1A. In and Out of Focus: Media and Representation
9:30am - 11:00am
This discussion of mainstream and alternative media coverage considers the ways in which Afro-Latin@s have historically been excluded and/or stereotyped and, conversely, how Afro-Latin@s have given voice to their experiences. We will survey current trends in representations of Afro-Latin@s in a range of media outlets – including mass-market, English- and Spanish-language, African-American and independent media – and look at the state of hiring and employment of Afro-Latin@s in journalism. Panel participants will share their insights about how media should be serving our community, how to improve the accuracy, depth and diversity of depictions of Afro-Latin@s in the media, and how to impact media through effective advocacy, media production and education.
This discussion of mainstream and alternative media coverage considers the ways in which Afro-Latin@s have historically been excluded and/or stereotyped and, conversely, how Afro-Latin@s have given voice to their experiences. We will survey current trends in representations of Afro-Latin@s in a range of media outlets – including mass-market, English- and Spanish-language, African-American and independent media – and look at the state of hiring and employment of Afro-Latin@s in journalism. Panel participants will share their insights about how media should be serving our community, how to improve the accuracy, depth and diversity of depictions of Afro-Latin@s in the media, and how to impact media through effective advocacy, media production and education.
Presenters
Yvonne Latty is the Director of the Reporting New York and Reporting the Nation programs at NYU's Carter Journalism Institute. She is the author of In Conflict: Iraq War Veterans Speak Out on Duty, Loss and the Fight to Stay Alive (2006) which was adapted into an award winning play, and the critically acclaimed We Were There: Voices of African American Veterans, from World War II to the War in Iraq (2004). She is the producer/director of "Sacred Poison," a documentary on uranium contamination on Navajo Nation. She was a reporter for the Philadelphia Daily News for 13 years and her work has been featured in numerous media outlets. Born and raised in New York City, her mother is an immigrant from the Dominican Republic and her father was a first generation Jamaican. She earned a BFA in Film/Television and an MA in Journalism from New York University.
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Michelle Materre’s professional background spans more than 25 years experience as film producer, writer, arts administrator, distribution and marketing specialist and college professor. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Media Studies and Film and Associate Director of The School of Undergraduate Studies at The New School where she was recently awarded the University Distinguished Teaching Award. She is also an independent media consultant, advising filmmakers and organizations on fundraising, distribution, outreach, marketing, and exhibition. A member of the Board of Directors of the New York Film and Video Council, and former member of the Board of Directors of New York Women in Film and Television, she has been the curator of the critically acclaimed film series, Creatively Speaking, for the past sixteen years.
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Lori S. Robinson is the editor of B.L.A.C. (Black Life, Arts & Culture), an award-winning lifestyle magazine in Detroit. She is also the founding editor of VidaAfroLatina.com (now on hiatus), a digital news and opinion publication. Robinson has traveled widely in Latin America and Spain. She has been writing articles about Latin America’s African descendants for 15 years and her freelance work has appeared in national newspapers and magazines. During a year living in Ecuador, she taught a media course at Universidad San Francisco de Quito. She currently serves on the board of When And Where I Enter Inc., a Houston-based foundation that provides grants to charitable organizations that improve the lives of Black women in Latin America. In addition, Robinson, a rape survivor, is the author of I Will Survive: The African-American Guide to Healing from Sexual Assault and Abuse.
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Iván Román-Lazén has spent most of his 28 years as a journalist covering communities of color in the United States, especially the Puerto Rican, Dominican and Nicaraguan communities, and developments in their countries of origin. During his years at The Miami Herald, Rochester Times-Union, El Nuevo Herald, The San Juan Star and the Orlando Sentinel, he also covered topics ranging from Dominican migrant smuggling and economic crises in Cuba to the general strike in Venezuela and Nicaraguan societal and political trends after the Sandinista revolution. Most recently, he was the executive director of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, based in Washington, D.C., which strives to increase the representation of Latinas/os and in journalism, and advocates for fair coverage of Latinos/as in U.S. media.
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Moderator
Laura Rivera worked as a staff reporter for Newsday and served a brief stint at El Diario/La Prensa in New York. She also co-directed a documentary about gentrification in New York called "Whose Barrio?" Last year, she co-produced a series of public service announcements for the afroatin@ forum’s Census 2010 campaign. Laura was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where she worked as a correspondent and producer for public TV station WIPR. She is a graduate of Emory University and New York University, and is currently a first-year student at Emory Law School in Atlanta.
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