Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
May 4--The Tribune's series on immigration in Mesa has earned national recognition.
The series, "Mesa en Transicion," was honored as one of two finalists for the Taylor Family Award for Fairness in Newspapers by the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University.
Judges praised the Tribune's eight-part series for its portrayal of the opportunities and growing pains associated with the city's transformation from a largely Anglo community to a city expected to be majority Latino within 30 years.
"The judges were impressed with the way 'Mesa en Transicion' went 'well beyond the usual voices' in demographic-shift stories," Melinda Grenier, communications director for the Nieman Foundation and one of the judges, wrote in an e-mail. "They also praised the depth of coverage in the series."
Tribune Executive Editor Jim Ripley said there is no higher honor for a newspaper than to be recognized for balanced coverage, particularly on such a highly charged issue.
"I'm proud of the Tribune's pioneering report on this city in transition. I'm particularly proud of the project team's efforts to look at the issue from a wide range of perspectives to create a body of work that was not judgmental," Ripley said.
"The East Valley Tribune's being one of only three newspapers in the nation to be honored at the upcoming Taylor Award ceremony at Harvard serves to affirm the high standards of fairness and impartiality of this report to our readers."
"Mesa en Transicion" examined the dramatic changes fueled by record immigration -- in schools, businesses, neighborhoods, churches and politics.
The Sacramento Bee won this year's $10,000 Taylor Award for its series on abuse of Latino immigrants who work in America's forest industry.
The Tribune and the Toledo Blade were finalists.
The three newspapers will be recognized at a dinner May 11 at Harvard University.
-----
Copyright (c) 2006, The Tribune, Mesa, Ariz.
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.
For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.
