the best, to be ready to for the better job opportunity down the road.

Confessions of a first-time journalism professor

The things that made me drunk with disappointment, challenge and joy are countless—and they all occurred in a period of just 16 weeks last spring after I agreed to teach just one three-credit introductory journalism class.

UTEP features alumnus Alfredo Corchado

EL PASO — Alfredo Corchado’s fellow alumni, family and friends, gathered at University of Texas at El Paso recently to listen the award-winning Mexico Bureau Chief of the Dallas Morning News and this year’s Nieman Fellow at Harvard University. Since his graduation from UTEP in 1987, Corchado has focused his writing on border issues and he continues to mentor and inspire young journalists who show a similar passion for investigative reporting. His family has supported his hard work and dedication and benefited from his example, said Linda Corchado, Alfredo’s youngest sibling, a Swarthmore graduate. “I’m very proud of my brother. He really opened up the world to me and made it accessible.