Press Release

NAHJ’s 23rd Annual Convention Attracts Close to 1,600 Attendees and Important Figures in Sports, Politics and Film

WASHINGTON – The National Association of Hispanic Journalists attracted close to 1,600 attendees and important Latino figures such as the newly elected mayor of Los Angeles, Antonio Villaraigosa, and actor John Leguizamo to Fort Worth, Texas, during its 23rd annual convention held June 15-18.

As a precursor to the week’s events, NAHJ held a town hall meeting in Dallas that brought together members of the local Hispanic community and important Mexican political figures to discuss the future of Mexican politics with regards to the upcoming presidential elections.

The four-day convention formally began with an opening plenary session headlined by Villaraigosa. The mayor-elect of Los Angeles discussed the goals for his upcoming term with about 800 convention attendees. He stated that his term as mayor will focus on values, specifically education, health care and the homeless community of L.A.

Actor John Leguizamo, who stars in the upcoming film Crónicas, joined other film producers and directors on a panel discussing films about Latin Amercia. The panelists discussed the rising popularity of Spanish-language films in the United States and the capacity of films about Latin America to expose the social problems occurring in that part of the world.

The executive board of NAHJ passed several resolutions during its two-day meeting at the convention. The resolutions stated that NAHJ supports minority broadcast ownership, public interest requirements for digital broadcasting and the right of state and local governments to build wireless broadband networks.

One highlight of the week was the release of NAHJ’s 10th annual Network Brownout Report that examines the portrayal of Latinos on network nightly news. As in previous years, the report found that Latinos are vastly underrepresented on the nation’s evening news programs since only 0.72 percent of stories aired on these programs were exclusively about Latinos.

Important media executives also addressed convention attendees during several events. The convention’s main plenary session brought together P. Anthony Ridder, chairman/CEO of Knight Ridder Inc., Tom Curley, president/CEO of the Associated Press and Ibra Morales, Telemundo Station Group president, who discussed the future of the media industry in the digital age. All three news executives discussed the way in which new technology affects readership, news delivery and journalists’ training.

Also addressing the conference were Mark Contreras, vice president of newspaper operations for E.W. Scripps Co., Rick Rodriguez, executive editor of the Sacramento Bee and president of the American Society of Newspaper Editors, and Paula Madison, president and general manager of KNBC-TV in Los Angeles, who discussed the impact of the changing media landscape on diversity during one of the convention’s luncheons. The panelists emphasized that with a rapidly changing U.S. population, diversity in newsrooms is a necessity, not an option.

Another highlight was a breakfast event that brought together several Latino sports figures including Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, Olympic speed skater Jennifer Rodriguez and baseball hall of famers Orlando Cepeda and Juan Marichal to discuss sports journalism and the growing importance of Latino athletes. Many panelists stressed the need for more journalists fluent in Spanish who can cover the growing number of athletes hailing from Latin American countries.

The convention closed with a black-tie gala honoring the newest inductee to the NAHJ Hall of Fame, Gerald Garcia, one of the founding members of NAHJ and its first president.