UTEP Faculty Member Named to NAHJ Hall of Fame

Last Updated on July 31, 2017 at 12:00 AM

Originally published July 31, 2017

By UC Staff

UTEP Communications

Dino Chiecchi, UTEP associate professor of practice in the Department of Communication, is one of five top journalists, academics and documentarians in the United States to be selected for induction into the 2017 National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ) Hall of Fame.

Dino Chiecchi
Dino Chiecchi

The induction ceremony will take place Sept. 9 during the NAHJ convention in Anaheim, California.

"UTEP is a Hispanic-serving institution and we have an obligation to first train our students for the workplace” Chiecchi said. “Then, we have to get them hired in good jobs not only for them, but to diversify the industry and news coverage. Too often, minority voices are not represented in news coverage.  A diversified newsroom is a step in the proper direction to correcting that shortcoming that has been endemic in coverage for so many years.”

Chiecchi is a 30-year veteran of the newspaper industry. He began his newspaper career at the El Paso Herald-Post and then went on to work in reporting and management positions at the Associated Press, San Antonio Express-News, Austin American-Statesman and the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong.

Chiecchi joined UTEP in 2016, where he teaches multimedia reporting and photojournalism.

A former president of the NAHJ, Chiecchi is the immediate past president of the Texas Associated Press Managing Editors and a former national board member of the Society of Professional Journalists.

In addition to Chiecchi, the other 2017 NAHJ inductees include: Andrés Cediel, journalist and documentary producer; Jodi Hernandez, NBC Bay Area News general assignment reporter; Nancy Rivera Brooks, Los Angeles Times assistant business editor; and Federico Subervi, Ph.D., researcher and scholar on Latino media and audiences at the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Kent State University. 

“The board unanimously approved five candidates that I look forward to celebrating this September at the national convention in Anaheim, California,” stated Brandon Benavides, President of NAHJ. “With diverse backgrounds, these individuals have made contributions that continue to impact and benefit our colleagues and industry for the better.”

The NAHJ is the largest organization of Latino journalists in the U.S. and dedicated to the recognition and professional advancement of Hispanics in the news industry.

Created in 2000, NAHJ’s Hall of Fame honors those journalists whose efforts either nationally or locally have resulted in a greater number of Latinos entering the journalism profession or have helped to improve news coverage of the nation’s Latino community.

Last year, UTEP Associate Professor Zita Arocha was inducted into the NAHJ Hall of Fame.