By Leo E. Laurence, J.D.; Member: SPJ National Diversity Committee and  Latino Journalists of California; editor: San Diego News Service. E-mail: leopowerhere@msn.com

San Diego – The closest I even came to getting killed in decades as a working journalist was when I was covered a mafia “hit” in L.A., and the probability of actually getting shot was really nil as local detectives provided cover for me.

But if you are a daring journalist in Mexico and you print, broadcast or go online and tell the real story of the drug cartels, the probability of getting killed is actually quite high.

In the United States, with declining revenues and print circulation, some in the media worry that we are no longer relevant to people’s lives. Indeed, a survey by the respected Pew Research Center showed that 63 percent of the respondents said news articles were often inaccurate, and only 29 percent reported that the media generally “get the facts right.”

In Mexico, the media remains extremely relevant. But if reporters anger the wrong people, it could cost them their lives.

José Luis Romero was a 40-year-old radio reporter who broadcast from the state of Sinaloa where lots of the illicit drugs are produced. A few weeks ago, Romero was abducted from a restaurant at gunpoint. His body was found later along a deserted highway.

Valentín Valdés Espinosa, 29 — another reporter who covered the drug cartels – was kidnapped, tortured and killed in the Mexican state of Coahuila just a few weeks ago. A message was attached to the body that read, “This is going to happen to those who don’t understand. This message is for everyone.”

Mexico’s Human Rights Commission estimates that 59 journalsits have been murdered since 2000. Last year, 11 were assassinated.

These executions are done very publicly to scare off the media. Mexican officials believe the drug cartels are responsible for the murder of José Alberto Velázquez López, owner of the Mexican newspaper, “Expresiones de Tulum,” after leaving a Christmas party.

The major newspaper in the Mexican state of Coahuila, “Zócalo de Saltillo,” recently decided to stop covering stories of drug violance totally rather than risk the lives of its reporters.

Mexican journalists are refusing to run or hide. Some are actually encouraged that their stories are rattling the drug bosses.

In this country, some reporters are called courageous for reporting that a politican plays poker or has an affair with a lobbyist. That’s not courage. It’s timid. Going to work every day and covering the truth, even when it might get you killed . . . now that’s courage!

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By Leo E. Laurence, J.D.; Member: SPJ National Diversity Committee and  Latino Journalists of California; editor: San Diego News Service. E-mail: leopowerhere@msn.com

Diversity is considered an asset in people’s lives, according to a recent poll conducted by the independent, professional Field Poll in California.

More Californians consider diversity as an asset, rather than a problem, in their lives; although a majority consider it both.

The Field Poll conducted its study is six languages: English, Spanish, Cantonese, Mandarin Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese.

“Most recognize that (California’s wide racial and ethnic diversity) is both a challenge and an advantage,” says Field Poll director Mark DiCamillo. “This spans most racial and ethnic subgroups of the population,” he added.

African-Americans have a much longer history in the country than most members of other ethnic groups, he explained.

While California courts recognize gays and lesbians as an ethnic group, and a “protected class” in the law, they were not included in this poll.

Among all voters, 58 percent say diversity is both an advantage and a source of problems, while 24 percent believe it is a clear advantage.

Among all racial groups, 31 percent of the Latinos think diversity is an advantage in their lives.

However, African Americans (22 percent) are most likely to see diversity as a problem; while Chinese and Vietnamese are least likely to (7 percent).

This Field Poll was based on 1,232 telephone interviews of registered California voters and was conducted between Jan. 5 and 17. The margin of error is 2.9 percent.

Contact Leo Laurence at leopowerhere@msn.com

By Leo E. Laurence, J.D.; Member: SPJ National Committee on Diversity and Latino Journalists of California; editor, San Diego News Service. E-mail: leopowerhere@msn.com

While traveling around the country, I’ve noticed that some TV news shows are very heavy with police coverage. The BREAKING NEWS screen usually simply means that the station’s chopper is over yet another high-speed chase on a freeway, or something similar.

If police stories were eliminated from many of the local TV news shows here, a half-hour program might be reduced to about ten minutes.

That could be the result of budget cuts in the newsroom, or to bolster the entertainment value of the news show. Many of the better, scripted, prime-time shows are being replaced with low-budget, reality shows on the networks.

“We see far fewer TV news crews in the barrio now, and that hurts the community’s development,” warns Roberto Araiza, a Latino businessman here who wants to see more minority stories on local TV news shows.

Unfortunately, some minority community leaders believe more reliance on police news in TV hurts the public image of their people. Police operations typically involve racial minorities, and visually dramatic TV news coverage reinforces some stereotypes, they believe.

Having news staff from diverse communities opens up more opportunities and news sources to any newsroom. Reporters and photojournalists who live in the barrio, for example, know what’s going on there and who is making news.

Contact Leo Laurence at leopowerhere@msn.com

By Leo E. Laurence, J.D.; Member: SPJ National Diversity Committee and Latino Journalists of California; editor: San Diego News Service. E-mail: leopowerhere@msn.com

Growing up in the 40s in the small village of Monroe, New York, near the West Point Military Academy and about 40 miles above New York City, I had little exposure to minorities.

My local Masonic Lodge was an all-white fraternal organization in a mostly white community.

My life as a journalist began in 1948 with the daily Middletown Times Herald (now the Times-Herald Record) after a New York State Trooper, Jack Kennedy, became my mentor.

I was thrilled, therefore, when I joined the Navy and was suddenly living with guys who looked and talked differently. Now I’m active in diversity issues, served five years as a “bombero” (Mexican firefighter) and can speak Spanish.

I returned to my hometown of Monroe to handle the news coverage of an appearence of the Masonic Grand Master of the State of Year York. He dedicated my Masonic lodge (Cornerstone #711) as the state’s first official Masonic historic building.

In the days of the Revolutionary War, the only way to get from New York City to the state capitol in Albany, was by stage coach. After a hard, one-day ride into the foothills of the Catskill Mountains, weary passengers arrived in Monroe (old maps spell it “Munro”). They rested at the large, stately, “John McGarrah Stagecoach Inn,” which is now the Cornerstone Historic Masonic Building.

Knowing the all-white history of Monroe, I was pleasantly surprised to find a Latino Mason in a leadership position in the lodge.

While walking down Lake Street, the sole main street in the village, I saw two young Mexican men approaching.

“Buenos Dias,” I said to them as we passed each other.

The young men seemed totally surprised.

“My god, he spoke Spanish to us,” one said to the other. Natives rarely speak that language.

I was also surprised to discover a significantly large Latino community in little Monroe and several prosperous Mexican restaurants.

In the Navy I visited Beirut, Lebanon, and found a large, elegant building with a Masonic sign in front. After making inquiries, the local Lebanese Masons treated me to a royal tour of their city and took me to the historic city of Damascus, where I rode a camel for the first time.

The diversity of the “Free & Accepted Masons” is as wide as the world. Local Masons repeatedly hosted me in a royal style in Barcelona, Madrid, Monaco, Rome, Athens, Paris and Munich.

Diversity will make any organization or newsroom stronger in some of the most unexpected ways.

Contact Leo Laurence at leopowerhere@msn.com

By Leo E. Laurence, J.D.; Member: SPJ National Diversity Committee and CCNMA – Latino Journalists of California; editor: San Diego News Service

“Most Americans acknowledge that the immigration system is broken, even if they disagree about how to fix it,” writes columnist Ruben Navarrette Jr. of the San Diego Union Tribune. He’s a respected leader in the Latino community.

“(President) Obama understands that, in order to have a successful administration, a president needs to do more than give speeches. He needs to put points on the board.

“If health care is, in fact, doomed now because of (Republican Scott) Brown’s victory (in Massachusetts), then Obama will need another cause to trumpet,” Navarrette says.

That could be immigration reform.

“This debate isn’t as simple as Blue and Red. There are Republicans who support comprehensive immigration reform and Democrats who oppose it,” the Latino columnist says.

As a presidential candidate, Obama promised Latino voters that he would deliver comprehensive immigration reform. Latinos are fast becoming a more powerful political force in the Unites States.

The answer is not in significantly increased border-patrol enforcement. A ranking sailor – James Boswell, STD2, USN – recently drove from Chicago to San Diego in a new car with Virginia plates. Traveling across Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. He was stopped FOUR times by the border patrol. Each time he was told that he was stopped solely because he had out-of-state license plates. The border patrol only wanted him to prove his American citizenship. After producing his military ID, he was released.

It’s questionable whether solely having out-of-state plates on a new car provides the necessary probable cause before law enforcement can lawfully stop a car. Immigration enforcement is arguably out-of-hand, and seemingly far worse than it was under Republican presidents.

“If immigration reform doesn’t happen in 2010, the debate will only become more complicated,” columnist Navarrette believes. “If Republicans take control of Congress in November, the issue could be off the table for 2010. And, since little gets done in a presidential campaign, don’t expect much to happen (on immigration reform) in 2012.”

For those seriously interested in diversity issues, immigration reform provides a fertile field for journalists.

Contact Leo Laurence at leopowerhere@msn.com

By Leo E. Laurence, J.D.; Member: SPJ National Diversity Committee and CCNMA – Latino Journalists of California; editor, San Diego News Service (leopowerhere@msn.com)

Immigration stories can be difficult to cover and remain ethically balanced. It’s a “hot-button” issue and may be awkward for some Anglo reporters with little real-world experience in immigrant cultures.

America is a nation founded by immigrants, and we have immigrant values embedded in our national psyche. They should also be in our news stories. Balance is so important.

“Immigrants have always been the canaries in the mine shaft — an early warning system about the health of the U.S. economy,” wrote columnist and author Linda Chavez.

“The greatest passion generated during the immigration debate over the past few years concerned illegal immigration (especially along the Mexican border),” Chavez wrote.

We note here that it is incorrect, as a mattrer of law, for a journalist to use the phrase “illegal immigrant,” unless the person involved has been convicted in federal court. Under the federal Constitution, the basic doctrine that a person is innocent-until-proven-guilty means that only a judge in court can say that a person is an “illegal immigrant.”

“Children of Latino immigrants are doing well on most measures. They fare better on most health indicators (except obesity) than native-born Americans, despite being less likely to be covered by health insurance,” Chavez reported.

Immigrant children “who graduate from college actually earn slightly more than their native-born counterparts,” the columnist and author adds.

“The overwhelming majority of Latinos born in the U.S. to immigrant parents are able to speak English well . . . In fact, Asian immigrants are slightly more linguistically isolated than Latinos.

“Contrary to the impression that Latinos remain poor no matter how long they’ve lived in the U.S., upward mobility is still the rule, not the exception.”

Some studies show that immigrants, including those who are undocumented, pay more in taxes (gas, sales, etc.) “to” the government, than receive “from” the government in benefits.

We in the news media need to tell the full story on immigration issues, and not just report the inflamed and often false political rhetoric of politicians opposing sound, immigration reform.

We need to interview local community leaders in immigrant cultures when working immigration stories to maintain an ethical balance.

By Leo E. Laurence, J.D.; Member: SPJ National Diversity Committee and Latino Journalists of California; editor, San Diego News Service (leopowerhere@msn.com)

San Diego — Historically, advocacy journalism created massive cultural changes in America in widely diverse, minority communities from Latinos in the barrio to the Black Panthers and to the Gay Community (some use “LGBT”).

“Until the latter part of the 19th century, virtually all American journalism was advocacy journalism,” writes Mark Gabrish Conlan, editor and publisher of the monthly “Zenger’s Newsmagazine” in San Diego.

“Publishers almost invariably owned their own printing presses and made most of their income printing jobs for political parties, campaigns and candidates,” Conlan added.

Advocacy journalism shakes things up, intentionally. But, it insists on maintaining the Society of Professional Journalists’ highest ethical standards of professional journalism.

“The principal responsibilities of any journalist, including an advocacy journalist, are honesty and accuracy,” Conlan explains. “If they assert a fact (or use a name), it has to be true.

“During the 20th century, advocacy journalism survived in the U.S. mainly in specialty newspapers published by and for specific communities,” Conlan reports. Most minority communities, including gays and the disabled, have successful print, broadcast and online media – advocacy journalism – today.

Advocacy journalism is NOT the endless, distorted yet entertaining diatribes of Rush Limbaugh or the writings of Sarah Palin.

Professional, advocacy journalists today are typically full-time, working reporters or photojournalists and are fully credentialed.

Creative writing styles can be involved. In the “Berkeley Barb” in the late 60s, in stories on the launch of Gay Lib three months before the Stonewall street brawls in NYC, the reporter was a leading community organizer. He would quote himself as “Barb” in stories to explain issues in his stories more accurately, and used no byline. It’s all in a new book by Prof. Josh Sides, the Whitsett Professor of California History at California State University at Northridge, titled “Erotic City.”

While many today are online and work for well-funded Web sites, the fly-by-night bloggers and amateur tweeters are NOT included among advocacy journalists.

Advocacy journalists today are serving in many diverse, professional organizations including the Society of Professional Journalists, the CCNMA – Latino Journalists of California, and the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association.

The wide diversity today in community or alt-weekly newspapers (called the “underground press” in the 60s), and their expansion into multi-media, is giving advocacy journalism a new life and fresh exposure.

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(Begging Leo’s pardon for interrupting his flow as blogger, I hope he and readers don’t mind this postscript from Belize).

I had a great visit at Channel 5/Great Belize Productions on my last Friday in Belize.  As I said in my previous post, I worked there back in 1991-92. It was great to see some old friends and meet new ones!  I had a good chat with the boss, Amalia Mai.  She previously served as publisher at the Belize Times, which shares a building and point of view with the People’s United Party (now the opposition).  She was also a civil servant in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Belize Ambassador to Cuba under the PUP and has served as a lightening rod on various issues. Recently, she found herself at the center of the controversy over  $10 million the government of Venezuela gave Belize.  It appears that Sir Michael Ashcroft — himself a lightening rod — tapped her to head up Channel 5/Great Belize Productions not long after that.

I found Ms. Mai to be courteous and professional.  When I told her about the journalism workshop I am working on with UWI in Belize, she immediately expressed interest in having News 5 reporters attend. I also asked her if she’d be interested in taking part in the opening forum on journalism in Belize and she answered in the affirmative. A Channel 5 employee told me she’s a can-do person who recognizes good ideas when she sees them, and wastes no time in implementation.

Later, I was escorted by my friend William Neal (who has been with Channel 5 on and off since the 1990s) on a tour of the new building on Coney Drive.

I saw the newsroom, the brand new News 5 studio, master control, the Open Your Eyes studio (William is co-host of the popular morning show), and the production facilities.  Impressive!  Granted, it’s not hard to be on the leading edge when you have Ashcroft money behind you.

Just as American broadcast managers often wonder just how much influence cutting edge technology and fancy sets have on viewers, it remains to be seen whether Belizeans who are loyal to Channel 7 will make the switch. I suspect not.  The quality and quantity of the actual journalism remains competitive.  And, as I’ve said elsewhere, viewers seem fairly firm in their preferences.

Speaking of Channel 7, I was impressed by news director Jules Vasquez (whom I sat next to in primary school back in the day) and his in-depth interview with some of the players in what I think of as the Belize “fruit fight.” It’s a complex dispute among citrus growers which I am still not sure I quite understand.  At any rate, Jules is a journalist who does not pull his punches. While his studios and set may not be as pretty and cool as Channel 5′s I suspect the journalism he and his team do will keep viewers coming back for more.

So, that’s all for now.  I am back from my trip and looking forward to the next one!  By the way, below is a snapshot of the original Channel 5/Great Belize Productions facility.

By Leo E. Laurence, J.D.; Member: SPJ National Diversity Committee, Latino Journalists of California; editor, San Diego News Service

We often read or hear the phrase “illegal immigrants” when referring to undocumented persons. But, usually the phrase is used in a manner that is inconsistent with the law.

Our federal Constitution contains the fundamental doctrine of the presumption of innocence. We are presumed to be innocent until convicted by a court of law. That’s why journalists will refer to an “alleged” burglar, or a “suspected” murderer. But for some reason, many reporters ignore that fundamental principle of our law when it comes to immigration issues.

Some say this goes back to the highly charged statements of anti-immigration activists like the Minutemen, who are often armed civilians (some call them vigilantes) who “patrol” the Mexican border.

There are many who believe that anyone here without the proper documents is ipso facto guilty, but that goes against our basic principle of the presumption of innocence.

Journalists need to be particularly careful to avoid the phrase “illegal alien” or “illegal immigrant,” unless they are quoting someone.

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By Leo E. Laurence, J.D.; Member: SPJ National Diversity Committee, Latino Journalists of California; editor, San Diego News Service

Should journalists use the word “Hispanic” or “Latino” in their stories?

The word Latino is preferred by many in the “Hispanic” community, though many Latino writers regularly use Hispanic, a word that seems to be dominant in our news media. This includes the respected columnist, Ruben Navarrette Jr. of the San Diego Union Tribune.

Official use of the word Hispanic can be traced to the Census Bureau in the 1970s, which is why many Latinos consider it a white word and to be avoided.

Many Latin Americans prefer the term Latino (or Latina, when referring to a female) because it seems to be more inclusive of the broad range of people and cultures in Latin America.

When I worked in México for many years, I rarely read or heard the word Hispanic.

Etymologically, the term Hispanic technically refers to anyone whose ancestry can be traced to Spain, which is why the government used it on Census forms beginning in the 1970s. It follows the same style of use as the word “Anglo,” indicating a person’s history that is traced to England or the English. Use of the word “Anglo” is rare in our news media, though it is common in referring to Americans in the English-language, Mexican media along the border.

There are millions of Latinos, however, who prefer to be called by their country of origin. They say a person whose ancestry is in México should be called Mexican, not Latino or Hispanic.

When journalists use the word Latino for a person whose ancestry can be traced to Spain, they are generally safe. But, using the word Hispanic may offend many Latinos.

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