Immigration and the First Amendment with Maria Hinojosa


By polly burks | 8/27/2018

Maria Hinojosa, anchor and executive producer of NPR’s “Latino USA,” and the PBS series “America By the Numbers with Maria Hinojosa,” will be at  Florida Atlantic University on Monday, Sept. 17 at 2:30 p.m. The event will take place in FAU’s Live Oak Pavilion, Student Union, 777 Glades Road, Boca Raton campus.

Hinojosa will present a lecture titled “Immigration and the First Amendment: The United States and the Hispanic/LatinX Experience.”  A panel discussion with Nick Moschella, managing editor at the Palm Beach Post;Julie Anderson, editor-in-chief of the Sun Sentinel;and Kevin Wagner, FAU professor of political science; will follow the lecture. The event is free and open to the public, with free parking in Garage I.  

Hinojosa is an award-winning news anchor and reporter who covers America’s untold stories and highlights today’s critical issues. As the anchor and executive producer of the Peabody Award-winning show “Latino USA,” which is distributed by NPR, and anchor and executive producer of the PBS show “America by the Numbers with Maria Hinojosa,” she has informed millions about the changing cultural and political landscape in America and abroad.

In April 2010, Hinojosa took a groundbreaking step by creating the Futuro Media Group, an independent nonprofit organization producing multimedia journalism that explores and gives a critical voice to the diversity of the American experience. Futuro Media is committed to telling stories often overlooked by mainstream media. In nearly 30 years as a journalist, she has worked for CNN, PBS CBS, WNBC, and WGBH. Hinojosa was the first Latina to anchor a FRONTLINE report titled “Lost in Detention.” The report explored abuse at immigrant detention facilities, garnering attention from Capitol Hill to both the mainstream and Spanish-language media.

Hinojosa has reported hundreds of important stories, from the restrictive immigration policies in Fremont, Nebraska, to the effects of the oil boom in North Dakota, to stories of the poor in Alabama. As a reporter for NPR, Hinojosa was among the first to report on youth violence in urban communities on a national scale. During her eight years as CNN’s urban affairs correspondent, Hinojosa often took viewers into communities rarely shown on television. Now on “America by the Numbers,” she continues to bring attention to communities and issues usually ignored.

Hinojosa has received numerous awards for her work including: four Emmys; the 2012 John Chancellor Award for Excellence in Journalism; the Robert F. Kennedy Award for Reporting on the Disadvantaged; the Studs Terkel Community Media Award; and the Edward R. Murrow Award from the Overseas Press Club for best documentary for her groundbreaking “Child Brides: Stolen Lives.” In addition to her broadcast work, Hinojosa has been a weekly syndicated columnist for King Features/Hearst and is the author of two books: “Raising Raul: Adventures Raising Myself and My Son,” a motherhood memoir; and “Crews: Gang Members Talk with Maria Hinojosa,” an in depth collection of interviews with gang members in New York City.

Hinojosa’s visit to FAU is part of the University’s sixth annual Robert J. Bailyn Symposium on the First Amendment which takes place each year to commemorate Constitution Day.  Constitution Day activities at FAU are sponsored in part by the Jack Miller Forum, the FAU Diversity Platform, the Division of Student Affairs and Enrollment Management, the School of Communication and Multimedia Studies and the Department of Political Science. For more information about Constitution Day events, visit www.fau.edu/jackmillerforum/constitution.php.

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