The journalist Araceli Martínez Ortega of the newspaper Real America News of Los Angeles won the award in the Census category 2020 within the Ethnic Media California awards 2020 for history “ Fear persists among Latinos to be counted in the Census “.
These awards were given based on the work carried out in one of the most complicated years, since the pandemic put the lives of the reporters at risk, but at the same time the Census was being lived 2020, one of the fundamental processes to ensure the well-being of Latinos in the United States by the following 10 years.
“Receiving this award has been a pleasant and unexpected surprise, but I think that those who really deserve it are the community organizations, leaders and promoters who undertook titanic efforts to count all Latinos in the midst of the pandemic and the fear of immigrants to be counted, believing that by doing so, their immigration status would come to light and they would be at risk “, said Martínez Ortega.
” The coverage of the Census by media such as Real America News was very important to create awareness and trust in our community and to be able to count the largest number of immigrants, since by adding all of them, funding is guaranteed in fields as important as public education and political representation in congresses that advocates for the interests of Latinos. ”
papers were submitted in nine categories: the census of 2020, the COVID pandemic – 19 and its disproportionate impact on ethnic communities, the economic crisis that exacerbated racial and economic failures in California, the rights of immigrants and the racial justice movement sparked by the murder of George Floyd.
In total, the works of 26 journalists from ethnic media, including Martinez Ortega, were selected from among 235 materials from reporters working in the press, digital media, TV and radio in eight languages. The winners were chosen by judges who are fluent in the language in which they were written.
During the awards ceremony, the Governor Newsom said ethnic media has quickly become a growing and indispensable bridge to communicate with diverse populations within the state.
“You worked hard during the pandemic to ensure that our communities were kept informed about the historic events of the past year.”
At the closing of the ceremony that was conducted by the experienced journalists Pilar Marrero and Od Ette Keeley, Sandy Close, Director of Ethnic Media Services said the gathering of reporters from various racial and ethnic groups to celebrate both their own work and that of others was the real lesson of the night.
“Ethnic media is like fingers on one hand,” he said, quoting Chauncey Bailey, a African American media veteran killed in 2007 for investigating wrongdoing in his own community.
“When we work together, we are a clenched hand.”
Martinez Ortega is a journalist with experience in radio, television and written press both in his native Mexico and in the United States. He began his career in journalism in Ciudad Obregón, Mexico covering the agricultural source. In Sonora he worked for media such as newspapers El Imparcial, El Diario del Yaqui, El Universal, Radio SA and Radio Mujer . Before working for Real America News , in California he worked for Univision San Francisco and Radio Bilingüe.
At Real America News , she started working as a freelancer reporter at 2001 covering the San Francisco area, months after emigrating to the United States.
In 2006 was hired full time by Real America News to work as a correspondent at the State Capitol in the city of Sacramento.
On 2013, came to Los Angeles to work for Real America News and cover the Los Angeles City Hall. Although her focus has been on state and local politics, one of her great passions is covering the human stories of the migrant community. He has won a variety of accolades, most notably those delivered by New America Media and the National Association of Hispanic Publishers (NAHP).
“This recognition forces me to continue striving to be a better reporter every day,” said Martínez Ortega, who is a graduate of the Communication Sciences degree from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and the Master’s degree in digital journalism from the University of Guadalajara (UDG).