'Mexico: The Storytellers': Students present research amid journalists' deaths

May 16, 2017
two women walking down a street talking to each other

Students in Mexico City

 

With the recent deaths of Mexican journalists as a backdrop, 21 students in the School of Journalism’s Press and Latin America class presented research April 25 on how reporters continue to work under pressures and constraints in Mexico.

The symposium, "Mexico: The Storytellers," also included segments on immigration and the "other dreamers" — young people born in the U.S. who have returned to be with their parents in Mexico — and U.S.-Mexico relations under President Trump.

man pointing up as three other people look up in that direction

Prof. Lenin Martell, left, shows students around.

Lenin Martell, a professor from Mexico and a public radio ombudsman there, gave the keynote speech before about 100 people at the UA Main Library's Special Collections.

The event was co-sponsored by University Libraries Special Collections, the UA Center for Border & Global Journalism and the school.

In early 2017, four Mexican journalists killed included crime reporter Maximino Rodríguez Palacios in Baja California Sur and correspondent Miroslava Breach in Chihuahua.

“This is a way to highlight the students’ work and also to highlight the resources in Special Collections that can be helpful for the public and also for good journalism,” said Celeste González de Bustamante, a UA journalism professor.

Students compiled some of their research from a database in Special Collections of Mexican and Mexican-American publications.

Martell told the audience how important public media is to Mexico and in keeping the public informed.

“It 's interesting to see how similar and different public broadcasting is in Mexico, compared to NPR and PBS here,” Bustamante said. “Lenin's coming here helps strengthen our collaborations with universities and scholars in Mexico.”

Students from Bustamante’s class traveled to the Mexico City area over spring break to interview Mexican journalists and correspondents and to visit Martell at the Autonomous University of the State of Mexico (UAEM).

In addition, students auctioned off photos from their trip to Mexico, with proceeds going to recoup some of the travel costs.

Verónica Reyes-Escudero and Mary Feeney of University Libraries worked with Bustamante’s class on the event, and the Center for Border & Global Journalism helped pitch in funding.

Student Presentations

View photos of the presentations of the student presentations below.

Mexico’s Transnational Future in a New Political Era

  • Christina Duran
  • Genesis Lara
  • Victor Garcia
  • Monique Irish

The Immigration Imaginary

  • Brenna Bailey
  • Julia León
  • Maritza Domínguez
  • Zeina Cabrera-Peterson

Journalism and Activism in Uncertain Times

  • Fernando Galván
  • Natalia V. Navarro

Binational and Bicultural Journalists

  • April Lanuza
  • Justin Spears
  • Hannah Bloom
  • Amanda Oien

Journalists along the Border – Chihuahua State

  • Carmen Valencia
  • Mike González
  • Elena González
  • Simone McCarthy – Miroslava Breach

Journalists along the Border – Tamaulipas State

  • Emily Ellis
  • Elise McClain
  • Melissa Vásquez