Borderzine wins one 0f ’50 States for Good’ grants from Tom’s of Maine

By |

Borderzine, a bilingual journalism training program based at The University of Texas at El Paso, has been selected as one of 52 winners from across the country in the seventh annual Tom’s of Maine “50 States for Good” community giving program. Borderzine was selected to represent the state of Texas and will receive $20,000 to fund its mission of transforming U.S. newsrooms into more inclusive workplaces that reflect the nation’s demographic diversity by placing more young journalists of color in news internships and jobs. “This generous gift from Tom’s of Maine advances in significant ways Borderzine’s mission to prepare a young generation of multicultural journalists that reflects and interprets the real story of immigration and the borderlands for the rest of America,” said Zita Arocha, director of Borderzine and associate professor in UTEP’s Department of Communication. Specifically, the funds will be used for a combination of internships, technical support for the Borderzine website and recruitment efforts for Borderzine’s annual high school journalism workshop. The contest’s process began with community members taking to social media pages to share #OneWaytoHelp their communities, amassing nearly 10,000 submissions.

Borderzine and Univision 26 showcase the next generation of bilingual journalists

By |

EL PASO – A special collaboration between Borderzine and Noticias Univision 26, one of the biggest media outlets in the borderland, gave the opportunity to four bilingual students majoring in multimedia journalism at UT El Paso to showcase their journalistic abilities. Journalism students Mabel Gutierrez, Sara Villegas, Esther Jurado and Daniel Alvarez worked with Channel 26-KINT TV on a special assignment focusing on the university and student life. All four of them shot, edited and wrote their own stories which aired on the Spanish-language TV station. The constantly shifting media landscape in the contemporary world has created a new type of journalist. Multimedia journalists, or MMJ’s, are able to produce a stories on their own that used to be done with a crew of two or more people.

Borderzine multimedia experience leads to journalism career opportunities

By |

It’s been five years since my wife Danya and I first walked into the Cotton Memorial building for our introduction to journalism class at the University of Texas at El Paso. This is where we met our mentors David Smith Soto, Zita Arocha, and Lourdes Cueva Chacon. And where we learned the countless lessons we referenced every day at our internships and now at our jobs working for a daily newspaper. I was a creative writer at heart and felt comfortable with my storytelling abilities. Danya was an artistic photographer and felt comfortable telling visual stories.

Borderzine announces selected participants for fifth Dow Jones Multimedia Training Academy

By |

 

EL PASO — Twelve journalism instructors have been selected to participate in the fifth annual Dow Jones Multimedia Training Academy in early June at the University of Texas in El Paso. Thanks to a grant provided by the Dow Jones News Fund, Borderzine organizes this fifth annual workshop training geared to multimedia journalism instructors who teach in institutions with a large Hispanic population. The chosen instructors come from seven states and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico:

Celeste Gonzalez de Bustamante, University of Arizona
Christopher Temple Northup, University of Houston
Jay Seidel, Fullerton College
Joe Hale Cutbirth, Manhathan College
Kirstie Elizabeth Hettinga, California Lutheran University
Laura Lynn Camden, Northern Arizona University
Michael Vincent Marcotte, University of New Mexico
Michele D. Mohr, Morton College
Richard Eugene Brunson, University of Central Florida
Susannah Nesmith, Barry University
Tsitsi D. Wakhisi, University of Miami
Yadira Nieves-Pizarro, Inter American University

This intense multimedia-journalism academy has a proven track record of four successful years helping journalism educators acquire a new skill set in multimedia production. “The trainers at the academy understand what educators need to learn about new and emerging technologies to better prepare their students for the fast-changing future” said Linda Shockley, Deputy Director of Dow Jones News Fund. “This quality of instruction at absolutely no cost to participants and their universities is priceless.”

The goal of this experience is to learn and practice new storytelling skills through the use of current technology.

Multimedia journalism academy gives teachers time to learn

By |

On a Saturday morning in early June, a UTEP classroom buzzed with anticipation as students sat in front of computers and watched demonstrations on the brave new world of multimedia journalism. Their teachers were seasoned pros in the arts of sound recording, social media, videography, web programming, and much more. The students themselves were professionals in a different regard; they were university professors who had traveled from all over the country to participate in the fourth annual Dow Jones Multimedia Training Academy hosted by UTEP. By the end of their five-day intensive program, the group of journalism teachers had learned to beat the El Paso summer heat as well as how to use the technology available to them to educate upcoming generations of reporters. The group included representatives from the University of Arizona, San Diego City College, Arizona State University, North Texas University, California State University at Long Beach, Texas State University, Texas Christian University, Illinois State University,Central Michigan University, Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez, Florida International University and the University of Oklahoma.

Al Día editor Carbajal – Journalism today must consider language, culture, identity

By |

EL PASO – As a reporter prepares to write an article, he tweets his audiences informing them how the story is going to develop and then rushes to write a short-short piece for online publication. That’s not your old man’s journalism – that’s today’s reporting. “That’s a story, short story, kind of what we call an AP lede. They are just telling us what happened right away. That’s all we need to know,” said Alfredo Carbajal, Editor of Al Día, a weekly Spanish language newspaper in Dallas.

(Raymundo Aguirre/Borderzine.com)

UTEP and El Paso provide the perfect crucible for a new kind of journalism in Borderzine

By |

EL PASO – As the traditional delivery of news by newspapers and television stations weakened during the past decade, swept aside by the Internet and the Great Recession, a new medium driven by the college journalism classroom has gained strength in local news coverage. Our Internet magazine, Borderzine.com, published by the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) as the keystone of its journalism curriculum is a good example of this new media concept that marries journalism training, local coverage, and funding from nonprofit organizations. The transfer of some traditional revenue sources to Internet media has forced some “old” media to cut staffs and curtail coverage. Some were forced into bankruptcy. While my alma mater, The Miami Herald is still in business, its publisher has announced that the majestic Herald building on Biscayne Bay was sold to a Malaysian resort developer and the newspaper will have to move out.

Unwritten rules guide homeless in Imperial Valley

By |

EL CENTRO, Calif. – Vagabonds, vagrants, transients, nomads, hobos, or even the more polite term we use for them, the less fortunate. There are plenty of names for them, but they all refer to the homeless – a subculture of our society that some people often feel uncomfortable with. We often encounter them on a daily basis. At the end of freeway off-ramps, in city parks, fast food restaurants, or sitting outside our own homes under a shady tree.

Imperial Valley has its first film and art festival

By |

EL CENTRO, Calif.–A new and different kind of life was breathed into the abandoned Anchor Blue store in the Imperial Valley Mall over the weekend. Where teen togs once filled the retail space, the Imperial Valley’s first-ever film and art festival took place. The Inaugural Imperial Valley Film Festival & Artist Showcase featured works by artists who live in or were raised in the Imperial Valley. All films were produced by valley residents or were shot in the valley by independent directors. Most of the art was heavily influenced by the experiences of living near a depressed border.

Borderzine.com to host second Multimedia Journalism Academy for college instructors at UTEP

By |

EL PASO — Borderzine.com at The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) is set to host its second annual Multimedia Training Academy thanks to generous support from the Dow Jones News Fund. The $24,000 grant from Dow Jones News Fund provides scholarships to 12 journalism professors from Hispanic Serving Institutions across the country to attend the multimedia training academy at UTEP May 20-26.  After the week of hand’s on training in the latest digital tools for producing multimedia journalism, the professors will complete multimedia assignments in the field for posting on the Borderzine.com website. “The Dow Jones News Fund is delighted to partner for a second year with The University of Texas at El Paso and its Multimedia Training Academy,” said Rich Holden, executive director of DJNF. “I had the privilege of visiting last year’s program, and I was impressed with the facilities, the quality of training and the interest shown by all of the participants.

Read all about it – some last words for the printed word

By |

EL PASO, Texas — Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to honor the heroes, the visionaries, the martyrs, the teachers, the mentors and the smart-asses that have contributed to the legacy of Print Media here at the University of Texas at El Paso. In these times of great technological advancement, the souls that lie buried in the ink of the pages that challenged authority, informed the populous and bled perspective will never be forgotten. In our borderland, the border we face is not only that which divides our twin cities. We also approach an epochal border, moving into a digital age where the blog is the new editorial, craigslist is the new classified ads and RSS feeds are the new paperboys. On November 2, 2009, former ABC White House correspondent Sam Donaldson announced the creation of a new degree at UTEP: Multimedia Journalism.

My intern advice: if you don’t ask questions, you never learn

By |

EL PASO, Texas — As a senior majoring in multimedia journalism at UTEP I knew I had to obtain some work experience in my field to get my foot in the door after I graduate. This semester I was able to land an internship with KVIA ABC 7 to learn how to become a producer. Being a news junkie I thought I had this in the bag. This was not the case. Although I eventually got the hang of it, I first had to learn how to overcome obstacles.

Borderzine.com launches “Mexodus” – a multimedia-reporting project on the exodus of Mexicans fleeing violence – with a $25,000 journalism grant

By |

El Paso, Texas –– A team of UTEP student reporters working with an experienced bilingual journalist will develop and publish a multimedia project for Borderzine.com examining the exodus of middle-class Mexicans and businesses from the northern border and other parts of Mexico because of increasing levels of crime and drug violence. The project, called “Mexodus” and funded by a $25,000 grant from the Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation, examines the economic, education and cultural impact of the growing out migration from Mexico to El Paso and other areas. According to one estimate, more than 400,000 Mexican citizens have fled the country in the last three years. Mexico recently reported more than 28,000 drug war-related deaths since 2006. “We are proud to support projects like this one at UTEP which reinforce best practices in investigative journalism and multimedia in a university classroom setting and set a high standard for similar student projects elsewhere,” said Bob Ross, President and CEO of Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation.

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

By |

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.

Border students practice multimedia in Journalism in July workshop at UTEP

By |

EL PASO, Texas – Journalism in July is a one-week summer workshop that brought high school students and future journalists from El Paso and Ciudad Juarez to the UTEP campus to learn how to be multimedia journalists. The workshop, which began July 9, and ended a week later, is in its eighth year and has evolved from a print media program into a multimedia program. In this transition, it has emulated what has happened in the real world of media where journalists had to develop multimedia skills to keep their work modern and more available to readers. A total of 21 students attended the workshop sponsored by UTEP and the Dow Jones Newspaper Fund. They came from the border region and included two students from Preparatoria El Chamizal in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.