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NewsproT H E STAT E O F T V N EWS

SPECIAL SECTION

THINGTHEReeling From Fundamental Shifts in the News

Business, Hispanic Journalists Look to Training

By Debra KaufmanSpecial to TelevisionWeek

When the National Associa-tion of Hispanic Journalists meetsJune 24-27 in San Juan, PuertoRico, its members will focus onone topic: staying afloat in a tem-pestuous industry.

Navigating an increasinglytough journalism environment isa trend that has been addressed inprevious NAHJ conventions, butthe current economic downturnhas had a devastating impact onthe organization’s members.

“If people weren’t convincedbefore about the depth of changesgoing on in the news industry,they’re convinced now,” saysNAHJ executive director Ivan

Roman. “And they’re convincedthat we’re not talking about aproblem that will get better whenthe economy gets better. We’retalking about fundamental shiftsin how people produce and con-sume news and how it’s paid for.”

That means that attendees toNAHJ 2009 will find themselves ata radically different convention.“We blew up the model of whatthe NAHJ convention usually isand made it all about training,”said Miami Herald foreign corre-spondent Frances Robles, who isNAHJ 2009 programming co-chairwith Miami Herald AssistantWorld Editor Nancy San Martin.

Ms. Robles noted that pastNAHJ conventions have dealt with

issues impacting Hispanic commu-nities, from immigration to the cen-sus, but that the realities of being ajournalist in today’s tough environ-ment mandates a change in focus.

“As Nancy and I sat down andmade a list of what we needed, wekept in mind the number of peoplewho lost their jobs,” she said. “I’vebeen going to NAHJ for 15 yearsand we fell into a routine of goingover the same topics. Those seemirrelevant now that our journalisticworld is falling down around us. Weneed to be changing our careers.”

NAHJ President O. RicardoPimental concurred. “Before, wecould weigh in on issues large inthe media, and we still do some

Continued on Page 34

NAHJ@SAN JUANWho: The National Associa-tion of Hispanic JournalistsWhat: 27th AnnualConvention and Media& Career ExpoWhen: June 24-27, 2009Where: Puerto Rico Con-vention Center, San Juan,Puerto RicoDetails: NAHJ.org

INSIDEQ&A NAHJ President O. Ricardo Pimenallooks to the future. Page 30

NAHJ Hall of Fame Hispanic journalists welcome threenew inductees for 2009. Page 32

CalendarThe agenda for the NAHJ Conventionand Media & Career Expo. Page 34

LESSONS The NAHJ convention, to be held at the PuertoRico Convention Center, is offering 33 training sessions.

JOB’SJOB’SJOB’STHINGTHE

THETHE

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TTeelleevviissiioonnWWeeeekk:: As we go intoNAHJ 2009, how are the economyand, at the same time, the crisis inmedia impacting Hispanics in thenewsroom? Are Hispanic journalistslosing ground?

OO.. RRiiccaarrddoo PPiimmeenntteell:: Yes, theyare, particularly when viewed with-in a certain context. Hispanics arethe fastest-growing segment of ourpopulation, and yet their numbershave gone down in the nation’snewsrooms. This is borne out bythe ASNE’s (American Society ofNews Editors) most recent survey.

While the losses were not aspronounced for Hispanics as theywere for African Americans andAsians, it did occur. And in thecontext of the Hispanic popula-tion growth, any loss is puzzling,given that newspapers and broad-cast news have an obligation tocover the communities in theirmidst.

Part of this is a matter of lasthired/first fired. Minorities tend tobe on the lower rungs in the news-room. They’re often the youngerfolks. And in shops with union con-tracts, this could be a factor. Weplan to explore that issue, amongothers, in a proposed Unity sum-mit on diversity that we’re trying toconvene with various stakeholders

in August.It could also be a matter of folks

seeing the writing on the wall andbailing for other jobs out of thenews industry. Perhaps it’s a com-bination of factors, but in any case,the industry is ill-served by notpaying more attention to retentionof minorities, even in this econom-ic downturn.

TTVVWWeeeekk:: What other events havebeen seminal over the last year forHispanic journalists andreaders/viewers?

MMrr.. PPiimmeenntteell:: The economicdownturn is the shadow that castsa pall on all of us right now. It hascaused newspapers and TV sta-tions to cut staff. And they’re doingit, in my view, without properregard to what’s lost when it comesto diversity and what’s lost whendiversity suffers. The ability to cov-er various communities suffers.

But that’s not to say that whenthe economy gets better, our trou-bles go away. I think there’s some-thing more fundamental happen-ing in media that the industry isgoing to have to pay attention to,meaning changes in how peopleconsume news and how advertis-ers buy advertising. These thingswill not go away just because the

economy gets better. The industrywill need to pay more attention tothis, and to their credit, a lot offolks are.

TTVVWWeeeekk:: Do you believe that apaucity of Latino journalists willnegatively impact coverage of issuesrelevant to the Hispanic communi-ty?

MMrr.. PPiimmeenntteell:: The whole immi-gration issue, while that’s not theonly issue affecting Hispanics,looms large. We worry about anews industry’s ability to coversuch a complex issue when youdon’t have the people on staff whounderstand all the nuances andsensibilities inherent to the issue.The election of President Obamaheralds a potential for broadimmigration reform to occur,which means that it will be in thenews even more than it has been.And the announcement by theDepartment of Homeland Securityto focus on employers rather thanjust workers also has implications

for how people will cover this sto-ry. But it all comes down to ifyou’re going to have the people in-house to cover the story.

TTVVWWeeeekk:: What has the NAHJbeen doing over the last year toimprove the situation of Hispanicjournalists?

MMrr.. PPiimmeenntteell:: We have looked atways internally that we can helpmembers who have lost jobs find

jobs. It has become somewhat of afull-time task for one member ofour staff. In addition, we are craft-ing training programs aside fromthe ones held at our convention.We’ll take this training out on theroad to the various regions, inkeeping with what we’ve donebefore. The need has never been asdire as it is now. It’s all about mem-bership services for us these days.We’ve had to focus on helping ourmembers stay afloat.

TTVVWWeeeekk:: What about the nextgeneration of Hispanic journalists?Are Hispanic youth gravitatingtoward careers in journalism ornot?

MMrr.. PPiimmeenntteell:: We’ve not foundany loss of appetite among the stu-dents to go to these programs. Ithink there is broad recognition,even in journalism schools, thatjournalism will survive in someform. What form that takes is a bigquestion. But one thing everyone isfairly certain of is that it’ll be amultimedia future. Reporters can’tjust be print reporters and TVreporters can’t just be TV reporters.

TTVVWWeeeekk:: Does new media offermore possibilities for Hispanic jour-nalists?

MMrr.. PPiimmeenntteell:: One of the brightspots of the ASNE survey was theincrease in diversity among onlinestaff. I think new media does repre-sent opportunity for entrepreneur-ial journalism, for creating your

own Web sites. The barrier to entryhas become much easier.

What we have to watch for iswhether the kind of big journalismthat TV and newspapers do now—the watchdog journalism—contin-ues to survive. While new mediaholds a lot of promise, the fact isthat new-media business modelhasn’t so far been able to supportthe kind of big watchdog journal-ism that requires large staff and acommitment of time. I knowthere’s a sense that newspapersare broken, that TV news is bro-ken, but it’s not the news partthat’s broken.

TTVVWWeeeekk:: Looking forward, areyou optimistic at all?

MMrr.. PPiimmeenntteell:: Maybe I’m beingnaïve, but I think journalism willsurvive because it has to. Ourdemocratic society demands it. Itwill be far different than it is todayand I’m less confident that we’removing quickly enough on fixingthe business model to make thathappen. But it will survive in someform. Latino journalists will beintegral because they have skillsthat are shared by journalists gen-erally and have additional skillswith being bicultural and, in manycases, bilingual. There’s a continu-ing need for Latino journalists.And NAHJ will continue to helpthe industry understand that, tocover the stories it needs to, itneeds Latino journalists and otherjournalists of color. ■

KEEPING HISEYE ON

DIVERSITY O. Ricardo Pimental, president of the National Association of

Hispanic Journalists, is editor of the editorial pages of the Mil-

waukee Journal Sentinel, a position he has held since June 2004.

Before joining the Sentinel, Mr. Pimental held editorial posi-

tions with the Sacramento Bee, the Fresno Bee, the Stockton

Record, the Tucson Citizen and the San Bernardino County

Sun. He was a Washington, D.C., correspondent for McClatchy

Newspapers and a nationally syndicated columnist with the

Arizona Republic, writing on public policy with a focus on Lati-

no affairs. He also is the author of two books of fiction, “House

With Two Doors” and “Voices From the River.”

He recently spoke with TelevisionWeek correspondent

Debra Kaufman about the effects of the economic crisis on

Hispanic journalists, and how his organization is helping its

members prepare for a future in which the profession will be

very different than it is today.

NEWSPRO30 June 1, 2009 TELEVISIONWEEK

Q&A

NAHJ PresidentO. Ricardo Pimental

Maybe I’m beingnaive, but I thinkjournalism willsurvive becauseit has to. Ourdemocratic societydemands it. It willbe far differentthan it is today.

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A pioneer in Hispanic journalism,Juan Gonzales founded El Tecolote, abilingual, noncommercial newspaperin San Francisco’s Mission District, in1970. The newspaper has sincebecome a community institution,giving voice to the community’s resi-dents and providing invaluable workexperience for young journalists.

Mr. Gonzales, who has had a longcareer teaching journalism, createdEl Tecolote as a classroom project ina La Raza Studies class at San Fran-cisco State in order to encourage

Latino students to choose careers injournalism. Since it first rolled offthe presses on Aug. 24, 1970, ElTecolote has been produced almostentirely by volunteers; it is thelongest-running Spanish/Englishbilingual newspaper serving the SanFrancisco Bay Area.

Mr. Gonzales chairs the Depart-ment of Journalism at the City Col-lege of San Francisco, where hetaught the first college-level courseon Hispanic journalism.

“Some of the same issues existtoday as when we first started, espe-cially when it comes to the attacks onbilingualism,” he said. “One of ourmain issues has been pushing forbilingual services at hospitals andpublic institutions, as well as the con-tinuous redevelopment plans for thecity and how that’s impacted a neigh-borhood like the Mission. We’ve wonsome small victories. But with thegentrification of the neighborhood,that continues to be a big fight.”

In fact, El Tecolote’s “small victo-ries” had a major impact on the His-panic community in San Francisco.In the 1970s, the newspaper’s reportson the dearth of bilingual operatorson the 911 emergency lines, alongwith community activism, resulted inhearings before the Public UtilitiesCommission. In 1977, its consistentcoverage of the lack of trained med-ical translators at San Francisco Gen-eral Hospital led to the establishmentof a bilingual unit with 26 interpreterstrained in medical terminology.

The newspaper also has promot-ed local artists, including a 1971interview with Jose Santana, thefather of guitarist Carlos Santana,and an interview with the then-teenage John Santos, who has sincebecome an internationally knownLatin jazz percussionist.

Mr. Gonzales continues to directthe community newspaper into newareas. “We’re embracing the new plat-forms with a Web presence,” he said.“We’ll start doing podcasting andaudio slide shows. But we won’t leapto one platform over another. As longas there’s a digital divide, we’ll provideinformation on whatever platformthe community needs.”

Mr. Gonzales reported that ElTecolote also is reaching out to ayounger audience, incorporatingmore stories dealing with their issuesand culture. El Tecolote also is a learn-ing tool for immigrants trying to learnEnglish. “We found that ESL class-rooms are using it,” he said. “It’s freeand they see the two languages sideby side, so it’s a tool for anyone whowants to learn the language.”

More than 400 people have volun-teered on El Tecolote over the years,said Mr. Gonzales. Among those whohave gone on to full-time journalismcareers is Hector Tobar, Buenos Airesbureau chief for the Los AngelesTimes. Mr. Gonzales also chairs theVoices for Justice project commemo-rating the bicentennial of Latinonewspapers in the U.S.

As to his induction into the Hall ofFame, Mr. Gonzales gives a nod ofappreciation to other Hispanic com-munity newspapers in the U.S. “I’mhappy the small Latino press is gettingits just due,” he said. “These papersplay just as big a role as the majornewspapers.” ■

—DEBORAH KAUFMAN

NEWSPRO32 June 1, 2009 TELEVISIONWEEK

A weekend anchor of San Fran-cisco’s “KRON 4 Weekend MorningNews” since 1992, Ysabel Duron isan award-winning journalist whosecareer began in the graduate-leveltelevision program at ColumbiaUniversity in New York in the sum-mer of 1970. “It was a Ford Founda-tion program to get minorities intothe media,” said Ms. Duron, addingthat Geraldo Rivera was one of herclassmates.

Ms. Duron was working at KTVU-TV in Oakland, Calif., where she wonher first Emmy Award in 1974 for herreporting of the Patty Hearst kidnap-ping. “The 1970s were probably themost interesting and varied of mycareer, because of the stories I got tocover,” she said. “That included thePatricia Hearst kidnapping, the mur-ders of [San Francisco Mayor George]Moscone and [San Francisco Super-visor Harvey] Milk, the Black Pan-thers, the ascension of Ronald Rea-

gan and JerryBrown. Therewere so fewwomen, andwe were tryingto prove our-selves, and we had an opportunity totry a lot of things that hadn’t beendone by women before. It was a chal-lenging time and a great time.”

Now, more than 30 years later, Ms.Duron can look back on a career ofpioneering “firsts,” award-winningstories and several honors. In 1982, atKICU-TV (San Jose), Ms. Duron’s four-part series “Trouble With Teachers”won the John Swett Award for MediaExcellence, the highest award givenby the California Teachers Associa-tion, and was honored by the Radio-Television News Directors Association(RTNDA) of Northern California.

Ms. Duron was the first Latinaanchor in Chicago mainstream news,reporting and anchoring “Channel 5

News at Sunrise” at WMAQ-TV, theNBC O&O, for four years. Also while atWMAQ, she won a team Emmy forbreaking news coverage of the LaurieDann school shooting.

At KRON-TV, Ms. Duron’s workincluded “The Child I Never Held,” a1991 series about Ms. Duron’sreunion with the son she gave up foradoption, which was honored by theRTNDA, and, in 1998, “Life With Can-cer,” focusing on Ms. Duron’s winningbattle with cancer, which received anhonorable mention from the Ameri-can Women in Radio & Television’s

Gracie Awards, and an Excellence inJournalism Award from the NorthernCalifornia Society of ProfessionalJournalists.

A highlight of her career was stintsworking abroad. “My aspiration hasalways been to be a foreign corre-spondent, so I was always thrilled toget the opportunity to travel,” shesaid. Ms. Duron’s work as a boardmember of the Washington, D.C.-based International Women’s MediaFoundation, whose goal is to empow-er female journalists around theworld, has taken her to Mexico, Chileand Argentina.

In 1997 she was inducted intothe National Academy of TelevisionArts & Sciences’ Silver Circle for“more than 27 years of meritoriouswork as a journalist.” Other honorsinclude a May 2000 Governor’sCitation from the National Acade-my of Television Arts & Sciences ofNorthern California; being namedone of America’s top 100 HispanicWomen in Communications byHispanic USA Magazine; andbecoming a 1990 fellow of theNational Hispana Leadership Insti-tute in Washington, D.C.

“I’m proud to join my fellow Lati-nos in the Hall of Fame,” said Ms.Duron. “Each has made a mark onthe world of journalism and made adifference in the representation ofHispanics and coverage of theirissues. I’m proud that I have beenable to be a practicing journalist andnewscaster for all these years.” ■

—DEBORAH KAUFMAN

PIONEER Ysabel Duron wasthe first Latina anchor inChicago mainstream news.

2009 Hall of Famer

YSABEL DURON

NAHJ HALL OF FAMEThis year, NAHJ will induct three “pioneers for

equality and truth in storytelling” into its Hall ofFame: Geraldo Rivera, Ysabel Duron and Juan Gonza-les. Established in 2000, NAHJ’s Hall of Fame honorsjournalists and industry pioneers whose national andlocal efforts have resulted in a greater number ofLatinos entering the journalism profession or havehelped to improve news coverage of the nation’sLatino community. Including this year’s threeinductees, there are now 25 NAHJ Hall of Famers. ■

2009 Hall of Famer

JUANGONZALES

ESL HERO Juan Gonzales’bilingual San Francisconewspaper changes lives.

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TELEVISIONWEEK June 1, 2009 33

Currently the host of “Geraldo atLarge” on Fox News Channel, Ger-aldo Rivera has long been a high-profile personality in Hispanic jour-nalism. Although he has won morethan 170 awards over the span of

his career, his induction into theNAHJ Hall of Fame has special sig-nificance for him.

“The actors who win the Acade-my Award always thank their peersand say how nice it is to be recog-

nized by them,” said Mr. Rivera. “In adeep sense, that’s what’s going onnow. I have no more intimate peersthan my fellow Hispanic journalists.”

As one of the first Hispanicnetwork news reporters, Mr.Rivera said, he felt a “specialresponsibility” that he has “some-times honored by my conductand sometimes not so much.”

“But I’ve never lost the loyalty ofthe Hispanic viewer or the largerHispanic community,” he said.

Mr. Rivera started his career as areporter for WABC-TV in New York.In addition to presenting a reveal-ing series on the grim conditions atthe Willowbrook State School fordevelopmentally disabled chil-dren—which led to a governmentinvestigation and the eventualclosing of the school—Mr. Riverapresented the first TV broadcast ofthe Abraham Zapruder film of theassassination of President JohnKennedy, as host of ABC’s “GoodNight America.” He was a memberof the original cast of ABC’s “GoodMorning America” and also had aneight-year association with ABC’s“20/20” as an investigativereporter. While at “20/20,” his hour-long “The Elvis Cover-Up” was“20/20’s” highest-rated show formore than two decades.

“The Geraldo Rivera Show”began in 1987 and ran for 11 sea-sons in syndication. In 1998, he alsohosted a series of specials on NBC.Mr. Rivera served as a foreign corre-spondent in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pak-istan, Chile, Israel, Guatemala, thePhilippines, Nicaragua, Lebanon,Croatia, Bosnia, Kosovo andColombia, covering the interna-tional drug wars, civil wars and eth-nic conflicts.

Mr. Rivera also hosted CNBC’sprimetime “Rivera Live,” where hecovered the O.J. Simpson civil trial.

Joining the Fox News Channel in2001, Mr. Rivera reported on inter-national conflicts in Afghanistanand the Middle East, the Iraqi elec-tions and the aftermath of Hurri-cane Katrina, and interviewedMichael Jackson.

Mr. Rivera’s previous honorsinclude the George Foster PeabodyAward, three national and sevenlocal Emmys, two DuPont awards,three Robert F. Kennedy JournalismAwards and three Scripps HowardJournalism Awards. The 2000Robert F. Kennedy JournalismAward acknowledged his NBCNews documentary “Women inPrison” and one of the ScrippsHoward Foundation National Jour-nalism Awards honored “Back toBedlam.”

His current mission, said Mr.Rivera, is to be “a unique voice inthe Fox News Family.” “To keepreminding our audience thatthere’s an essential fairnessrequired of America even in thestrident partisan nature of com-mentary,” he said. “You have toremember there’s another sideand I intend to represent that oth-er side.” Mr. Rivera, who “applaud-ed the efforts of young Hispanicjournalists,” also noted “a joyousand encouraging” piece of the bigpicture. “We’re going to increas-ingly be a bicultural nation,” hesaid. “That will change the coun-try and that will change us.” ■

—DEBORAH KAUFMAN

2009 Hall of Famer

GERALDO RIVERA

AT LARGE Geraldo Riverahas won more than 170awards during his career inbroadcast journalism.

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of that,” he said. “But we’ve had tofocus on helping our membersstay afloat.”

Mr. Pimental bemoaned thefact that, although the election ofPresident Barack Obama highlight-ed the gains this country has madein civil rights and diversity, it was astep forward that still is not reflect-ed in the newsroom.

“It seems to be at odds withthe issues we’re suffering in theworkforce as far as diversity goes,”he said. “One does not affect theother.”

75 Hours of TrainingAt NAHJ 2009, courses offering

training in multimedia tools andtechniques have tripled from lastyear’s offerings, said Ms. Robles,who noted that members canchoose from 33 sessions totalingapproximately 75 hours of train-ing. In addition to courses on blog-ging, Twitter, video editing, pod-casting, search engineoptimization, streaming video andaudio slide shows, NAHJ 2009 alsowill feature two cyber labs that willremain open throughout the con-vention.

Mr. Roman said some four-

hour and eight-hour sessions areintended to provide maximumtraining in a short timeframe.

“The idea is to emerge from

San Juan with a wave of Latinojournalists who are knowledgeablewhen it comes to multimedia jour-nalism,” he said. “NAHJ has always

offered training, but initially it wasabout getting Latinos in majornewsrooms. Since then, we’vereinterpreted that in a much

broader way. It’s about peopledoing journalism, period, whetherit’s freelance or in Spanish-lan-guage media.”

New Tools, New IdeasThe new media environment

not only requires Latino journaliststo learn to use new tools, but tobecome more entrepreneurial, andMr. Roman acknowledged that it’s atransition not everyone will make.

“Some people have felt for along time that being a journalistwas following the traditional routeof working in a major newsroom,”he said. “Many journalists are stillin that box. Many others have hadto struggle on their own as a free-lancer or their own entrepreneur.What we’re looking at in trainingour folks to have multimedia jour-nalism skills is how some of themcan translate that into entrepre-neurial journalism, to tell the storythey want to tell and not bedependent on a major newsroom.

“Each journalist has to figureout for himself if that’s what he can

NEWSPRO34 June 1, 2009 TELEVISIONWEEK

“The idea is toemerge with awave of Latinojournalists who areknowledgableabout multimedia.”Ivan Roman, NAHJ executive director

NATIONALASSOCIATION OFHISPANICJOURNALISTS7th Annual Convention andMedia & Career ExpoJJuunnee 2233--2277,, 22000099Puerto Rico Convention CenterSan Juan, Puerto RicoSchedule (as of May 29, 2009)

TTuueessddaayy,, JJuunnee 22331 p.m.-5 p.m.: Exhibitor/RecruiterOnly Registration 9:30 p.m.: The “Midnight Splash”Noche de San Juan Beach Party(Caribe Hilton Hotel)

WWeeddnneessddaayy,, JJuunnee 22448 a.m.-5 p.m.: Exhibitor/recruiterregistration and setup 8 a.m.-7 p.m.: Registration

8:30 a.m.-5 p.m.: Registration9 a.m.-5 p.m.: ñ Media TrainingSeries (pre-registrationrequired)5:30 p.m.: Opening plenary7 p.m.- 10:30 p.m.: Openingreception

TThhuurrssddaayy,, JJuunnee 22558 a.m.-6 p.m.: Registration 8:30 a.m.-10 a.m.: Plenary ses-sion 8:45 a.m.-5 p.m.: CyberLab @NAHJ 9 a.m.-5 p.m.: Media & CareerExpo Open 10:15 a.m.-5 p.m.: WorkshopsNoon -2 p.m.: Newsmaker Lun-cheon 5 p.m.-7 p.m.: Media receptions 8 p.m.-midnight: Social event

FFrriiddaayy,, JJuunnee 22668 a.m.- 6 p.m.: Registration

8:45 a.m.- 5 p.m.: CyberLab @NAHJ 9 a.m.- 5 p.m.: Media & CareerExpo open9 a.m.- 5 p.m.: Workshops 5 p.m.- 10 p.m.:Exhibitor/recruiter tear-down 6 p.m.: Reception honoring2009 ñ and Journalism Awardwinners 7:30 p.m.-midnight: Hall of FameGala & El Gran Baile

SSaattuurrddaayy,, JJuunnee 2277All-day sightseeing trips andexcursions9 a.m.- 2 p.m.: Golf tournament 9 a.m.-3 p.m.: Registration 9 a.m.- 5 p.m.: ñ Media TrainingSeries (pre-registrationrequired)9:30 p.m. – midnight: Closing party

(Events take place at the Puerto Rico Con-vention Center unless otherwise specified.)

THE THINGContinued from Page 29

SHARING Last year’sNAHJ convention was acombined event with themulticultural UNITYconference in Chicago.Top, dancers entertainat the conference .

CHANGE Then-Presidentialcandidate Barack Obamashares the stage at thecombined UNITY/ NAHJconference in Chicago in2008.

SATELLITE Mirta Ojitointerviews Ricardo Alarcon ofCuba’s National Assembly atthe 2006 NAHJ conference.

San Juan,Puerto Rico

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do,” he continued. “Everyonehas to figure out their mentalityto see if it fits for them or not.We’ll lose journalists who can’tmake the transition.”

600 to 700 ExpectedOne piece of good news is

that NAHJ received two grants—$100,000 from the Ford Founda-tion and $50,000 from the JohnS. and James L. Knight Founda-tion—to pay for 76 journalists toattend the convention gratis.That’s not only been a lifeline forthose journalists but also willboost the attendance at the con-vention, which Mr. Romanexpects to draw between 600and 700 people. Past conven-tions have numbered 1,600 to2,000 attendees.

NAHJ veterans also noted—with some surprise—that youngHispanics continue to flock tocareers in journalism, a brightspot in an otherwise grim picture.

KRON-TV anchor YsabelDuron, who is being inductedinto the Hall of Fame this year,said that, although she believesit’s still “a bit of a challenge” torecruit young Latinos, her ownnephew is a successful graduateof NAHJ’s student group and hasfound a job as an NBC corre-spondent out of Burbank.

Likewise, incoming Hall ofFamer Juan Gonzales, whofounded community newspaperEl Tecolote and chairs the jour-nalism department at City Col-lege of San Francisco, reportedthat journalism still has anappeal for young Latinos. “I’veseen more and more Latino stu-dents, especially women, major-ing in journalism,” he said.“They think, ‘I might not workfor a newspaper but maybe I’llstart my own newspaper or findsome other way to write my sto-ries.’ They are passionate andenthusiastic and just want achance to learn and make theirown inroads.”

The hope is that, at NAHJ2009, some of that enthusiasmfor adopting new-media tech-

niques and new world journal-ism economics will catch onamong the organization’s mem-bership. “We don’t want toengage in hand-wringing andwallow in the trauma of what’shappening,” Mr. Roman said.“We want to look ahead and seehow this creates opportunities.What we need to do is look athow we can create media thatwe own, establish policies—gov-ernmental or otherwise—thatallow more access to media onthe part of our community.

“If we learn how to do it well,we can seize control of our storyand tell it more effectively thanhaving to depend on mainstreammedia to do so,” he said. ■

TELEVISIONWEEK June 1, 2009 35

“We don’t want toengage in hand-wringing andwallow in thetrauma of what’shappening.”Ivan Roman, NAHJ executive director

THE ISSUES California Gov.Arnold Schwarzenegger speaksto journalists at the 2007NAHJ conference in San Jose,California, left; above, NAHJmembers at the 2007 gathering.

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