R A D I O B I L I N G Ü E
Latino Community Radio Network
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 28, 2010
CONTACT:
Maria de Jesus Gomez
559.455.5782
chuyag@radiobilingue.org
Kettleman City investigative report wins high honor for Radio Bilingüe’s national news reporter
(May 28, 2010) – Radio Bilingüe network news producer and environmental reporter Zaidee Rose Stavely has earned high acclaim by one of the nation’s premiere journalism organizations -- CCNMA: Latino Journalists of California -- for her exposé of birth defects in mostly Latino Kettleman City and possible links to a nearby hazardous waste landfill that prompted nationwide attention.
Stavely will receive CCNMA’s Ruben Salazar Journalism Award in the radio category at the organization’s 30th Scholarship Banquet on June 11 at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles.
The award — also offered in print and television — recognizes work published or broadcast in California that exemplifies journalistic excellence while contributing to a better understanding of Latinos. It is named after the late Ruben Salazar, who was a recognized columnist and news director in Los Angeles and was killed in 1970 while covering a now famous Chicano demonstration against the Vietnam war.
CCNMA: Latino Journalists of California is a 38-year-old Los Angeles-based nonprofit organization housed at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism. The group is dedicated to the advancement of Latino journalists and to fostering fair and accurate portrayals of Latinos in the news media.
Stavely said she is “humbled by this honor from my colleagues in the journalism profession and I appreciate their recognition of these issues that Radio Bilingüe has fought hard to expose.”
“I am especially honored to receive an award named for a journalist whose pioneering investigative coverage of issues affecting the Mexican-American community has served as an inspiration for many journalists the past four decades,” she said.
Stavely’s investigative report first aired on the Radio Bilingüe national community radio network’s award-winning Línea Abierta talk show and revealed how five babies were born with cleft lip and palate and other defects over a 14-month period in Kettleman City, within an hour of Fresno.
In her Radio Bilingüe report, she explored the possibility of a link to a hazardous waste landfill located in nearby Kettleman Hills, the largest in the western U.S., operated by Waste Management.
“The issue is presented in a very objective, complete manner and with a high degree of sensitivity,” commented one CCNMA judge. “The production is excellent.”
Since she broke the story on Radio Bilingüe, which is the first and only Spanish-language network news service for U.S. public radio, major media outlets such as The Fresno Bee, Associated Press, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times and CNN have covered the case prompting federal and state agencies and officials, including California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, to promise action on the matter.
Stavely’s report, with primary funding support from The James Irvine Foundation and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, followed in the tradition of ongoing Radio Bilingüe news coverage the past two decades portraying struggles by Kettleman City residents -- predominantly Latino with more than 90 percent speaking Spanish at home -- as they successfully opposed a hazardous waste incinerator also operated by the garbage conglomerate.
Stavely spearheaded the journalistic inquiry into the birth defects story with testimony from four of the five mothers who granted exclusive interviews to Radio Bilingüe. Two also told their story live on Radio Bilingüe’s national talk show Línea Abierta.
She also interviewed county and state officials and a toxicologist, whose expertise includes evaluating the links between environmental factors and birth defects. The toxicologist said this number of cases in such a small town is alarming and should be investigated.
“The Radio Bilingüe news team has monitored this situation closely since the early 1990s and has worked to provide a thorough and balanced look at the issue,” said Samuel Orozco, Radio Bilingüe executive producer. “It is very gratifying that Zaidee’s talented and thorough journalistic abilities and efforts, supported by her Radio Bilingüe team, have not only prompted widespread reaction but also now she has earned the respected recognition of her professional colleagues.”
He noted that after Radio Bilingüe news coverage on the Kettleman City story there have been a number of developments, including a probe by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, a call by Gov. Schwarzenegger and state legislators for a thorough investigation and a call by California U.S. Senators for a moratorium on new permits to expand the neighboring landfill.
Stavely has a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University in New York and a bachelor’s degree in Latin American/Latino Studies and Community Studies from the University of California, Santa Cruz. She worked for three years as a reporter in Mexico -- for the major Mexican newspapers Reforma, La Jornada, and Revista Milenio -- as well as freelancing for publications in the United States prior to joining Radio Bilingüe.
Currently the network news producer, Stavely is responsible for coordinating operations for Radio Bilingüe’s news department, including its Noticiero Latino, Edición Semanaria and Línea Abierta services. Noticiero Latino is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year and Línea Abierta its 15th.
In addition to the CPB and the James Irvine Foundation, funding for Radio Bilingüe’s Kettleman City journalistic investigation was provided by The California Endowment, the Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Fund, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and The Ford Foundation
For more information, contact Maria de Jesus Gomez at 559.455.5782 or visit www.radiobilingue.org.
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About Radio Bilingüe
Radio Bilingüe is a community-based radio network with a satellite system that reaches 125 affiliates throughout the U.S., Mexico and Puerto Rico as well as its own six stations in California. Radio Bilingüe provides audiences with news, information and cultural programming from its award-winning programs Noticiero Latino and Línea Abierta. Programming is also available via webcast on Radio Bilingüe Internet: www.radiobilingue.org. The network’s online service features links to program audio archives, podcasting multimedia files, timely news transcripts, several interactive blogs, hyperlinks to relevant organizations and more.