Hispanic Journalists To Convene In Fort Worth, June 15-18, 2005.

The largest annual gathering of Hispanic journalists in the nation will take place June 15-18 in Fort Worth, Texas, as the National Association of Hispanic Journalists hosts its 23rd Annual Convention.

More than 2,000 journalists and media executives are expected to attend this four-day event that examines the latest issues affecting the media industry and provides opportunities for professional advancement through a series of seminars and workshops. The convention hosts the largest career and media expos for Hispanic journalists in the country with more than 130 media companies in attendance including Knight Ridder, Gannet, ABC, CBS, Tribune Company and Univision.

One of the highlights of this year’s convention is an ESPN-sponsored sports breakfast panel featuring Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks and Olympic speed skater Jennifer Rodriguez that will examine coverage and issues affecting Latino athletes. Boxing legend Oscar de la Hoya has also been invited.

A plenary session examining the First Amendment rights of journalists will include reporters Judith Miller of The New York Times and James Taricani, a reporter with WFAR-TV, who will discuss their recent experiences. In another plenary session, newspaper executives Tony Ridder, of Knight Ridder and Dennis Fitzsimmons, of the Tribune Company, will discuss the state of the media industry.

More than 60 career-building workshops will be offered throughout the convention in the categories of print, broadcast, photojournalism, interactive/new media, newsroom leadership, Spanish-language media, hot topics and young journalists. In addition, a full day of intensive all-day seminars will be offered on Wednesday, June 15 on enterprise beat reporting, reporting on immigration issues, reporting for television and the proper use of Spanish in news reporting. Several sessions will be offered with translations in both English and Spanish.

With this convention, NAHJ is increasing its focus on issues concerning journalists in Latin America. Adela Navarro Bello, Editor of the ZETA weekly in Tijuana, Mexico and Marielos Monzon, a radio journalist and commentator in Guatemala round out a panel of colleagues from Cuba and Colombia who will speak out about surviving assassination attempts and the growing number of attacks against journalists in the hemisphere. Daniel Santoro, the award-winning political editor of El Clarin in Argentina and Jaime Lopez, director of Journalists Against Corruption in El Salvador will be part of a dialogue
with journalists from Brazil and Mexico on the growth of investigative journalism in Latin America and the successes and obstacles faced by those who pursue that role in a repressive environment.

A number of workshops will also examine issues affecting Spanish-language journalists and the Latino community. Topics will include:

* The growth of democracy in Mexico.
* The humanitarian crisis in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, where close to 400
women have been killed over the past decade.
* Obesity in the Latino community.
* A discussion on No Child Left Behind.
* HIV and AIDS in Latino communities.

For more information at http://www.nahj.org