CHICANA/O STUDENT JOURNALISTS MAP OUT A CHICANA/O JOURNALISM PRACTICE

Abstract

Research documenting the media under-representation of people of color indicates that unless journalists re-imagine the way they report on communities of color, those growing segments may be left without a stake in the “public imaginary.” In this paper, I suggest that journalism educators turn their attention to Chicano/a student journalists in order to begin the process of re-envisioning newsgathering and writing in ways that more accurately depict and inform Latino/a communities. Driven by a collaboration between myself and undergraduate student producers of Venceremos, a bilingual Chicano/a student publication at a western state university, this paper builds a case for why these student journalists are an important source of knowledge and inspiration for journalism educators concerned with improving mainstream coverage of diverse communities. The essay also summarizes my association with the Venceremos staff in order to model how journalism educators can team up with alternative student journalists and it demarcates traits that typify their evolving Chicano/a journalism practice.

Keywords:

• Chicana/o
• journalism educators
• journalism practice
• student journalists

Notes

1. In this paper, I use the term Latina/o as an umbrella term to encompass all those who self-identify as either a Chicana/o, Mexican-American, Hispanic, Hispanic American, Hispano, Cuban, Puerto Rican, as well as documented and undocumented immigrants who still claim their homeland identities, such as Dominican, Peruvian, Columbian, El Salvadorian, Mexican, etc. (I deliberately use an “a/o” ending to both the term Latino and Chicano to resist the patriarchy embedded in the Spanish language.) The Chicana/o identity typically refers to those of Mexican descent that have been born in the United States, but it also includes Latinas/os with a politicized consciousness cognizant of the history of colonization weathered by Mexican-Americans in the United States. The term Chicana/o distinguishes a political and philosophical ideology, regardless of country of origin or generational status. It is not an identity forged along racial lines but rather united by a sense of shared oppression and colonization.

2. In 1947, the Hutchins Commission examined the nation's existing media and laid out five criteria that stipulate the social responsibility theory of a democratic press: (1) a truthful, comprehensive and intelligent account of the day's events in a context which gives them meaning; (2) a forum for the exchange of comment and criticism; (3) the projection of a representative picture of the constituent groups in the society; (4) the presentation and clarification of the goals and values in society; and (5) full access to the day's intelligence. According to these tenets—particularly number 3—journalists should be equipped to inform and report the experiences and realities of all the country's diverse publics.

3. The name of the university has been changed.