Unique Journalism Programs Engage Community in Border Issues

 

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Poised on the frontline of the U.S.-Mexico border, Arizona State University is uniquely positioned to examine socially relevant, and often controversial, border issues. But rather than adding more heat to an already divisive issue, some ASU faculty, staff and students are turning to journalism in the hopes of transforming a highly contentious debate into a lasting and progressive dialogue.

From a series of multimedia, in-depth student reporting projects to an annual fellowship that trains national journalists in border issues, the media is proving to be quite the tool for engaging communities in a complex, highly diverse, and (most importantly) factually accurate discussion of border issues.

 

“We’re so close to the border,” says Kristin Gilger, creator of the Borderlands Project and assistant dean of professional programs in the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communications, which takes student journalists to Mexico for a semester to investigate and report on border issues. “The relationship between these two countries affects almost everything about our state. We ignore it at our peril.”

The Borderlands Project, offered by the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, began in 2005, when Gilger and her students traveled to Monterrey and published a 16-page newspaper on the economic ties between Arizona and Mexico. The following year, a grant from the Howard G. Buffett Foundation enabled a team of student photojournalists to return to Mexico and publish a photographic collection entitled “Children of the Borderlands.”

 

Finally, in 2007, a renewal of the grant allowed a new batch of print, photo, and broadcast journalism students to collaborate on a multi-media project called “Divided Families,” which combines feature stories, photo essays, and video in a full color magazine and website that document the impact of the border on families of all kinds.

 

“When we began, I was skeptical about the sort of stories we’d find,” says ASU senior Ryan Kost, who, since participating in the Borderlands Project, has covered stories ranging from the tragedy of American children trapped in Mexican orphanages to the plight of Border Patrol wives. “It opened my eyes to the sheer number of stories related to border issues.”

 

According to Gilger, programs like the Borderlands Project are as beneficial to students as they are to the community at large.

 

“Mexico is so much in the news,” she says, “And to be a journalist, especially in Arizona, it’s really an advantage to learn about Mexico and be comfortable reporting in Mexico. It makes sense to train students in border issues.”

 

Training journalists in border issues is also the mission of the ASU Media Fellowship which, since 2007, has brought nationally-recognized journalists to ASU and the border to hone their expertise on this complicated, controversial topic.  

 

“A lot of professors who specialize in immigration have commented to us that many reporters don’t report accurately on the issue,” says Leah Hardesty, Media Relations Officer for the fellowship. “We felt it was necessary to create an opportunity for these reporters to gain as much knowledge as they can so they can report more accurately.”

 

The fellows selected each year spend two days attending lectures by ASU faculty on a variety of border-relevant subjects, such as history, law, and economics. After a crash course in border issues, they spend several days traveling to cities along and across the border to meet with everyone from Border Patrol Agents and labor organizers, to activists and artisan producers – each of whom has a unique perspective on the immigration debate.

 

For Nate Carlisle, a reporter for the Salt Lake Tribune and 2008 ASU Media Fellow, the most beneficial aspect of the program was the face-time with ASU faculty, whose expertise greatly informed his own reporting.

 

“The fellowship presented me with good and relevant news angles to share with readers in Utah and allowed me to write with more authority on the topics,” he says. “ASU was a resource before the fellowship, but now I know the faculty by their specific expertise and can access them easier than previously.”

 

For ASU faculty this partnership proves equally beneficial as it creates a unique opportunity for professors to utilize the media to share their extensive research, theories, and opinions on border issues.

 

According to Hardesty, however, disseminating this information is more than a promotional opportunity for professors – it’s a service to the community at large.

 

“As an institution of higher education, we are obligated to research social issues, and try to find solutions,” she says. “And share those solutions not only with our opinion leaders, our government leaders, but with the public in general.”

 

Kost couldn’t agree more. As a committed student and journalist, he believes that the University has a responsibility to examine border issues affecting our state, and that journalism is an effective way of engaging the community in this examination.

 

“Journalism is really accessible, no matter what you do, where you’re from, or who you are,” he says. “And because of our proximity, we can easily be that point-institution for these issues.”

 

Catherine Traywick, ASU in the Community feature writer
catherine.traywick@asu.edu
480-965-0335

 

Share your comments, questions and thoughts. Send an email to maureen.mills@asu.edu