KJZZ to open Mexico City news bureau

[KeithE4]

They're looking for two people, US citizens fluent in Spanish, to man this facility. Here's the job offer for the Senior Field Correspondent:

http://kjzz.org/content/212284/senior-field-correspondent-mexico-city-bureau

My question is "Why must Maricopa County taxpayers pay for this?" It's not absolutely necessary (can't they contract with a Mexico City station?), and looks like a waste of OUR tax dollars if they can't get the donations or corporate underwriting to cover the costs.

KJZZ's reason to exist is to server the public radio needs of Maricopa County AZ. Are there enough folks that would be interested in stories coming from Mexico or Central America?

 

[davideduardo]

They're looking for two people, US citizens fluent in Spanish, to man this facility. Here's the job offer for the Senior Field Correspondent:

http://kjzz.org/content/212284/senior-field-correspondent-mexico-city-bureau

My question is "Why must Maricopa County taxpayers pay for this?" It's not absolutely necessary (can't they contract with a Mexico City station?), and looks like a waste of OUR tax dollars if they can't get the donations or corporate underwriting to cover the costs.

KJZZ's reason to exist is to server the public radio needs of Maricopa County AZ. Are there enough folks that would be interested in stories coming from Mexico or Central America?

I am assuming that the management of KJZZ believes that there is enough information of interest involving Mexico for them to have a correspondent in Mexico City. That would include both the obvious drug and cartel issues as well as NAFTA and trade concerns along with additional but significant matters like tourism, oil, border security, immigration and outsourcing.

It's unlikely they would find a person at a Mexico City station that is both fluent in English and a US citizen. In fact, it is very improbable that you would find many journalists at the likely pay grade that are fully fluent in English at any Mexico City radio station. And finding anyone in radio who is a US citizen is highly unlikely.

Beyond that, the notice has some fundamental issues born of ignorance. First, the requirement to reside in the DF (Federal District" is absurd... there are many of the nicer suburbs of Mexico City that are in the state of Mexico, just as Washington DC suburbs in VA and MD are frequent places of residence of people who work in the US capital. Second is the idea that being in Mexico makes access to Central and South American news more viable; there is nearly no interest in Mexico in things happening in those regions other than the major stories. Thinking Mexico shares a commonality with those regions is simplistic. And so it goes throughout the posting.

What is bizarre is that they spend aobut $6 million a year to get a total 2.6 share 12+ between KJZZ and the classical station. I doubt any of the commercial stations that have two to three times that share spend half as much in operating expense.

 

[johndavis]

Given the political climate of Maricopa County, I don't see the Board of Supervisors spending one cent towards staffing a bureau in Mexico, ever.

But the non-profit Friends of Public Radio Arizona can find a grant that pays for everything. This posting reads like it was copied from a grant. If some foundation thinks that putting a reporter in Mexico will have influence in Arizona and they cough up the money, then KJZZ will have a bureau.

I don't read the posting as requiring residence in the DF; it just says you're responsible for paying for your own housing.

Non-profit grants are funny things. Generally speaking, my wife's non-profit can't buy radio advertising as a matter of policy. But it can spend money under a grant to underwrite a radio talk show on one specific station on one specific day of the week with one specific host. The donor may be the only person listening to that station on Sunday night, but that's how they want the money spent so that's what they get.

 

[davideduardo]

I don't read the posting as requiring residence in the DF; it just says you're responsible for paying for your own housing.

It does specify that the position is based at "Concepto Radial" in the DF and that 70% of the work will be based there or on assignment from there. That is residency by any account.

And it says " correspondent will be responsible for providing his/her own housing at a location within the Mexican Federal District. " That means that the residence has to be in the DF, and can't be in suburbs like Tecamachalco or Satélite or Naucalpan or similar places just outside the DF in the state of México (or Morelos, for that matter) which are adjacent to the city as Bethesda or Arlington are adjacent to DC.

 

[Sammi Brie]

It's on the southern end of Mexico City so most of the good Edomex suburbs would be too far out.

The posting is based at an Internet radio station. I suspect they will get into what will turn into an absolute dogfight to try and get an FM frequency when the IFT finally decides to cut station spacing to 400 kHz (a decision that is not far off). That will be radio chaos.

 

[davideduardo]

It's on the southern end of Mexico City so most of the good Edomex suburbs would be too far out.

The posting is based at an Internet radio station. I suspect they will get into what will turn into an absolute dogfight to try and get an FM frequency when the IFT finally decides to cut station spacing to 400 kHz (a decision that is not far off). That will be radio chaos.

And the closest, like Tecamachalco, would be a bit pricey for what that position likely pays. I wonder if they will get any applicants, or whether they are fishing in the desert.

I understand that the big groups like GRC, GRM, Acir, NRM and such are very opposed to that as they would lose some of the competitive protection they have built up over the years. I heard from a person at GRC that they want the next adjacent allocations to be limited power facilities, such as the Politécnica station, not full power... if they change the standard at all.

Of course, border zones would have to meet the Comisión Mixta requirements from the US side.

 

[PTBoardOp94]

Interestingly, the Friends of KJZZ are providing housing to the KJZZ Mexico City Bureau Director.

And the fact that they're hiring a bureau director implies to me that there might be more than one reporter position available.

EDIT: Per current, only one reporter.

 

[Sammi Brie]

And the closest, like Tecamachalco, would be a bit pricey for what that position likely pays. I wonder if they will get any applicants, or whether they are fishing in the desert.

I understand that the big groups like GRC, GRM, Acir, NRM and such are very opposed to that as they would lose some of the competitive protection they have built up over the years. I heard from a person at GRC that they want the next adjacent allocations to be limited power facilities, such as the Politécnica station, not full power... if they change the standard at all.

Of course, border zones would have to meet the Comisión Mixta requirements from the US side.

Yet there are still some 800 kHz-able allotments to northern Mexican cities that just are sitting there unused. There are several in Saltillo (92.1, 96.7, 101.7, 107.3), a couple more in Hermosillo (103.5, 104.3, 105.9), Reynosa (89.3 which may be impossible to build with XHCAO 89.1, 103.3 and 106.7), Matamoros (93.5 and 103.1)...

Even Monterrey could have additional stations, at 88.5, 90.9 (move-in from Los Ramones, like XHPAG) and 100.5.

That's just wacky, and I could go on, but this isn't the place for that.

 

[davideduardo]

Interestingly, the Friends of KJZZ are providing housing to the KJZZ Mexico City Bureau Director.

And the fact that they're hiring a bureau director implies to me that there might be more than one reporter position available.

What I do what to know is how much on-going, daily news from that bureau is relevant to the KJZZ listener.

The typical non-Hispanic listener has very little interest in domestic Mexican news.

Although this is a broad generalization with definite exceptions, English dominant Hispanics are second generation US citizens or beyond. They don't have a great interest in things from Mexico except for the very major issues that will also be covered in the mainstream media.

So who is this new bureau's reporting of interest to?

As a sidebar, many years ago a study was done at UT El Paso (Texas Western) commissioned by the Tijuana stations who felt they were being short-changed in listening because the US Hispanic stations got about 75% of the listening in El Paso. The study came back and said, in essence, "listeners who have migrated from Mexico don't want to hear ads for things they can't buy and news of political parties they hate and information about a government that forced them to leave their homeland." It went on to say that they made a conscious decision not to listen to the Juárez stations because the experience was not pleasant.

So again, who will care about the KJZZ reports, and will they actually have a potentially negative effect if overly utilized.

 

[johndavis]

What I do what to know is how much on-going, daily news from that bureau is relevant to the KJZZ listener.

The typical non-Hispanic listener has very little interest in domestic Mexican news.

Although this is a broad generalization with definite exceptions, English dominant Hispanics are second generation US citizens or beyond. They don't have a great interest in things from Mexico except for the very major issues that will also be covered in the mainstream media.

So who is this new bureau's reporting of interest to?

From the Current article, GM Jim Paluzzi says:

“The closest national capital to Phoenix is not D.C., it’s Mexico City,” Paluzzi said. “And that closeness really shows up with the amount of business that is occurring between those two entities.”

Tackling the subject requires a substantial presence in Mexico to provide in-depth, long-term reporting, Paluzzi said. “This is not a border bureau — it’s an international business desk,” he said. “There’s a lot going on that people in our community need to know about, and we can’t do that just parachute-dropping people in. We have to be there.”

Paluzzi has run a couple of public radio stations that I have worked with, and he's a GM with a good track record that has worked his way up in market size over the past 20 years that I've known of him. While I don't know for myself if there is sufficient international business reporting going on in the DF to justify the bureau, I trust his judgement.