Thank you for electing me president of the New England chapter of NAHJ! Below is my platform and my pledge to NAHJ members.

BOLD LEADERSHIP FOR NAHJ

It’s time to hold New England news media accountable.

As president, I will work with our executive board and members to formulate a plan to push for better representation in coverage and for an equitable number of Latinx journalists — especially in newsroom leadership and public-facing positions such as columnists, hosts and anchors.

• Lifetime member, NAHJ
• Former Vice President-Print and former At-Large General Officer for NAHJ 2004-2008
• Executive editor, The Latino Reporter, NAHJ’s convention newspaper, 2000-2004
• Served on the national NAHJ Election Advisory Committee, 2020
• Joined NAHJ during college

My promise to you…

During the first year of my presidency, I will work with our executive board and membership to identify anti-Latinx bias in coverage and treatment of Latinx journalists in their newsrooms.

We will issue a report by early 2022, calling on news leaders to make changes based on our findings.

We will do so by:

• Creating an anonymized survey of Latinx journalists in New England, asking about their experiences in their newsrooms. Their feedback will form the basis of a qualitative analysis of how Latinx journalists are faring in New England newsrooms.

• Assessing how Latinx communities are portrayed in local news media by doing a one-year content audit of the largest New England news media companies. We will look at how Latinx people are identified and characterized and look for news stories that gloss over issues of concern to our communities.

• The survey results and content analysis will become the basis for a report that will be shared with our members. We will hold a virtual Town Hall with our members on the topic and consider next steps, depending on the outcome. Possible next steps may include meeting with executive leadership at local news outlets to address the issues as well as using our platforms to write about the inequities.

This inaugural report will serve as a baseline for future surveys to be conducted every two years and will grow to include Latinx freelance journalists and Latinx student journalists.

Also on my agenda:

Twice-annual workshops for journalists, at minimum, working with local other journalism organizations such as BABJ, AAJA-New England, SPJ New England and ONA-Boston. We will offer workshops for students, freelancers, and mid-career journalists.

NAHJ-New England Journalism Awards (Name to be determined.) To celebrate the courageous and insightful work of Latinx journalists in New England and non-Latinx journalists who are doing vital work that intersects with Latino communities.

Regular themed networking events with guest speakers. These will be held virtually during 2021. It will enable members who are far from Boston to join us. We hope to have full participation from members in Maine, New Hamsphire, Vermont, Rhode Island, Connecticut and Massachusetts.

I’m hard-working, task-oriented, resourceful and tenacious. I strongly believe that for every problem, there is a solution. Strong leadership is vital but one person can’t do this work alone. We need a strong executive board of working journalists who can commit to elevating our chapter. We also need an involved membership to steer our chapter. We can grow our group by showing results. We need our members to help with the planning and execution of these important endeavors to help them become a reality.

I am calling on all of my Latinx brothers and sisters working as journalists in New England to come back to the NAHJ chapter. Together, we are going to show New England news organizations our value and insist on better coverage and more Latinos in our newsrooms.

Questions? Please reach out to me via this form: https://cindyerodriguez.com/connect/.

This video is narrated by Ed Asner and animated by Mike Konopacki. It was written and directed by Fred Glass for the California Federation of Teachers.

This is a terrific video for budding writers.