ConCiencia launches.

The Self-Reliance Foundation (SRF) and the Hispanic Communications Network (HCN) announced the launch of ConCiencia, a newswire service in Spanish funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). Each week, ConCiencia will provide and release science and health news to all Hispanic media outlets throughout the country.

According to HCN President Carlos Alcazar, “Downsizing and consolidation in the media has left few resources for local media to use to offer science information to their Latino audiences.” Alcazar hopes ConCiencia will enhance the ability of local Spanish-language outlets to provide this vital science and health information that the Hispanic community needs.

Bob Russell, Science Advisor with the Self-Reliance Foundation noted that “Latinos currently achieve lower-than-average math and science scores in public schools and are significantly underrepresented in science and engineering professions.” Russell adds that is why it is critical to provide Hispanic media with an ongoing source of high-quality science news tailored to meet the needs and interests of Hispanics.

Distribution for ConCiencia’s news products includes newspaper articles, radio segments and online news. Newspaper articles will be distributed in collaboration with the National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ) and other news organizations. ConCiencia’s radio segments will be distributed by HCN through their radio network of over 250 Spanish-language radio stations nationwide reaching millions of listeners each week. ConCiencia also plans on distributing its content over the most heavily-used Hispanic websites. A comprehensive editorial/news gathering process is in place to assure the accuracy, accessibility, and relevance of the science that is presented. Science news used in the service will be gathered from federal research agencies, scientific societies and their publications, and English-language science news services. All feeds will be disseminated in Spanish and edited for Latino interest. ConCiencia offers all its content at no cost to all Spanish-language media outlets that wish to publish it.

ConCiencia’s staff is comprised by renowned journalists and scientists. Robert L. Russell, PhD., with more than twenty years of experience in science education, serves as Science Advisor to ConCiencia. The supervision and coordination of the content production and news gathering processes will be supervised by journalist and media producer Karina Flores-Hurley, who serves as the Chief Editor of the project. Award-winning journalist Isabel Morales serves as the writer and editor of ConCiencia’s news, and Alicia Santiago, PhD., serves as senior science researcher.