10/8/2001
EAST LANSING, Mich. - The Midwest Latino community is growing, but its representation in newsrooms is not. Journalists, recruiters, educators and students will gather on Oct. 26-27 to debate this contradiction at the second annual National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ) Region 6 Conference at Michigan State University.
Organizers of the conference, titled "Journalists in the Midwest: Reporting on the 'Latinization' of America's Heartland," invited national experts to share ideas on why journalists of color leave newsrooms, how to keep them and how to translate census data into human stories. They also will examine race and ethics in the newsroom.
The conference begins Friday evening with a panel of Latin American journalists sharing their experiences of free speech in their respective countries. A reception and dinner will follow. Saturday's luncheon speaker is Carlota Almanza-Lumpkin, production manager at WTVS-Channel 56 (PBS) in Detroit. She is also the Michigan chapter president of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.
Carolina Garc�a, chairwoman of the diversity committee for the American Society of Newspaper Editors and managing editor of the San Antonio Express-News, will moderate a Saturday morning panel on why Latino journalists are leaving newsrooms. NAHJ President Cecilia Alvear and The Plain Dealer editor Douglas Clifton will be among the panelists exploring why Latinos, Asian-Americans and African-Americans leave the industry.
"A conference such as this serves the university community well because it brings social issues, such as newsroom diversity, to the attention of the students, staff and faculty," said Stephen Lacy, director of MSU's School of Journalism. "If universities are not careful, they can become isolated from the real-life problems that confront communities and professions."
More than 130 people are expected to attend the conference. Attendees will get a special screening of a documentary PBS series called "Local News," and the filmmaker, Calvin Skaggs, will lead a discussion on ethics and race in newsrooms. For more information, visit the NAHJ Web site at: www.nahj.org
The conference is sponsored by Michigan State University and its School of Journalism, the Allstate Foundation, the DaimlerChrysler Corp. Fund, the Detroit Free Press, The Detroit News, the American Society of Newspaper Editors, the Ford Foundation, National Public Radio, Mi Gente magazine and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists Region 6.
To register, contact Rosa Morales at (517) 353-3859 or redrosa@aol.com or Howard Bossen at (517) 353-4613 or bossen@msu.edu.