Reflections of a journalism student after speaking with reporter Nadia Lopez

Nadia Lopez, who covers Latinx communities in the Central San Joaquin Valley for the Fresno Bee, was invited to speak in my JOU 310 – Reporting For a Public Good class. Journalism is a challenging career, but worth it, she said, recounting how she got to be where she is today in a Zoom call on Friday.

Despite her current career in journalism, Lopez studied political science and professional writing and rhetoric in college. She got her start in journalism because a professor gave her a chance. Said professor’s wife worked for Politico and introduced her to several contacts.

“I like the challenge of [journalism],” Lopez said about her decision to switch to a career in reporting.

After this initial start, Lopez worked as a freelancer for a non profit startup, the San Jose Spotlight. As a freelancer, she earned more experience, working under several editors and for several outlets. 

She was assigned a full-time beat covering San Jose city hall after upwards of a year and a half. Lopez reflected that this role was challenging, but she learned a lot. Breaking news reporting, she said, was a good experience, but definitely kept her on her toes.

Lopez is also a member of Report for America, a national not-for-profit program that places up-and-coming journalists in newsrooms. In Lopez’s case: she was placed in California at the Fresno Bee.

In her current beat covering local Latinx communities, Lopez enjoys writing about what is happening that people aren't paying attention to because the community isn't as “sexy” or “glamorous” to know about. Among these communities are many essential and agricultural workers who have been affected by both the COVID-19 pandemic and the Creek fire that is currently raging in the area.

This year has been one of several giant news cycles: COVID-19, Black Lives Matter protests and California fires to name a few. In addition to covering these within her beat, Lopez is covering bail reform pertaining to California’s Proposition 25. There’s a big election coming up, and Lopez feels that its coverage has “slipped though the cracks” in favor of other large and important topics. Proposition 25 is just one of many ordinances that voters will be considering in the upcoming election that could have large and long-lasting implications.

Lopez also offered advice for aspiring journalists and allowed us to ask her questions about her career.

We discussed the specifics of her role at the Bee and how she handles several aspects of her job such as making connections within communities, balancing empathy with professional distance, persuading a hesitant source and compartmentalizing after covering difficult stories.

My takeaways:

Journalism “doesn't always pay a lot of money,” Lopez said. “But it’s super important work.”

I agree. I see journalism as an essential part of a free society. Even during such a time when news is often denounced as being fake and “alternative facts” are given merit, at its core, journalism is about sharing stories that need to be told and that members of society need to hear to be informed citizens. This involves everything from covering government action to giving a voice to marginalized groups who may not have the platform to get the word out about important news on their own. 

Now that we are in agreement, how exactly does one do this?

Lopez offered several tips from a working journalist to us journalism students that I found very helpful.

For one, she suggested that when entering a new community, a journalist should talk to community leaders, local politicians and representatives. You should ask questions such as “what do I need to know?” and “what do people here care about?” Keeping up on local news is important too, Lopez said. Then, you should go and talk to people directly. This might involve spending time at local places and people watching.

One more thing that struck me was Lopez’s commentary on how she deals with reporting on difficult stories. 

She said to remember that sources are people too and it is ok to be empathetic and check in on them, but make sure to use professional distance.

Reporting on a particularly difficult story though, doesn’t leave your thoughts once you get home. Journalists have to figure out how to compartmentalize stories that stick with you. Instead of letting these stories get her down, Lopez is motivated by reporting such difficult stories. She sees her job as a public service and thinks that it is important for people to know about such things.

Overall, speaking with Lopez not only provided helpful tips, but also reinstated my aspirations. I agree that it is so important to circulate these hard-to-swallow stories and the role of the press is to elevate others’ voices so that such stories can be heard. That’s exactly what I want to do, even if the means is a little different than Lopez’s job. 

“If you have that drive I think you can get pretty far,” said Lopez.

As someone who is actively trying to enter the journalism industry both as a student and post-graduation, this was nice to hear. Drive? That I can do. So, with Lopez’s advice in mind, here’s to hoping!