Join a stellar group of foreign correspondents and Mexican reporters for a discussion of the war on drugs, its effect on border communities, and the implications of violence on border journalism and U.S. national security. Is the threat real? Can the story be covered fully and accurately?
Presented by: The Society of Professional Journalists, Northern California Chapter; The Knight Journalism Fellowships; The Communication Department at Santa Clara University; El Centro Chicano (Stanford); New America Media; and The Committee to Protect Journalism.
What: “Fire on the Line” – a discussion about the spread of narco-related violence and its implications for communities and journalists on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border.
Where: Stanford University and Santa Clara University
When: *6 p.m., Thursday, April 23, at Santa Clara University, Wiegand Room, Arts & Sciences Building.
*1 p.m., Friday, April 24, Stanford University, El Centro Chicano
Who:
Alfredo Corchado, Mexico Bureau Chief for the Dallas Morning News. Last year Corchado was awarded the prestigious Maria Moors Cabot award, honoring his years of groundbreaking coverage of Latin America and the U.S. – Mexico border. Corchado is a native of Durango, Mexico. Since 1984 he has about life and death along the border – and the region’s social and cultural vibrancy – for the Wall Street Journal, the El Paso Herald Post and the Morning News.
Alfredo Quijuano, Managing Editor, El Norte de Juarez, Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. For more than a decade, Quijano has led a team of fearless reporters in covering crime and corruption on the U.S.-Mexico border. His coverage of the trafficking business and the murders of women in Ciudad Juarez set a standard for courageous local journalism in Mexico, and earned the paper international awards for outstanding journalism under fire.
Angela Kocherga is the border correspondent for Belo TV, a nationwide group of local stations. She has covered the border and Mexico for 20 years, and broke stories on the explosion of violence in Mexico, and about the Zetas, a unit of rogue ex-special forces soldiers who became traffickers.
Dudley Althaus has been bureau chief for the Houston Chronicle in Latin America for 20 years. Going back to the days of the notorious cocaine cowboys, Althaus has written about Mexico’s vexing drug problem and documented its growth into a national security threat for the United States.
Joel Simon is a former reporter in Mexico. He’s Executive Director of the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists. His first-hand experience reporting these stories has helped CPJ become a leading light in exposing dangers journalists face in covering the drug story. Mexico is among the world's most dangerous places for journalists.
The moderator is Ricardo Sandoval, Assistant City Editor at the Sacramento Bee, and President, SPJ NorCal. As a foreign correspondent in Latin America from 1997 to 2005, Sandoval covered crime, migration and insurgent movements – work that earned him awards from the Overseas Press Club and the InterAmerican Press Association.
Contact: Ricardo Sandoval, SPJ NorCal, (415) 786-1258