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US Consul General Steven Kashkett, right, hands a diploma to reporter Ricardo Ojeda, center, of Radio Latina during the closing ceremony of the Tijuana immigration coverage workshop as IOA Vice President Lynne Walker looks on. Photo credit: Jose M. Noriega

TIJUANA -- Institute of the Americas Vice President Lynne Walker led a Sept. 9-10 journalism workshop in Tijuana, Mexico. Some 22 journalists attended the professional workshop organized by the US Consulate in Tijuana, which included sessions on immigration trends and Arizona’s SB 1070, as well as techniques for covering migration at the US-Mexico border.

Roberto Suro, a journalism professor at the University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, was the keynote speaker at the workshop. He provided journalists with analysis on US immigration policy and the likelihood of immigration reform before the 2012 presidential election.

Suro is a veteran print journalist with extensive experience in foreign, domestic and Washington coverage as a senior staffer for The New York Times and The Washington Post. Prior to joining the Annenberg School of Journalism faculty, he was director of the Pew Hispanic Center, which he founded in 2001.

Walker, who served as Mexico City Bureau Chief for Copley News Service for 15 years before joining the Institute of the Americas in 2008, offered journalists tools for preparing investigative stories on immigration, with a special focus on international gangs. She also highlighted techniques for in-depth immigration coverage that is both compelling and informative for print, radio and television audiences.

US Consul Steven Kashkett presided over the Sept. 9 opening ceremony and presented diplomas to the journalists at the closing ceremony on Sept. 10. During their closing remarks, journalists said the presentations by Suro and Walker had given them a new focus on immigration coverage at the US-Mexico border.

To hear Radio Latina reports on the workshop, click here