Latino communities and Latino media in Chicago

Four distinct journalists came together to talk about media and what today's agenda looks like when covering Latino communities. Fernando Diaz, from Hoy, Silvana Tabares, from Extra, Chip Mitchell, from WBEZ and Oscar Avila, from the Chicago Tribune visited NEIU to share their experiences with NEIU students, staff, and faculty on Mar. 9, at 7:00 p. m.

Teresa Puente, the moderator for the event, opened the event by saying that the fact that you are Latino, does not automatically mean that you have the expertise needed to cover the Latino community. She then asked the panelists, "How did you develop expertise on covering Latino communities?" Diaz said that there are different subject areas that need to be covered in different ways. "However," he said, "I think the key though is being able to speak the language." Mitchell agreed with Diaz. He has learned the language as an adult, but people are willing to talk to him because he said he was personally interested in their issues, Latino issues.

Tabares said that not only is the language important, but also understanding the culture. Avila added how important listening to people and learning is, but in covering Latino communities, "...you want to cover Latino issues, but you don't want to be the Latino reporter; they are two different things."

Moving forward, Puente's next question concerned the top stories in the Latino community. Avila said that he is always interested in politics and with many Latinos moving to the western suburbs the face of the politics is changing.

Tabares said that the recession and jobs are big issues which are very important to Latinos.  She mentioned how Extra has covered foreclosures extensively last year. "What we are working on now, and what we would like to see more in the newspaper, are success stories [about] Latinos," said Tabares.

When asked how their goal in covering Latino communities differs from the major publications, such as Chicago Sun Times, the managing editors of Hoy and Extra said that they cover the community year-round.

Avila said that the Chicago Tribune has a strong story about a Latino every week. He added, "We can bring Latinos into the mainstream. We are trying to walk the line... to bridge the gap between Latinos and non-Latinos."

Puente then asked the panelists what their media publications were doing to reach the younger Latino generation and other Latino groups besides Mexicans.

Diaz explained how his newspaper had this goal in mind since Hoy is seen as a first generation, Spanish dominant, Mexican newspaper. Thus, Diaz said that if they remain the same, they are going to lose readers.

"[Extra] is already writing stories about [other Latino] growing demographics, folks who are between cultures, who are educated, who are bilingual, who are not isolated," said Diaz.

Tabares followed up by saying that Extra covers different parts of the Latino community and that their staff is diverse.

"We make an effort to reach out to different demographics, but we need to work more on that, although Mexicans are the largest [group]," she said. She also said that Extra has a website, a Facebook page and a Twitter account where the younger population can find immediate information.

At the end of the panel discussion, the floor was open for questions.