The National Association of Hispanic Journalists this week named Angela Kocherga who serves as news director for Borderzine and KTEP public radio as a 2023 Hall of Fame inductee. Also among the 2023 inductees is El Paso-based Alfredo Corchado, border correspondent with the Dallas Morning News and a distinguished UTEP graduate.
NAHJ’s Hall of Fame honors those journalists whose efforts have resulted in a greater number of Latinos entering the journalism profession or have helped to improve news coverage of the nation’s Latino community.
Kocherga is an Emmy winning multimedia journalist. At KTEP she reports in the field on border issues including migration, the border security buildup, binational health, and trade. She is an associate professor of practice in journalism at UT El Paso where she works with student journalists in the capstone Digital News Bureau course that produces Borderzine. Her recent work earned a national and several regional Edward R. Murrow Awards. She is a 2019 recipient of the Maria Moors Cabot prize awarded by Columbia University for courageous reporting in Latin America in recognition of her body of work on the border and across Mexico. Angela was chosen for the NAHJ’s 2023 Hall of Fame because of her outstanding contributions to journalism – including nuanced coverage of migrants, immigration policies, and the U.S.-Mexico border.
The Hall of Fame inductees will to be honored at the Hall of Fame Gala on July 15, 2023 during the NAHJ International Training Convention & Expo at the InterContinental Hotel in Miami.
The 2023 Hall of Fame inductees are: Alfredo Corchado, Correspondent for the Dallas Morning News; Angela Kocherga, News Director at KTEP; Lori Montenegro, Noticias Telemundo D.C. Bureau Chief; and Enrique Flor Zapler, Investigative Reporter at El Nuevo Herald (posthumous).
“The current selection of Hall of Fame recipients represents what NAHJ is all about – passion, commitment and a life dedicated to the advancement of Latinos in journalism. They represent the best in the fields of television, radio, print and digital media,” said NAHJ President Yvette Cabrera.
“This year’s Hall of Fame recipients have had long careers, broken barriers and shattered glass ceilings. They are trailblazers, role models and mentors each as exemplified by their body of work and service to their communities. Their long careers are a testament to not only their commitment to the communities they serve but also to the solid journalistic values they uphold, and showcase in their work. NAHJ is proud to honor them and thank them for their service and for representing us as Hispanic journalists.”
Alfredo Corchado, border correspondent for the Dallas Morning News covers U.S. policy in Latin America and U.S.-Mexico issues since 1993. A graduate of UTEP, he’s also reported from Washington and Cuba. Before joining the Dallas Morning News, Corchado worked in public radio on the border, the Ogden Standard-Examiner in Utah, El Paso Herald-Post and The Wall Street Journal. Winner of multiple awards including The Maria Moors Cabot award presented by Columbia University and the Elijah Parish Lovejoy prize presented by Colby College; he was a finalist for the Center For Public Integrity award in Washington for his reporting on Ciudad Juarez and the rise of a Mexican paramilitary group known as the Zetas. Corchado is a leading reporter on the drug-related violence that continues to dominate the border region and threaten Mexico’s national security and border communities. He served as a 2010 scholar at The Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington and was a Nieman Fellow in 2009 at Harvard University. He was also a visiting fellow at the David Rockefeller Center at Harvard. Corchado is the author of two books: Midnight in Mexico: A Reporter’s Journey (2013), and Homelands: Four Friends, Two Countries, and the Fate of the Great Mexican-American Migration (2018).
Lori Montenegro is Noticias Telemundo D.C. Bureau Chief. Montenegro is a fixture in Washington, D.C. journalism. She worked more than a dozen years as Noticias Telemundo’s correspondent in the nation’s capital, where she has also collaborated with NBC News and MSNBC. Prior to joining Telemundo, Montenegro spent three years as D.C. correspondent for Univision affiliates. Before that, she was foreign political affairs correspondent for the United States Information Agency (USIA) from 1991 through 1993. Montenegro was selected for the honor because of her outstanding contributions to journalism, unwavering commitment to helping Latinos in the news industry advance in their careers, and her dedication to the NAHJ.
Enrique Flor Zapler, Peruvian journalist and a leading figure in Spanish-language investigative journalism, participated in the investigative project “Nightmare Condos” working for el Nuevo Herald, a collaborative series between the newspaper and Univision 23 that exposed massive electoral fraud and corruption in elections on the boards of directors of condominium associations, embezzlement and fraudulent bids to award contracts. In addition to winning several journalistic awards, the investigative project forced a bipartisan bill in the Florida Legislature that changed condominium laws in the state. Enrique Flor Zapler was awarded the 2012 Herald Hero Award for exposing a scheme of vote-by-mail fraud that implicated prominent political figures in Miami-Dade County. He also received awards from Fundación para un Nuevo Periodismo (2002), and the Inter-American Press Association (2001), for the investigative project “La Fábrica de Falsificación de Firmas (The False Signatures Mill)” set up by supporters of Alberto Fujimori to aspire in 2000 to a third presidential term in Peru. Enrique Flor Zapler passed away in 2023.
About NAHJ: The National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ) is the largest organization of Latino journalists in the United States and is dedicated to the recognition and professional advancement of Hispanics in the news industry. Established in April 1984, NAHJ created a national voice and unified vision for all Hispanic journalists. The mission of NAHJ is to increase the number of Latinos in the newsrooms and to work toward fair and accurate representation of Latinos in news media. NAHJ has over 4,300 members, including working journalists, journalism students, other media-related professionals and journalism educators.
