Workshop: Survival Guide for Latin American Journalists

By Kara Andrade
Latino Reporter Digital Staff

These days, everywhere I go, I am reminded that I, with all my wares, have to see myself as a product: something to be packaged, sold, distributed, promoted and strategically placed somewhere at a great price.

Bueno, bonito y barato; good, pretty and cheap. Something’s lost in the translation. But nonetheless, the image that comes to mind is of the manically rotating belts in the movie “Soylent Green” as Charlton Heston races against the machine to communicate the message to the masses in the hopes that something will be done once it’s in their hands. I want to shout out, “Tell them journalism is made of people!” But this marketing trend is against me as our business (And make no mistake: It is a business, as Mr. Ridder can attest to.) is an exercise in appearances.

This workshop was no different.

“It’s not good enough to just be,” said moderator Gabriela Natale, news anchor for KUPB Univision 18. “You have to also appear,” Natale said.

Is that really true? Should I make my own multimedia packet about myself in the hopes that, by putting humility aside and having a flash presentation about my awards and prizes, I can, like gum placed on the way out, hope that someone will pick me up, and I can get the dream job I’ve always wanted? Would I be an Eclipse, or am I just yesterday’s Chiclets? Could I get money for writing that?

There are 30,000 new journalists every year, Enrique Teutelo, news anchor for WLTV-TV Univision in Miami, told a rather somber crowd of mostly women journalists munching on ham and chicken sandwiches.

The list began rather quickly. Do you have your own lawyer, your own Web site, a hot business card. Do you know the difference between an agent and manager? Do you know about commercial contracts, digitizing your portfolio, apply for everything that comes up in the Google digests, plus volunteer with a nonprofit both to get stories and to look benevolent?

Humility is your worst enemy here. Sell, sell, sell.

And by the way, remember journalism is still a social responsibility. It’s the cash cow every employer longs for.