California State University, Northridge Spanish-Language Media Project Targets HIV/AIDS

“The AIDS hospice sits on the outskirts of a Tijuana colonia called La Morita, near a cluster of industrial plants. By the time one reaches it, paved roads have turned to dirt. Beyond Casa Hogar la Memorias (”Home of Memories”), signs of human activity dwindle away to nothing.

This spring, the hospice was the headquarters of nine California State University, Northridge students enrolled in the university’s new interdisciplinary minor in Spanish-language journalism. The students went there during spring break in April to research and report on AIDS in the Latino community, and came back with a deep sense of journalistic responsibility and personal growth.

The results of their work, “Relatos contra el silencio: El sida en la communidad Latina” (”Stories Against the Silence: AIDS in the Latin Community”), is a 48-page special edition of El Nuevo Sol, the campus’ Spanish-language newspaper. In moving detail, it tells the stories of the Casa’s inhabitants and beams a spotlight on the issue of AIDS in the Spanish-speaking community.

By the time they complete the project, conceived and overseen by journalism department chair Kent Kirkton and Spanish-language media minor program director Jose Luis Benavides, the students will have compiled a multimedia oeuvre of radio, print, video, Web and PowerPoint reporting.

Kirkton learned about Casa Hogar at a conference organized by Promotoras, a nonprofit network of health advocates. Soon afterward, he and Benavides developed the idea for the media project. The topic of HIV/AIDS in the Latino community, Kirkton said, presented a challenging reporting experience and the chance to provide a service to the community.

The Spanish-language minor was a natural springboard for an original multimedia project, said Benavides.

“With traditional media dying and new forms emerging, it was a way to break some rules of what is going on in journalism,” he said. The CSUN students, he said, have created a hybrid news product with information and opinion delivered on a variety of platforms.

Benavides and Kirkton accompanied student journalists Ana Cubias, Alondra Hernandez, Natalia Zelaya, Alonso Yanez, Adolfo Flores, Esmeralda Orozco, Moises Reyes, Jose Luis Mendez and Nancy Molina to Casa Hogar.

Their preparations had included lectures from AIDS experts, assigned readings and required immunizations, but life at Hogar la Memorias was “eye opening” for most of the students. The hospice’s 29 current patients and seven volunteers taught the CSUN students the meaning of courage, honesty and optimism, the students said.

Yanez, a junior who is radio coordinator on the project, covered an individual who had helped obtain food for the hospice before the man’s own health deteriorated and he became a patient himself. Sensing a “bigger story,” Yanez and his radio crew went to the patient’s barrio and learned that he had fought hard to bring in basic amenities such as electricity and water.

The day after returning from Tijuana, Yanez and the other students were grieved to learn that the HIV-infected barrio hero had died.

Cubís, a senior involved with the project’s print portion, acknowledged the “heartbreak” of the assignment.

“As a journalist, you had to be understanding, but at the same time professional, maintaining that respect with the interviewee, drawing the fine line between the subject and yourself as a reporter,” she said.

Molina, in charge of the video component, agreed. She recalled a hospice cook who, paralyzed on one side, walked with difficulty up the dirt path to a small grocery store to demand justice when Molina was shortchanged after a purchase.

“His whole life had been injustice and rejection, but he still demanded justice for me,” she said.

When Molina and her colleagues returned, they went to work on the multimedia effort. The hospice will put to use their video piece, radio station KPFK-FM 90.7 will air the radio portion today, the documentary may find its way to television, the Web piece can be viewed at www.csun.edu/elnuevosol , and El Nuevo Sol is available on campus.

- - - -

CONTACT: Carmen Ramos Chandler, Cal State Northridge Public Relations, 818-677-2130, carmen.chandler@csun.edu

NOTE TO EDITORS: The following names are spelled with diacritical marks that AScribe cannot transmit:

- Jose Luis Benavides (acute accent on the “e” in Jose)

- Ana Cubias (acute accent on the “i” in Cubias)

- Alondra Hernandez (acute accent on the “a” in Hernandez)

- Alonso Yanez (acute accent on the “a” and tilde on the “n”

in Yanez)

- Moises Reyes (acute accent on the “e” in Moises)

- Jose Luis Mendez (acute accent on the “e” in Jose)

—1463785471-2805935-1180631542=:28105– “

Stumble it! | |

Other posts that may interest you

Obesity clinic targets Latinos - University of Southern California

The State of Spanish Language Media for 2007 - from The Center for Spanish Language Media

Hispanic enrollment at California State University, Northridge among highest in nation

Event targets Hispanic voters - University of New Mexico

Language proficiency decreases among Latino groups, according to study

Hispanic Students Increasingly Successful at California State University, Northridge

Bill to allow immigrants to apply for financial aid - California

Hispanic Access Initiative draws controversy at California State University, Northridge

H and R Block targets Latinos with regionalized Spanish language ad campaign in 13 markets - Hispanic MPR

Casio targets Houston, LA Latinos with first Spanish language billboard, online ads - Hispanic MPR