Parity Project Achieves New Milestones

A total of 75 Latino journalists have been hired by the companies partnering with the Parity Project since NAHJ launched the program in April 2003. NAHJ has partnered with 19 media companies on the project, with nine just joining the project since January. In addition, of the 75 Latinos hired, 20 were hired to their first full-time newsroom job.

The following is an overview of recent accomplishments of the project.

Major Changes in San Angelo
The San Angelo Standard-Times in Texas has achieved several firsts since NAHJ announced its partnership with the Scripps-owned daily. The newspaper hired its first Latino editor, Tim Archuleta, and its first Latino publisher, Robert Aguilar. Both are NAHJ members. In addition, NAHJ member Cynthia Esparza was hired after graduating from Texas State University in August 2004. She is the first Latino female photojournalists that the paper has ever hired. Esparza was also a staff member of NAHJ’s convention newspaper in 2001 and 2002.

Latinos Hired into First Full-Time Jobs
Journalists beginning their careers at parity newspapers include Emily Hinojosa, a copy editor/designer at the Corpus Christi Caller-Times in Texas, who was hired by the paper in Sept. 2004 and NAHJ member Robert Barba, hired by the Scripps’ Treasure Coast Newspapers in Florida in January 2005 as a business reporter.

ASNE Student Newspapers
The American Society of Newspaper Editors (ASNE) has accepted three Parity Project newspapers, the Daily Camera in Boulder Colo.; the Santa Maria Times in California, and The Tampa Tribune in Florida into its 2005-2006 High School Journalism Program. This program encourages daily English-language newspapers to pair up with high schools to help publish campus newspapers while encouraging those students to pursue careers in the journalism field.

First Journalists Hired at Partnering TV Stations
Last May, KCNC-TV CBS 4 in Denver hired NAHJ member Michelle Gutierrez as an online editor/newscast writer. She became the first person hired by a TV station partnering on the project. This is Gutierrez’s first full-time professional newsroom job. She graduated from Denver’s Metro State College last June. NAHJ launched the project at KCNC in October 2004.

Last June, WFLA-TV News Channel 8 in Tampa, Fla., hired NAHJ member Claudia DoCampo as the Hernando County bureau chief. The NBC-affiliate station is owned by Media General. She had worked as a reporter/anchor at WDJT-TV (CBS affiliate)/WYTU-TV (Telemundo affiliate) in Milwaukee, Wis. NAHJ launched the project at WFLA-TV in February 2005.

Scripps Academy for Hispanic Journalism
NAHJ member Sarah Langbein, the first person hired into the Scripps Academy for Hispanic Journalism at the Rocky Mountain News in Denver, completed the two-year program and was hired as a full-time police reporter by the paper. The Scripps Academy is a full-time employment training program designed to recruit and develop journalists early in their careers who are bilingual and have an understanding of issues affecting the Hispanic community. Scripps created the Academy in 2003 following the launch of the project at the Rocky Mountain News.

Besides Langbein, five additional journalists have been hired into the academy. Applications are being accepted. For more information, visit: www.rockymountainnews. com, or contact the program administrator Michael Madigan at (303) 892-2386. His e-mail is madiganm@rockymountainnews.com.