Washington, D.C. -- The National Association of Hispanic Journalists inducted Charlie Ericksen, Peter Moraga and Edith Sayre Auslander into its Hall of Fame during its second annual Hall of Fame Luncheon Ceremony June 21 at the NAHJ convention in Phoenix.
The NAHJ created its Hall of Fame in 1999 to honor those journalists whose efforts either nationally or locally have resulted in a greater number of Latinos entering the journalism profession or have helped to improve news coverage of the nation’s Latino community.
Last year, Rubén Salazar, Elma Barrera and Sylvan Rodríguez were the first group of journalists inducted into NAHJ’s Hall of Fame.
CNN’s María Hinojosa served as the emcee of the luncheon which was sponsored by Freddie Mac and Exelon.
The following are biographies of this year’s inductees:
CHARLIE ERICKSEN
Charlie Ericksen started his career as a teenage copyboy at the Los Angeles Mirror
in 1948. After military service in Korea, he wandered across Mexico, syndicating his
adventures weekly in Southwest newspapers. These included crossing back into the
United States with undocumented farmworkers to labor in California’s fields.
He returned to California with his Oaxacan wife, Sebastiana Mendoza, and the first of their five children, Hector, in 1956. He worked for two Los Angeles newspapers,
three TV stations, some Latino advocacy groups and the U.S. Civil Rights Commission. In 1980, Sebastiana, Héctor and Charlie founded Hispanic Link News Service
in Washington, D.C., starting the first nationally syndicated Hispanic column service. They were joined soon afterwards by another son, Carlos. Sebastiana died from
cancer in December 1996. The honor of entering NAHJ’s Hall of Fame, Ericksen says, is one that must be divided within the family, with the greatest inspiration coming from
his late wife Sebastiana.
EDITH SAYRE AUSLANDER
Tucson native Edith Sayre Auslander has had a distinguished career in the newspaper industry. She has been a reporter and an editor at the Arizona Daily Star and assistant professor of journalism at the University of Arizona. Most recently, she was the vice president of human resources for the Tucson Newspapers, from which she retired in 1999.
She now works at the Arizona Alumni Association. Auslander is one of the founders of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and was named one of the 100 most influential Hispanics by Hispanic Business magazine. Among the many awards Auslander has won is that of Tucson’s "Woman of the Year for 1986." She received an honorary doctorate from the University of Arizona in 1997.
PETER MORAGA
Born and raised in Tempe, Ariz., Peter Moraga has dedicated his career to improving the image of Hispanics in the media industry. After graduating from the University of Arizona in 1949, Moraga became a member of the original staff of KIFN in Phoenix, the state’s first all-Spanish-language radio station. In 1957, he was hired by the Latin American division of the Voice of America before joining the Foreign Service in 1961. There he served as an assistant press attache at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City. In 1967, he became the press attache at the U.S. Embassy in Peru.
In 1969, Moraga joined the staff of KNX-CBS Radio in Los Angeles as a writer, reporter, editor and weekend anchor before working an 18-month stint with KMEX-TV in Los Angeles following the death of Rubén Salazar in 1970. He returned to the station in 1981 as the news director and began providing weekly commentary on KCBS-TV in 1987. He returned to KNX a year later before retiring in 1992. Moraga is married to the former Gloria Flores. They have four children, 13 grandchildren and three great-grand-children
Hall of Fame Inductees
2001
- Charlie Ericksen is the founder of Hispanic Link News Service in Washington, D.C.
- Edith Sayre Auslander is a former reporter and editor at the Arizona Daily Star and former professor at the University of Arizona.
- Peter Moraga is a pioneer in radio journalism in both California and Arizona.
2000
- Rubén Salazar, who died in 1970, was a columnist for the Los Angeles Times and the news director of KMEX.
- Elma Barrera, a reporter for ABC’s Channel 13, was the first Hispanic female reporter in the Houston market in 1972.
- Sylvan Rodríguez, who died in April of 2000 of pancreatic cancer, was an anchor at KHOU-TV 11 in Houston
