Adapting to the Shrinking World of Television News

By |

EL PASO, Texas — The entire crew stood in the studio, which is where we have our station-wide meetings. There had been rumors that the station was being sold, cutbacks were being made and people were getting fired. It turned out that the station was not being sold. However, there were cutbacks and people were fired as a result of the country’s current economic crisis. This was a good  example of the current trend in television news. With the way things are going, many jobs are being consolidated into single positions. It’s something that our station has been doing for years. The job I currently hold as a graphic artist, is essentially three jobs at other stations. And the way things are going, those stations will be following suit. All this time I thought our station was cheap, but we were really trendsetters. The consolidation of jobs is not only evident in production but in news as well. Our station has hired its first official video-journalist, which is essentially a “one-man band” reporter/photographer.

Filmmaker Guillermo Arriaga Portraits ‘Other’ Realities of the Border

By |

LAS CRUCES, N.M. — Whether it’s a giant fence separating Mexico and the United States or a less tangible barrier like language between people, borders are evident in most of director Guillermo Arriaga’s films. His latest, The Burning Plain, is set in the city of  Las Cruces, New Mexico near the U.S.-Mexico border. “We’re tired that this is just a place of drugs and immigration. It’s also a place of love stories,” said Arriaga, at a press conference for a screening of his new film in Las Cruces. “Of course, there are also tensions because of it, but they are not the only reality.”

Arriaga has made a career telling the stories of ordinary people whose lives are intertwined in ways they never realized. The Burning Plain is no different and follows the story of several different people in different parts of the country.

Reporting on the Drug War, a Dangerous Business

By |

EL PASO — As the drug cartel violence in Ciudad Juárez continues to escalate, the news media on both sides of the border has continued to cover it. But now, the violence has spread to the newsrooms —getting the story is a job and a danger.