More than 50 students and faculty members attended a presentation by New York Times reporter Manny Fernandez on the Brownsville campus.
โManny Fernandez has been living down here in the [Rio Grande] Valley for about two months because The New York Times said most of the things happening in this region of the country, the big stories, are here in the Valley,โ said William Strong, a professor in the Communication department. โSo, heโs been here writing about immigration, the border wall, coyotes [human smugglers], narcos, a little of everything that itโs kind of, like, common life for us down here. Iโve read a lot of his stories that are published in The New York Times and itโs interesting that we are often, kind of like, โfront-page materialโ so far away.โ
Strong and Fernandez met two years ago, when Fernandez had questions about โTexology,โ which Strong refers to as โall things Texas.โ
โSo, he quoted me for his stories and I quoted him for my radio show and in my books,โ Strong said in the presentation on March 29. โItโs a good support system we have.โ
Fernandez, who has been working with The New York Times since 2005, has been living in Houston for about eight years after a position opened in Texas while he was still in Brooklyn.
โI was covering โNew York Cityโ for the Times in New York City and the Texas position opened up and I raised my hand for it,โ he said. โThey selected me and, so, I moved my wife and my son from Brooklyn to Houston. A couple months ago, my editors wanted to deepen and increase our border coverage and the idea was, โLetโs have someone live down there full timeโ to sort of look for the things we are missing.โ
Fernandez said he has covered the border before for different types of stories, but living on the border has been an amazing experience because it has given him a whole different perspective.
โIโve covered the border before,โ he said. โIโve been here for a lot of different types of stories but my eyes are opening and different dots are connecting. Itโs been an amazing experience.โ
In the presentation, Fernandez spoke about the importance of the First Amendment in the United States and his own personal experiences with it as a journalist.
โThe First Amendment is a living, breathing thing in my life,โ he said. โItโs not some abstract concept or something in a book, it kind of hangs on to anything I do. So invisibly, sometimes, that you have to stop and think about it.โ
The reporter shared a recent experience he had with a piece he wrote on the traffic checkpoints to demonstrate to the audience how strong the First Amendment is in this country, and how crucial it is for his job as a journalist.
โI wrote a short piece, it was first person, meaning I was writing about myself and the traffic checkpoints on the border,โ he said. โSo, like, the checkpoint in Falfurrias, which I am very familiar with, what they are and the way in which that level of government, sort of intrusion and interest in people, is sort of normal for everyone that lives here, but for a lot of people in other parts of the country, that level of questioning and asking, โCan you pop the trunk? Where are you headed? Whoโs in the vehicle?โ Thatโs sort of a shock to many people around the country.โ
As part of his article, Fernandez drove to the checkpoint in Falfurrias to narrate the story of his own experience as a Mexican-American journalist going through the checkpoint.
โI pull up to the checkpoint and the agent who is standing there sort of leans in and sees that I have a photographer taking pictures in the passenger seat and he says, โAre you a U.S. citizen?โ and I say, โYes, sirโ and as he goes in the car, he kind of shields himself. He doesnโt want to be photographed,โ Fernandez said.ย โAnd, so, he kind of just put his arm up like a sort of shield.โ
Fernandez asked the audience to think about other countries in which reporters can go to an officer and take photos without causing an altercation.
โHe obviously sees that Iโm some kind of reporter,โ he said. โHe sees a photographer taking pictures, and all he does is just do a little bit of, like, a shield, hoping to maybe hide his face a little bit, but heโs not terribly worried about it. In how many other countries can you go to and be a reporter, pull up to a police checkpoint with a photographer shooting away pictures and come right up to an agent and have the agent not say anything?
โNot harass you, not ask you, โWhy are you filming me and what is this for?โ or โAre you really a reporter, can I see your media credentials?โ It would happen in a lot of countries where the agent would be like, โWhoa, who are you? Why are you filming me? Stop what you are doing; this is a police checkpoint. Pull over and letโs sort this out.โโ
