Improving Personal Finance Literacy in Hispanic Communities: A Training Program for Latino Journalists

Purpose:

The Hispanic Personal Finance Reporting Program of the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) provided hands-on training to Latino journalists working at Spanish-and English-language news organizations in the United States. Between 10 and 15 journalists from print, radio, television and on-line media outlets participated in a two-day workshop.

As a continuation of ICFJ's Training Program on Coverage of Immigration, the center offered an online course on immigration coverage for journalists from Latin America and the U.S. Hispanic media.

How well prepared are journalists from the U.S. Hispanic media and the media organizations of Latin America, which typically have far fewer resources, to provide ample coverage? How much less prepared are the people whom these journalists serve when they confront disaster? How well prepared are the journalists themselves, who are after all among the ranks of “first responders” at the scene of any disaster?

To provide answers to these questions, ICFJ developed an 8-day training program for 14 U.S.

This training program on coverage of immigration brought together journalists from U.S. community-based Spanish- and English-language media and Latin American media for a hands-on training workshop on covering immigration issues, followed by several days of reporting on the issue under the guidance of experienced trainers. It took place in Washington, D.C., April 16-24.

The International Center for Journalists aims to build stronger and better-informed communities of Latin American immigrants by creating a corps of community radio reporters and citizen journalists who will develop and share higher-quality multimedia programming across stations and borders.

The International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) has offered two online courses in English and Spanish on covering personal finance for Hispanic journalists and US journalists covering finance issues for minority and immigrant communities. These courses started on July 1 and will end on August 18.

The courses were open to Spanish-speaking and English-speaking journalists from ethnic media.

The Scripps Howard Immigration reporting training program brings together journalists from the U.S. Spanish and English-language media for a week-long training on how to cover immigration issues using multimedia tools.

ICFJ is currently seeking applicants for the 2012 Scripps immigration reporting program. The program is scheduled to take place Sunday July 15, 2012 through Sunday July 22, 2012 in Washington, D.C.

The application deadline is Monday May 28, 2012.

The 2012 program will have a special focus on the U.S. 2012 presidential election and immigration.

As part of the Escucha! Taking Community Radio Digital in the Americas program, ICFJ offered two online courses in Spanish to train community radio journalists from Latin America and from Hispanic media in the US.

The Douglas Tweedale Fellowship helps Latin American journalists improve their digital skills in specialty reporting in areas such as immigration, environment, science and technology or business and personal finance, through a three-week long program in the United States.