Q&A with Victor Huyke

Victor Huyke has journalism in his blood. His grandfather and great-grandfather were both newspaper owners in Puerto Rico. It seems almost natural that he would do the same. Huyke grew up in Milwaukee and has worked for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the Shepherd Express, the Spanish Journal, the Spanish Times, the Shopper, and the Sunday Post. Then, a few friends of his got together and wanted to do their own thing. This was the beginning of El Conquistador newspaper, for which he is currently the editor and publisher. Huyke takes pride in being involved in the community. Along with serving as president of the Latino Community Center, he also volunteered for the immigration marches in Milwaukee. With immigration being a rising hot topic in the city, Huyke has decided to put together a forum with the Minority Media Association about the issue. The object of this panel discussion is to dispel myths, and to educate the public about the impact of immigration on the economy.The event, which is open to the public, will be held on Thursday, March 27 from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. in the Wisconsin Room located in UW-Milwaukee’s union.I sat down with Huyke to learn a little more about immigration and what he hopes to accomplish from getting the message out.

Q: Your main goal of the panel discussion is to alter any myths people may have on immigration. What do you feel are some negative stereotypes the Hispanic community faces?

A: Particularly with economics and taxes. Right now we got a lot of people believing Hispanics don’t pay taxes, in particular the immigrants. They are saying that they aren’t part of the system. They actually pay a lot of taxes, and they don’t get to see the returns. In the Hispanic community, a lot of people are homeowners. That’s where we start trying to defeat the myth that Hispanics don’t pay for services such as police, firefighters, hospitals, and schools. That all comes from property taxes. To say that they aren’t paying their fair share is incorrect, because they are. When the landlord raises the rent, he adds in more so that his property is paid for. So they pay their share and then some.

Q: Why do you think American’s hold such strong views on immigration? Does it go further than immigrants taking jobs away from Americans?

A: That’s the whole thing; immigrants really aren’t taking away jobs from Americans. You have to remember, these are jobs that the younger generation use to do. They are first time jobs: dishwashing, wiping tables, cleaning bathrooms. These are jobs no one wants to do. Unfortunately, what has happened with this generation is that they have become the “Nintendo generation.” They want to play Nintendo and XBOX, and they want to jump on the internet all day. And when you tell them to get a job and the first thing they say is, with lack of experience and education, that they want $50 an hour. The fact that they are taking away jobs from Americans is another myth.

Q: Do you think the marches and protests help get the message across, or does it just flare up opinionated citizens’ tempers?

A: I know a lot of people get upset with me when I say this, but the reality is the first march was great. It was awesome. It got the message out. It let people know what was happening, and it showed support. Some people thought that the marches were all the illegal aliens. And they weren’t. Trust me. The illegal aliens were busy hiding at home! The whole idea was that we saw supporters, people who believed that this was not this massive evil. To the people at home watching on TV they thought, "These are Hispanic who wants civil rights." Then the second time they march they think, "Okay, so they’re still pushing." Then the third time they think, "Oh my God, there’s an invading army in my country!" So the more that we did these marches, the more it affected the movement. We [the El Conquistador] talked to a few people and did an in direct poll. We found that the sympathy dropped dramatically. At first they [the American public] didn’t mind supporting. Then when they saw 70,000 people marching they got scared. By the third march sympathy turned to fear. Panic is what made people accept the changes in the laws.

Q: What made you want to do the panel discussion with MMA?

A: I’ve always been a firm believer in the next generation and leadership. Unfortunately, we have a system that once you become a leader you don’t want anybody else to be, and I hate that! I like to try and break away from that, and try and encourage people to take responsibility. With this subject being so important and so close, I really like the idea that the students want to make changes. They want to see what’s out there, and they want to experience the truth. What better way than to take a real hard line subject and let them [the students] dissect and explore it?

Q: In the end, what do you hope comes from holding this event on the UW-Milwaukee campus? Is there a way that students can get involved in immigration issues?

A: What I’m hoping will come of this is that it will open up doors for people to think clearer about the issue, and to get rid of a lot of these myths. As far as student getting involved, there’s a lot of stuff that can be done. The fact that legislation has become closed-minded on this issue has made us look at students to get involved and say, "Hey look! This issue is important because of this, this, and this." On the other side of that token, people who oppose it should get involved too and say, "This is the reason why I oppose it." I don’t see anything wrong with somebody opposing something, as long as they’re educated on what they are saying. That’s the problem we have in America. Too many people like to start talking about something without realizing, "Oh wait, I forgot this part, and that part." We’re hoping that we secure a way of thinking that is more expressive and not closed-minded.

Interview was done by Noelle Steffen

Experience at CAR

One thing that I got out of going to the Investigative Reporting Association’s (I.R.A.) conference in Houston this pass weekend is the power that your computer can have. From the first seminar to the last, conducting computer assisted research (C.A.R.) will (if it isn’t already) be a reporter’s best tool going into the future of journalism.

There is so much powerful information that is literally at your finger tips that can be used to develop stories and make them more compelling, it is amazing. My first seminar talked about ‘quick hits’ on the Internet to be able to help develop breaking news in a broadcast newsroom. One site that the speaker used the show how to mine for quick info was the F.A.A.’s site to track planes, find ownership, flight plans, a plane’s repair history and many other facts that might crop up when a plane does go down. Since I been home I used this site to see how many planes are state owned to see what types of planes our government uses and to see if I could find out if these planes are used properly. In other seminars we got hands-on in computer labs using personal background research using social networks (like myspace.com) and communities to learn about the people their trying to find, or even to get story ideas.

In another we learned how to track peoples’ movement and past history via a number of sites that are free and others that you must pay for. I looked up myself; I found old addresses from over 15 years ago. I saw that I have a library card and was able to find a court case I won a few years back. All of these facts were on my screen is seconds with a few keystrokes.

One speaker gave a seminar on how knowing where to find quick info is a way to add value to your career. While people are running around making phone calls and racing to news spots; you can sit in the newsroom at your desk and find valuable information while drinking your coffee. Having the knowledge of where to look and find info fast will lend to your value in the newsroom; especially in today’s ever-shrinking news staff.

The thing about going to events like these is the ability to meet people. After a lecture on getting attention in your newsroom I met Mark Katches of the Milwaukee Journal and had a meaningful conversation about the need for teaching C.A.R. in the college system.

From that conversation I learned that virtually no colleges are really teaching C.A.R. classes that he knew of and he works in the leadership of the I.R.A. (from what I heard him mention). This lack of interest by the academic community shocks me. After spending just two days around what I’m convinced is where journalism heading; I can see a need to get classes that teach C.A.R. subjects.

Overall, the experience was an eye-opener. My only regret is that I haven’t gone to more events like this before!

Via JoRey Lopez
MMA Member

Analyzing Political Data

The average voter does not seem to hear about who funds political candidates, but this panel actually gave many resources that had relevant information on many candidates.

But the main focus was that it emphasized differences in political analysis. For example, presenter Bill Bishop stated that there was no longer any such thing as the left, right, and middle anymore. Instead, he advocated focusing on voter turnout.

Bishop also stated that there were other factors behind the reason why voters in certain areas were changing. An an example, he cited that the reason that Colorado was becoming a blue state because more people were moving there from California. He also related that another particular district turned blue because a rail started going out to that area. This caused many people to move to the district that relied on the rail to get to work, who generally tended to vote Democrat.

He further explained that many like-minded people (particularly those with education) were clustering together more and more. This included religion also, since the current theory was that church was no longer a place where many different people would gather together. Rather, it was now a place that people would go to have their beliefs reinforced. Bishop theorized that political candidates should not just recruit preachers for their campaign; they should recruit people who were prominent in the community. Those people would then bring along the rest of their group with them.

It was an interesting panel, although I did not know if any of Bishop's theories were true. But it was a radically different departure from what I had heard and encouraged further research on my part.

CAR and Crime Panel

The CAR and Crime panel was an incredibly interesting one. It mainly discussed the findings of a Philadelphia Inquirer report that discovered many examples of injustice and racial profiling encouraged by the police.

Reporters discovered that Philadelphia suburbs had the highest arrest records in America in decades. However, the arrests were for minor offenses that utilized city ordinances that had been declared unconstitutional by legal experts.

The arrests occurred in small towns where the police force was overwhelmingly white and African Americans were frequently arrested for being out past curfew and aggressive loitering." Furthermore, suspects were also subjected to strip searches, no matter how minor the offense was.

But the most shocking finding at the panel was how police dogs would be waiting after class at an African American high school for "rowdy students." Of course, none of these messages were thought necessary for the students at the school a few blocks away that was comprised mainly of white students.

Needless to say, it was an eye opener to discover the kinds of things that were still going on in many places that were thought to be "progressive." And it was a wonderful example of how the media can expose corruption. For me, it was an example of how the media should operate.

Education: From Cheaters to Teachers

Teachers are suppose to guide and change the lives of their students. Unfortunately, many of them take advantage of their authoritative position.

Saturday morning at the 2008 CAR (Computer Assisted Reporting) Conference, I listened to Holly Hacker of The Dallas Morning News and Jill Riepenhoff from The Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch discuss the education system, and how they have been working with database systems in order to do such things as put teachers with criminal charges behind bars, and catch student cheaters.

Ripenhoff and her colleagues developed a date base entitled Rotten Apples. Over the years of tracking down various educators with serious violations, they have developed a system that allows anyone to see if there are teachers in their school district with any serious offenses. One teacher they helped put behind bars had been molesting young boys with cognitive disabilities. The offender even went to far as to keep notebooks of his actions. Ripenhoff has assisted in getting such government laws passed on her state, such as educators getting regular background checks where even a DUI could show up.

Hacker worked with a team in her area to investigate test scores, mainly in charter schools in the Dallas, Texas area. Many of the schools they researched were in threat of being closed down due to low test scores and poor attendance rates. One school in particular made an enormous change from being ranked approximately 35 in the area to number 1 in test scores. Hacker worked with a team to analyze these test scores to see if cheating was involved. Such things were taken into account like if test grades were higher before a big game.

Hacker even investigated an independent charter school called Jesse James Academy, where the teachers themselves were responsible for allowing their children to cheat and writing the answers on the board. Trends were identified in this particular school by a series of children getting the same answers wrong. 2 out of 25 children were not participating in cheating.

Hacker worked to get new actions taken in the Texas School System: some schools have students sign an ethical code contract before starting school, in addition to having state officials randomly drop-in during testing times.

I found this lecture very interesting, mostly because I am interested in education. I think it is great that people like Riepenhoff are working to get serious offenders with teaching licenses behind bars. I found it appalling that many school districts in the Columbus district swept many cases under the rug. As many as 1,700 teachers were cleared of their offenses without any reason as to why. It is important that parents, as well, know who their children's teachers are and can feel safe while their children are in school.

Backgrounding People on the Internet

There's so many ways to find information on people via the internet; and there's so many sites that you can go to access that information. As discomforting as that may seem for some it does help reporters know where to go to find information about a subject and where you can go to find more information about a subject.

Kelly Guckian, database editor at the San Antonio Express-News gave quite a few different internet databases to use when going about searching relatives, neighbors and criminal history reports. She also gave us a few search tips and tricks using different symbols to help narrow down searches for example when you use *Marg* you will find Margaret, Margie and Margret.

She also reminded us that data entry involves human intervention. Meaning that many people have different names that they go by so you shouldn't get troubled when you can't find what you're looking for right away.

All in all, I also thought that this session was pretty interesting as well. But I would caution those who are very liberal with personal information to be more discrete on them.

Introducing: Mind Mapping

Have you ever struggled with getting started with a story or planning out an interview? I know I do but today I was fortunate to hear about a useful method to better outline stories. Neil Reisner, a professor of journalism at Florida International University showed a demo today at the CAR Conference showing just how useful mind mapping is. Pictured above, is just a an example of what a possible mind map would look like.

Reisner even admitted himself that he oftened struggled when trying to get a start on a story and of course organization is key to writing good stories so he stumpled upon this idea. You first have to know what you're doing before you even do it, so you settle for a mind dump, then brainstorm then organize and before you know it, you have the outline for a story. What I learned is that mind mapping is a very good collaborative tool for getting a good start on stories and manage projects.

If you would like to download a free version of mapping you can go here http:nicar08.wetpaint.com or you can email Neil at nr@nreisner.com.