(Guest Blog by Pashtana Usufzy/UNLV SPJ President)

As president of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas Society of Professional Journalists, I find myself in charge of planning quite a few events. When the time came to hold our first member meeting of the spring semester, I desperately needed ideas. While clicking on every link on the SPJ website, I ran across a copy of the organization’s mission.

Hoping for ideas, I read through it.

We’d held a meeting on service a few weeks earlier, and a First Amendment discussion seemed a little intense for the first meeting. (“Here’s your pizza and soda. Now, quick, which freedoms are guaranteed by the First Amendment?) I kept scrolling down — “foster excellence … inspire successive generations … encourage diversity in journalism.”

Diversity — now that I could work with.

The topic stood out. UNLV has consistently been ranked as one of the most diverse college campuses in the country. We have students from every walk of life. We represent numerous countries, religions, ethnicities — different genders and sexual orientations. It made sense for our chapter to ask: Where’s the diversity in the local journalism field? What role does that play in the politics of the newsroom, and is our news as inclusive as it should be?

Our board members went to work. We began planning and advertising a discussion on the diversity of our community and our local news market. I invited Antonio Planas of the Las Vegas Review-Journal and Chris Saldaña, a local broadcast news personality, to be our speakers.

On the day of, I was nervous. Our meeting didn’t have a huge turnout; I blamed myself for picking a Friday morning meeting date and expecting college kids to be awake. The members who were there, however, wanted to get the meeting going, and our speakers said the students deserved their attention.

We didn’t draw in a classroom full of students, but our speakers made such a tremendous impact upon the students who did attend.

Planas and Saldaña played off of each other so well. They discussed their own experiences as Hispanic journalists covering the news. They talked about missteps by reporters in covering our city’s diverse population, and they told us to embrace our own diversity and bring it to our reporting.

UNLV’s SPJ Chapter had broadcast news journalist Chris Saldaña and reporter Antonio Planas visit to discuss diversity in the news.

They described efforts to make colleagues aware of potentially offensive characterizations of minorities, but they also described how important it is for all groups to participate in the discussion on diversity.

They asked each student: Who are you, and what kind of diversity do you bring to the table?

I’ll admit it: I sometimes have a hard time speaking up in a newsroom full of much more experienced writers. Saldaña and Planas assured me that my opinion could help shed light on an overlooked group. It’s better to speak up, they said, than to be embarrassed by an inaccurate story or have your news organization appear out of touch.

They emphasized that we as journalists must examine the diversity of our environment, especially in a state with such an increasingly diverse population.

As student SPJ leaders, we try to bring the lessons SPJ emphasizes to the attention of our campus. We want members to get a taste of the professional world, but we also hope they’ll discover a bit of the kind of journalist they’d like to be. Our speakers that day helped us accomplish our goal.

Our attendees stayed afterward to discuss how they felt about the panel. Our small group of students could now raise questions, share its views with others.

Most importantly, the discussion could keep going, and that meant more to us than anything.

(Pashtana Usufzy/UNLV SPJ President organized this event earlier this Spring)

The SPJ Diversity Committee is pleased with The Associated Press’ decision to change the use of the term “illegal immigrant.”

However, the Diversity Committee has been behind the issue of dropping the term “illegal” for the past few years, spearheaded by former committee member Leo Laurence. And it was in New Orleans at the Excellence in Journalism Conference 2011 when I witnessed former Diversity Fellow and Vice Chairwoman Rebecca Aguilar address the SPJ board about her mother, who came to the United States from Mexico, and the pain it caused when she saw the term “illegal alien” used in the newspaper.

Rebecca Aguilar addresses SPJ Board about using term “illegal alien”.
Photo by Sandra Gonzalez

After hearing Aguilar’s impassioned speech, the voting convention delegates passed this resolution on voice vote:

WHEREAS, the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics urges all journalists to be “honest, fair and courageous in gathering, reporting and interpreting information” and;

WHEREAS, mainstream news reports are increasingly using the politically charged phrase “illegal immigrant” and the more offensive and bureaucratic “illegal alien” to describe undocumented immigrants, particularly Latinos and;

WHEREAS, a fundamental principle embedded in our U.S. Constitution is that everyone (including non-citizens) is considered innocent of any crime until proven guilty in a court of law and;

WHEREAS, this constitutional doctrine, often described as “innocent-until-proven-guilty,” applies not just to U.S. Citizens but to everyone in the United States and;

WHEREAS, only the court system, not reporters and editors, can decide when a person has committed an “illegal” act and;

WHEREAS, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists is also concerned with the increasing use of pejorative and potentially inaccurate terms to describe the estimated 11 million undocumented people living in the United States;

THEREFORE, be it resolved that the Society of Professional Journalists convention of delegates: urges journalists and style guide editors to stop the use of illegal alien and encourage continuous discussion and re-evaluation of the use of illegal immigrant in news stories.

Prior to this, it had been rejected by the Resolutions Committee.

The AP is now changing how it will describe people as journalists report stories involving the current immigration issue. According to Senior Vice President and Executive Editor Kathleen Carroll, here is what is behind the decision:

The Stylebook no longer sanctions the term “illegal immigrant” or the use of “illegal” to describe a person. Instead, it tells users that “illegal” should describe only an action, such as living in or immigrating to a country illegally.

“Journalists and others can argue that the new style recommendation is less precise than ‘illegal alien’ or ‘illegal immigrant,’ but it’s important to note that a significant portion of country’s population regards those terms as offensive.  It wasn’t that long ago that keepers of journalism style, including The AP, fought dropping ‘Negro’ as a term for black or African-American people,” says SPJ President Sonny Albarado.

The National Association of Hispanic Journalists also says these terms can be dehumanizing  and demeaning.

“AP is right to note that the English language evolves and that our everyday usage contributes to that evolution. I hope journalists and others continue this conversation about immigration and people who come here legally or illegally until we arrive at terminology most of us can agree on,” Albarado says.

We on the SPJ Diversity Committee agree and hope journalists will eliminate these types of terms from their copy as immigration is a huge issue we will be reporting on this year.

Sandra Gonzalez
SPJ Diversity Committee Chairman
KSNV Reporter
Las Vegas

I’m glad I was watching Natalie Morales  fill in for Brian Williams last night on NBC Nightly News.  Otherwise, I would have missed news of the launch of NBC Latino.com, a English-language news information and lifestyle Website featuring Hispanic’s perspectives.

“I’ll be a regular contributor along with many of my colleagues,” Morales said as she announced the debut of the site, which is touted as “The New Voice of American Hispanics.”

The announcement appeared in last night’s Nightly News broadcast right after a report on the election of Pena Nieto as Mexico’s new president.

It speaks to the marketing synergy of NBC Universal to cross-promote its media platforms.   The perennial top-rated network evening newscast showcased the nation’s newest spot on the World Wide Web for news about Hispanics, which will be powered by content from Telemundo, which it also also owned along with MSBNC, CNBC and The Weather Channel.

NBC News’ Hispanic Brigade?

NBC Correspondents Gabe Gutierrez, Miguel Almaguer, and Tom Llamas along with Today Show news reader Natalie Morales were all mentioned by name in the news release Monday on the launch of NBC Latino. (Photos: Courtesy NBC News)

Beyond the announcement of the NBC Latino launch, what was even more interesting was how the network also used the opportunity to showcase its stable of Hispanic reporters and the Hispanic editor who will be leading the site.

Chris Pena

““The goal of NBC Latino is to take Hispanic news beyond the usual conversation, toward something more inspired, empowered and energized; to tell and reflect the Hispanic-American story with authentic voices, and make NBC the brand of choice for Hispanics across mobile, online and TV,” said Chris Pena, the executive editor,who is leading a staff of bilingual writers and producers.
As a newsroom manager, Pena has come up through the NBC ranks starting out running Telemundo’s news operation in Houston before moving to the company’s Miami’s station, WTVJ and then Chicago’s WMAQ before moving to the network’s New York headquarters last summer.

Some might suggest NBC Universal grew its own in Pena’s success leading to his role at the helm of NBC Latino.

Mainstreaming Miguel

Even as NBC Latino launches, the network has proven that it can place Hispanic reporters on the frontlines covering the day’s top stories, especially when they bring a resume of journalism awards to the table.

While they may contribute to a target website like NBC Latino, these same reporters are already front-and-center on other NBC platforms too.  All too often targeted web sites will be used to grow “second-string”  talent.  That is not the case here.

Miguel Almaguer reported from Colorado Springs on Monday's broadcast.

A great example of that was shown last night as Miguel Almaguer, the award-winning  Burbank-based correspondent, presented updates from Colorado Springs where wildfires have claimed dozens of homes.

Almaguer brought lots of experience doing that kind of coverage as he has won awards for similar stories produced during wildfires in San Diego.

Another media company, Gannett, pioneered the diversity principle of mainstreaming  or ensuring news sources of color are used all types of stories.  The same is true for reporters who are assigned to cover all stories, not just those with a focus on race or diversity.

Almaguer has been the lead talent on coverage of the wildfires and did a similar job in reporting on the death of Rodney King last month.

Building on The GRIO’s Success

Along with mainstreaming, NBC Universal has long ago realized the importance of targeting content.     Most recently, the launch in June 2008 of TheGRIO.com as “the first video-centric news community site devoted to providing African-Americans with stories and perspectives that appeal to them but are underrepresented in existing national news outlets.”

Beyond the online community, TheGRIO.com offered its GRIO 100 during Black History Month, vignettes on up-and-coming African American leaders in all walks of life.   For at least the past three years, we’ve seen that list of African Americans the site says  “still have work to do.”

Will we see a “Latino 100″ or similar set of reports to air during Hispanic/Latino Heritage Month this September?

As the cliche goes, “only time will tell.”

For now NBC’s multi-pronged effort at targeting and mainstreaming stories and storytellers from diverse racial backgrounds reflects a sophisticated strategy its broadcast , cable and online competitors would do well to imitate.

George L. Daniels is an associate professor of journalism and former chair of the SPJ Diversity Committee.  He currently serves as a member of the SPJ National Board of Directors.

It’s been a fun couple of weeks for health news, with New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg rationing soda portions and the Disney Co. calling a halt to junk food advertising for kids. You can do more with this story, though, than just trot out arguments for and against.

Bloomberg and Disney aim to block structural incentives to eat sugary, salty foods – and through their policy efforts, trim obesity, diabetes and heart disease. Their specific approaches certainly are open to debate. But public health departments across the country have been pleading for some type of policy-based, structural change. Their priority: Halt the disproportionate impact of dire health conditions on specific population groups.

Take a close look at the obesity statistics. African Americans and Mexican Americans have the highest rates across the country. And while we tend to associate obesity with low incomes, that’s not true here – at least for men. Nationally, African American and Mexican American men with higher incomes are more likely to be overweight than their lower-income counterparts. What’s going on?

To take the story one step further, consider that high weight puts people at risk for diabetes, a life-long chronic condition characterized by a roller-         coaster of blood sugar levels – and devastating complications –  if not kept under control. Puerto Ricans and Mexican Americans have the highest risk for diabetes of all ethnic or racial groups, close to double that of non-Hispanic white people. The rate for non-Hispanic black people also is much higher than for whites – by three-quarters. Diabetes is rising dangerously among Native Americans, too.

Photo Courtesy: CDC

While all of us are at high risk for heart disease, both African Americans and Hispanics are more likely to die of strokes than non-Hispanic white people.How about using this moment to probe the value of Bloomberg’s and Disney’s approaches and their potential effectiveness as structural solutions to health disparities? And why not reach a little deeper to cover the populations most affected by these health conditions?

Big differences in lifelong health don’t trace back to genetics, education or even solely individual choice, according to the latest thinking in public health. Do efforts like Bloomberg’s or Disney’s help balance the equation?That’s a question worth investigating.

Sally Lehrman is a member of the SPJ Diversity Committee. She holds Santa Clara University’s Knight Ridder — San Jose Mercury News Endowed Chair in Journalism and the Public Interest. Sally is also an author and independent journalist who specializes in covering identity, race relations and gender within the context of medicine and science.

One of the objectives of the SPJ Diversity committee is to provide story ideas that are important to our different minority and ethnic communities. We hope by sharing these ideas you will able to find them in your city and pitch them as a story to your news managers.

Today we’re featuring: Our Lady of Guadalupe Day on December 12th. Our blog is by Sandra Gonzalez, an SPJ Diversity Committee member and digital journalist.

STANDING ROOM ONLY

If you pass by most Catholic churches in the Latino community on December 12th, you’ll probably see huge crowds. That’s because people will be celebrating Our Lady of Guadalupe Day (“Dia de la Virgen Guadalupe”).

I’ll never forget the first time I covered this event as a television reporter in Bakersfield, California. It was very early in the morning before the sun came up, and the church was “standing room only”.

Celebrations and processions will be part of the story if you plan to cover this event. An event that is very important to many Mexicans and Mexican-Americans.

Here is a procession that went through a Chandler, Arizona neighborhood. You’ll be able to see how this story can be very easy for any reporter to cover, and you don’t have to speak Spanish. It’s visual with a good people element.

WHO IS LA MORENITA?

Most Catholic churches with large Mexican congregations will most likely be holding masses and celebrations in honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe. It’s good to know the history behind this event.

According to Mexican legend, the Virgin Mary appeared to an Indian man, Juan Diego in 1531. She had Indian features, with dark hair and eyes, (which is why some refer to her as “La Morenita”/the dark haired one). She asked him to tell the bishop to build a church at the hill of Tepeyac, but the bishop didn’t believe him.

When Diego returned to the Virgin, she told him to go to a hill where it is barren and he would find some beautiful flowers as proof. Juan Diego found roses and gathered them up in his apron (“tilma”) and when he presented the roses to the bishop, instead there was an image of the “Virgen de Guadalupe” on his apron.

To this day that apron is on display in the Basilica of Guadalupe in Mexico City.

That legendary event spurred enormous growth of Catholicism in Mexico, and traditions honoring Our Lady of Guadalupe continue here in the United States.

ON THEIR KNEES

When I covered this story in Bakersfield, I saw the intense devotion of those who believed in the Virgin of Guadalupe. People fell to their knees in the back of the packed church. Others walked on their knees to the altar in the front. It looked painful, but this was their way of showing love and devotion and that they were humbled before her.

HOW TO FIND THIS STORY

Your best bet is to drive into the Latino community in your city. Even if the Mexican population is small–there will still be a celebration. Who would think you’d find Our Lady of Guadalupe celebration in Appleton, Wisconsin. Here’s the video:

If you can find the story in Appleton, you can find it in your backyard.

MORE TIPS

1. Call your Catholic Churches in the Latino community.
2. Contact the Catholic Diocese; they may know someone you can talk to in the church.
3. People angle: You can find the people angle when you go to one of these celebrations.

If you don’t get to cover it this year; jot it down in your calendar for 2012. Good luck!

Sandra Gonzalez is a digital journalist for WGNO-TV in New Orleans. She’s a multiple award winner with more than 20 year experience.