Local News Matters

Flourishing when everything’s against you: Serving border communities with Maritza Félix of Conecta Arizona


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When the pandemic hit North America in 2020, Emmy-winning journalist Maritza Félix started a WhatsApp group to answer questions for friends and family on both sides of the border between Arizona and Mexico. What she assumed would be a short-lived project for people she knew has grown to encompass daily conversations on WhatsApp, original reporting for the web, newsletters, podcasts, a radio show and more. In this episode, Félix talks about the challenges of getting funding for a Spanish-language initiative on non-traditional platforms, learning to be an entrepreneur, and more.

Episode chapters:

(03:17) - How Conecta Arizona came about

(12:40) - Convincing funders to support Spanish-language media on non-traditional platforms

(21:51) - How Conecta Arizona uses WhatsApp to serve communities

(28:00) - Rigor and fact-checking in community conversations

(32:19) - Learning to think like an entrepreneur

(44:34) - Advice for non-Latino journalists serving Latino communities

(50:14) - Investing time in community as a seed for democracy

(54:21) - Rapid-fire questions

Visit https://localnewsmatterspodcast.com/ for show notes, links, transcripts and more.

 

Links:

  • Maritza Félix: web, Twitter, Facebook

  • Conecta Arizona: web, Twitter, Facebook

  • Comadres al Aire podcast: web, Twitter

  • Cruzando Líneas podcast

  • Mentioned:

    • John S. Knight (JSK) Journalism Fellowships at Stanford: web, Twitter

    • Executive Program in News Innovation and Leadership in Journalism at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY

    • Radio Bilingüe: web, Twitter

    • Conexión Migrante: web, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube

    • Radio Ambulante podcast

    • De Eso No Se Habla podcast

    • Documented NY

    • Enlace Latino NC

    • Outlier Media

    • Southerly

    • Mendocino Voice

  • Local News Matters: web, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn

  • Colorado Press Association: web, Twitter, Facebook

  • Tim Regan-Porter: bio, Twitter

 

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Local News MattersBy Tim Regan-Porter

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