Why representation matters in newsrooms and media coverage

Greetings, familia:

"Representation matters" is a cliché, but it resonates when covering underrepresented communities who historically have been marginalized by and/or in the mainstream press.

The concept is not new, but it was on full display during the joint conference between the National Association of Black Journalists and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists last week in Las Vegas.

Nearly 5,000 Black and brown journalists from across North and South America gathered to learn, connect and sometimes vent in their first such gathering since COVID-19 emerged.

I attended with the main purpose of moderating and presenting on a panel about Latino-oriented newsletters, and I expressed how wonderful Latino Tennessee Voices readers are and how the Hispanic population has soared in the South. Fellow panelists were Angel Rodríguez of The Los Angeles Times "Latinx Files" and Astrid Galván of Axios Latino.

Please check out their newsletters and share Latino Tennessee Voices with your contacts. I was so pleased to hear that we have out-of-state readers, too.

Among the highlights of the conference for me were:

• Reconnecting with friends and colleagues — some whom I only previously met through Zoom or Teams

• Engaging with the NAHJ student project mentors and participants — the future journalists of our newsroom. Check out their work at the Latino Reporter.

• Meeting a journalism icon, María Hinojosa of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Futuro Media, and watching her record the podcast "In the Thick" live with her co-host Julio Ricardo Varela. She also gave me a signed copy of her book "Once I Was You."