By MAYA CARPENTER

The UNITY News Online

Despite busy lifestyles, reporters often meet and fall in love.

Love conquers all in Daniel and Anne Vasquez’s marriage. They see each other every day in the newsroom and at home. They met at a journalism convention and felt a spark.

Reporters Corey Dade and Sonji Jacobs Dade live in Atlanta and were dating other people when they met. Coincidence brought them together at an NBA All-Star weekend in Atlanta.

This time, they let love in and were soon married. Journalism may have brought these couples together, but love keeps them united. They are not the only ones.

By ARELIS HERNANDEZ
The UNITY News Online

For the last 20 years, immigration coverage has been defined by the public’s wonder—or rather the journalist’s wonder. When new people ride into town, the temptation is to tell the story of their arrival and origins—but the story doesn’t end after they arrive.

From the African escaping civil war to the Central American with a student visa, reporters are fascinated by the people that reach our shores and borders.

But the tone of these stories treat immigrants as an “other” in a community, relegating them to the fringes of society, said panelists during a session on immigration storytelling.

Mainstream media over-emphasizes cultural differences and illegality while ignoring the greater story of collective impact, said University of Southern California journalism professor Roberto Suro.

Steve Holmes, deputy national editor for domestic policy at the Washington Post, predicted that immigration coverage will have to undergo a shift to maintain its relevancy.

“Immigration coverage is not the same as covering immigrants,” Holmes said. “You don’t have to tell the story of immigrants but economic stories about immigrants.”

Cultural shock stories blossom during years of prosperity, he said, but during a recession the main question concerns economic issues like jobs.

Holmes said he looked forward to reading a new kind of “coming to America,” story, one that examines the economics of immigration. He said journalists need to write stories that include immigrants as members of the community.

“The next few years may be the toughest we’ve seen in immigration coverage,” Holmes said. He believes an economic downturn will incite even more fiery rhetoric from television pundits such as Lou Dobbs.

Suro, a former immigration reporter, said journalists must avoid “de-contextualizing” immigrants by excluding information about the economic conditions that trigger their migration.

“Have you ever seen an employer quoted in a story about immigrants?” Suro said.

Reporters, Suro said, need to ask different questions such as: How are immigrants impacting local businesses? How do employers feel about the immigration? How much are they paid?

Part of telling the money story will mean testing the claims made about immigration, both legal and illegal: Are immigrants really taking American jobs? Do immigrants pay taxes? Are immigrants holding up the economy?

Because the story isn’t new, Suro said, the media needs to stop reacting and start interpreting to help the public move past the ideological stalemate concerning the issue.

“Immigration is classically known as a newser,” Suro said, quoting famed Philadelphia Inquirer editor Gene Roberts. “It’s a slow, gradual story.”

By VIRGINIA TORRES and ANDRES CABALLERO
The UNITY News

Twenty years after the first-time leaders of UNITY’s journalist associations met over a crab dinner at a Baltimore restaurant, board members of the four organizations reconvened yesterday in a sterile conference hall in Chicago.

In the first meeting at a UNITY convention between leaders of the Asian American Journalists Association, National Association of Black Journalists, National Association of Hispanic Journalists and Native American Journalists Association, the organization heads commemorated its history and addressed the enigma that surrounds its direction.

Despite leaders’ reassurance of their commitment to UNITY to the dozens of journalists gathered for the 40-minute meeting, some said the organization is not fulfilling its original mission.

“The goal was to come together and have strengths in numbers and demand the industry to change or else,” said Sidmel Estes-Sumpter, who helped incorporate the four organizations into UNITY in 1994 when she was a former NABJ board member.

Now, surrounded by journalists of color facing the imminent threat of layoffs, UNITY co-founder and NABJ member Will Sutton said the alliance should gather more frequently if they hope to meet the goal of greater diversity within America’s newsrooms.

“I really felt in 1988 that we were on to something,” he said. “No, there is no need for the UNITY alliance to disappear. Yes, we really need to keep working at it.”

By EUNICE LEE and APRIL YEE
The UNITY News

More than 50 demonstrators are flying into Chicago from as far away as Paris and Dakar to protest a speech by Senegal President Abdoulaye Wade, organizers said Wednesday.

Critics say Wade, who will speak Friday at an event hosted by the National Association of Black Journalists, has suppressed press freedom in a country that enjoys one of the most vibrant media climates in Africa.

Wade will speak four days after Senegalese media outlets staged a press blackout to protest the beating of two reporters by Senegalese police. Web sites went black, and most newspapers did not publish.

NABJ President Barbara Ciara defended Wade’s invitation, saying “We invite people here so they can answer questions. We are journalists.

“The same would go for President Bush. …The same would go for Condoleezza Rice, figures that are not popular…,” Ciara said. “We want figures that are both popular and unpopular.”

To her point, when Wade was introduced at the UNITY opening ceremony, more than 40 Senegalese-Americans, many in “Wade in 2012” T-shirts, cheered him and waved flags.

NABJ also is hosting an invitation-only $500-per-person dinner with Wade for more than 70 people Friday. Ciara said the proceeds will help pay for NABJ to move into its new headquarters.

Though Senegal once had what the European press called one of the best records regarding a free press in Africa, Wade’s eight-year tenure has been marked by controversy over press freedom. Since Wade was re-elected in a landslide in February 2007, journalists’ complaints against Wade’s treatment of them have increased, even as he is embraced by the international community. Wade recently attended the G8 summit in Japan.

“Senegal has long been a model for press freedom prior to the arrival of Mr. Wade in office,” said Mohamed Keita, of the media watchdog group Committee to Protect Journalists.

In March, Senegalese police Tasered a TV journalist trying to interview an opposition leader at an anti-government demonstration. Last month, Senegalese police beat two journalists covering a soccer match. Newspapers called for Wade to condemn the incident, but Wade did not comment.

After the beatings, journalists banded to form another watchdog group called the Committee for the Protection and Defense of Journalists. And on Monday, Senegalese newspapers, radio stations and TV outlets participated in a media blackout. The Web sites for the daily newspapers Sud Quotidien and Le Quotidien featured a black background and red letters with the words: “DAY WITHOUT NEWS.”

“That’s like shutting your eyes and closing your mouth,” Ciara said. “To me, that’s totally not the approach of a free and open press, to shut yourself down.”

John Yearwood, the NABJ member who helped coordinate Wade’s visit, said, “There’s discontent against just about every leader in about every country. But this discontent does not mean that that president should not have been invited to speak.

“You have a country that clearly has work to do,” Yearwood said. “But what we are looking for from President Wade is a commitment to improve the sustainability of the press in his country.”

On Friday, Wade will answer questions from U.S. reporters after his speech about maintaining farmlands and providing more food to Senegalese residents. His critics, who include members of Senegal’s opposition political party and journalists, are not impressed.

Diop said the June beatings were the catalyst for recent outrage among Senegalese about the government’s treatment towards journalists.

“We fought for him to be elected, for him to be president, because we wanted there to be a free press, and that is what he is refusing,” Diop said. “We want to make American opinion leaders press the president to change the way he’s treating journalists.”

Ali Sarr, a Senegalese-American citizen who lives in the U.S. said, “I don’t think it’s appropriate for somebody who’s violating those (press) freedoms … I don’t think that kind of person should really be the person to make a presentation about freedom at all.”

By MICHELLE D. ANDERSON
The UNITY News Online

CORRECTION: In the seventh paragraph, the southeast Asian performance group was incorrectly referred to as “Mong.” Their correct name is “Hmong.”

Among the vibrant costumes and sacred dancing, Wednesday’s opening ceremony was deeply rooted in important reminders about the craft of journalism.

“It’s entertainment, but it should also touch your heart,” said Carol Ash, a UNITY Board of Director member and a news producer at WMAQ-TV in Chicago. “It should excite you, and it should make you feel good.”

She said the ceremony also informs convention attendees about what they can expect in the next three days and showcases the variety of talent within each UNITY alliance organization.

“Too often people look for differences, and here’s a organization that looks to find common ground and build on that,” said Jeanne Mariani-Belding, president of the Asian American Journalists Association.

The drum has been used as a central theme that links all four organizations beginning with the first convention’s opening ceremony in 1994.

The performance by the Madison, Wis.-based cultural group Call for Peace Drum & Dance Co. mixed dance, traditional drums and contemporary music.

Drummers from each cultural group played music and joined dancers on stage. The ceremony featured performances by Native American dancers, a southeastern Asian Mong group and Mexican performers in Aztecan costumes, as well as an Ethiopian tale about the battle between truthfulness and falsehood.

The highly-acclaimed Peace Drum & Dance Co. has performed at the Fourth Global summit for the Nobel Peace Prize Laureates and during other notable events in several nations around the world.

While the opening ceremonies in during UNITY conventions in 1994, 1999 and 2004 seemed to convey a more festive and celebratory theme, the 2008 ceremony was overcast by the time tumultuous time in the industry, some previous attendees said.

Ron Carter, managing editor of The Carter Agency media firm, said he thought this year’s ceremony was more serious because of the perilous state of the industry. He said his first UNITY convention, the 2004 gathering in Washington, was a lot more festive.