At 2007 Noche Awards Gala, Immigration Coverage Was the Star
WASHINGTON , D.C. – With a hint of defiance, some of the winners at the National Association of Hispanic Journalists’ 2007 Awards gala took the stage to thank hard-working parents and abuelitas, some of whom had entered the United States illegally. During this special evening, the rejection and hatred often expressed in the media against them, their families and people who look like them became a big part of the evening.
Many of the two dozen winners at NAHJ’s 22nd Annual Noche de Triunfos Journalism Awards Gala said the anti-immigrant and anti-Latino statements too common today inspired their work being honored that evening, and motivated them to do more journalism to counter the hate and increase understanding.
Dianne Solis, a senior writer for The Dallas Morning News and the winner of the Frank del Olmo Print Journalist of the Year Award, quoted Gary D. during her acceptance speech.
“He never gave me his surname,” said Solis, addressing a crowd of nearly 275 at the Capital Hilton Oct. 4. “He just wrote me a very angry email. I’ll read you a small portion of it: ‘It’s time to collect the illegal immigrants and return them to their own country. I could care less about these cockroaches.’ ”
To Gary D., Solis said: “you inspired me to work harder, to think tougher and to very simply write.”
NAHJ awarded work submitted in 14 categories and also picked five winners of the ñ Awards – the association’s highest honors. More than half of the winning stories focused on immigrants, while the others took on subjects ranging from a documentary about the effect California’s rural gangs had on Latino families to a series of columns about Latinos living in the Deep South. Other work included an investigation on once secret U.S. plans to invade Mexico during World War II, a woman’s nightmare of sexual abuse on both sides of the border, and an exploration of cross-border grassroots projects to fight AIDS.
Of the 30 journalists recognized, Rebecca Aguilar has emerged as the most talked about winner since her Oct. 15 suspension by KDFW-TV Fox 4 in Dallas for a follow-up interview of a 70-year-old man who shot and killed two burglars in two separate incidents.
Bloggers applauded the move after calling her interview an “ambush,” while NAHJ criticized the station for letting itself be unduly influenced by certain community interests and has called for her reinstatement for the sake of good journalism.
The Emmy-award winning journalist was named Texas Reporter of the Year two years ago by the Associated Press. In accepting the ñ Award for Broadcast Journalist of the Year, Aguilar said: “I don’t want to start crying. Yeah, I won a lot of awards but this one means a lot. I’m going to be 50 years old this year. I’ve seen a lot of women come and go. We watch the network and we still don’t have enough of us.”
Gloria Campos Brown , the Gala’s honorary chair, urged the audience to support the association’s efforts to diversify the nation’s newsrooms.
Brown, a veteran anchor at WFAA in Dallas, continued: “One of the saddest things I ever heard in my community was when a gentleman came up to me and said his daughter wanted to be a television broadcaster like me, but said that Gloria Campos Brown already had that job.”
Emceed this year by CBS2 Chicago Anchor Antonio Mora, NAHJ’s annual awards gala featured the best work chosen from a field of 300 entries.
Fox News Channel’s Geraldo Rivera urged his colleagues to maintain high journalistic standards, and not to blindly connect illegal immigration to spikes in crime, as some in the media have done recently.
“Don’t let that linkage be made if unproven. Don’t let the traditional rules of journalism be abrogated …have the courage to stand up,’’ Rivera said to applause.
Along those same lines, the audience also heard from Maggie Rivas- Rodriguez, winner of the Leadership Award. She made headlines for helping lead a grassroots campaign for meaningful inclusion of Latinos in Ken Burns’ documentary on World War II, which aired on PBS last month.
“We shouldn’t have to, on a daily basis, open a newspaper and see another insult, or watch a television broadcast and be insulted again. That shouldn’t be part of our daily lives as Latinos, but it is,’’ said Rivas–Rodriguez, an associate professor at the University of Texas at Austin and a founding member of NAHJ.
Once part of NAHJ’s annual convention, the Noche de Triunfos Journalism Awards gala has become the organization’s signature event in Washington, D.C. during Hispanic Heritage Month. Individual ticket sales increased over previous years thanks to interest from sister Hispanic organizations and from Washington-based journalists.
In the Television Feature category, Beatriz Guerra and Edna Schmidt of Univisión’s Aquí y Ahora won for “Inagotable Fe” and “De las Manos de Angeles.”
“Many of the viewers that had a chance to watch the story were deeply moved and changed,’’ Guerra said. “It’s a story about hope and faith in the midst of adversity… the painful journey of a very brave young woman who was diagnosed with cancer when she was five and half months pregnant lost her baby a day before her 31st birthday.”
Guerra gave an update, saying the woman is now cancer free, believes she’ll get pregnant again and is preparing for a marathon, which drew applause from the audience.
NAHJ President Rafael Olmeda lauded the winners as an inspiration to all journalists.
“Your excellent work does not happen enough and we need more of it,” Olmeda said.
Another special award that evening, the Guillermo Martínez-Márquez Award for Latin American Reporting, was declared a tie. Esmeralda Bermudez of The Oregonian was cited for her fascinating story following a deported family back to Guatemala, a homeland some of them don’t really know. Carmen Escobosa, producer and reporter of Punto Fronterizo, an investigative television program based in San Diego and Baja California, won for her show about cross-border collaboration efforts to curb the spread of AIDS.
This year’s $250 cash prizes for each were doubled to $500 thanks to Kenn Altine, Director of Editorial Professional Development for Hearst Newspapers, who was moved that evening to make the donation.
“We need to recognize good work in this industry because it’s so vital,” Altine said.
The National Association of Hispanic Journalists
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