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Maria Martin (journalist)

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Maria Martin
Born
María Emilia Martin

(1951-01-28)January 28, 1951
Mexico City, Mexico
DiedDecember 2, 2023(2023-12-02) (aged 72)
Austin, Texas, US
Citizenship
  • Mexico
  • United States
Education
Alma mater
OccupationJournalist
Years active1975–2023
Known forLatino and Latin American journalism
Notable workLatino USA

María Emilia Martin (January 28, 1951 – December 2, 2023) was a Mexican-born American journalist who primarily focused on Latin American and Latino affairs. After working for National Public Radio (NPR), she founded Latino USA, a radio program focused on Latino American culture, issues, and history.[1]

Early life and education

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Martin was born in Mexico City on January 28, 1951, and was of Mexican and Irish descent.[2][3][4] She grew up in California.[4]

She attended the University of Portland in Oregon, and Sonoma State University in California but did not graduate from either school.[2] Martin obtained her bachelor's degree at the University of Texas, later attending Ohio State University, where she earned a master's degree in journalism in 1999.[5][6]

Career

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In 1975, Martin first became involved in radio after KBBF, a bilingual radio station in Santa Rosa, California,[4] invited a Chicana group she was a member of, Mujeres por la Raza, to host a weekly show on Friday nights.[7] The weekly show, Somos Chicanas, saw Martin doing her first journalistic work as she produced the show as a volunteer.[3][7] In doing so, she also became the station's first Latina director.[3][8]

After leaving KBBF, Martin founded California En Revista, a Spanish-language radio news magazine, and worked for the Latin American News Service in El Paso, Texas as an editor.[9]

Martin joined NPR, where she was an editor on their national program, Latin File.[3][4] Later, she became NPR's first Latin American affairs editor on the national desk.[3][4] During her time there, she covered the Nicaraguan Revolution in the 1980s[7][9] and covered the California State Legislature in the 1970s and 1980s.[10][11]

Martin left NPR in 1992,[7] and subsequently co-founded Latino USA, an English-language radio program based out of the University of Texas with support from the Ford Foundation.[4][7][9] Martin also chose Maria Hinojosa as the show's host.[7] Martin remained with the show as a producer until 2003.[12]

Martin moved to Antigua Guatemala, Guatemala in 2003,[9] where she founded the GraciasVida Center for Media.[3][4][8] There, she also produced Después de las Guerras: Central America After the Wars, a 26-part bilingual radio program about the aftermath of the wars in Central America in the 1980s and 1990s.[3][9]

Martin trained journalists in the Central American countries of Bolivia, Guatemala, and Nicaragua, as well as in Kyrgyzstan, Mexico, Uruguay, and the United States.[4][9] In San Antonio, Texas, she taught a class at the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center on community radio production.[3]

In 2020, she published a memoir entitled Crossing Borders, Building Bridges: A Journalist's Heart in Latin America.[4][8] She reported on Guatemala for NBC News,[13] and continued to contribute to NPR reports on Guatemalan issues through 2023.[14]

Recognition

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In 1998, Martin received the Best Voice On The Radio award from The Austin Chronicle's Best of Austin awards.[15]

In 2000, Martin won the Unda-USA Gabriel Award and a Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award for her story, "Who Were the Torturers? The Betrayal of Sister Dianna Ortiz," which aired on Latino USA in November 1999.[16]

In September 2015, Martin was inducted into the National Association of Hispanic Journalists Hall of Fame.[5][9] At the time of her death, Martin was a journalist fellow for the University of South Carolina's Center for Religion and Civic Culture.[5]

Death and legacy

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In 2023, Martin struggled with health issues.[7] She died at age 72 in Austin, Texas, on December 2, 2023, following an operation.[4][2]

Her personal papers were donated to the Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection at the University of Texas at Austin.[3]

References

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  1. ^ Gonzales, Juan (February 20, 2024). "Rembering Maria". El Tecolote. Retrieved February 27, 2024.
  2. ^ a b c Green, Penelope (December 9, 2023). "Maria Emilia Martin, Creator of Public Radio's 'Latino USA,' Dies at 72". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Gamboa, Suzanne (December 3, 2023). "María Martin, radio pioneer and founder of 'Latino USA,' dies at 72". NBC News. Archived from the original on December 4, 2023. Retrieved December 4, 2023.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j del Barco, Mandalit (December 2, 2023). "Pioneering Latina public radio journalist Maria Martin dies at 72". NPR. Archived from the original on December 2, 2023. Retrieved December 2, 2023.
  5. ^ a b c "Maria Emilia Martin". Center for Religion and Civic Culture. Archived from the original on December 2, 2023. Retrieved December 2, 2023.
  6. ^ Record of Proceedings of the Board of Trustees of the Ohio State University. 1999. p. 277.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Ramirez, Peniley; Hinojosa, Maria (December 4, 2023). "Latino USA Founder and Pioneering Radio Journalist María Martin Passes Away in Texas". Latino USA. Archived from the original on December 4, 2023. Retrieved December 4, 2023.
  8. ^ a b c "Fronteras: 'Crossing Borders, Building Bridges' — A Conversation With Pioneering Public Radio Journalist María E. Martin". TPR. Archived from the original on December 2, 2023. Retrieved December 2, 2023.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g "Veteran radio journalist María Martin honored for 40 years in U.S. public radio and for training journalists in Latin America". LatAm Journalism Review by the Knight Center. November 19, 2015. Archived from the original on December 2, 2023. Retrieved December 2, 2023.
  10. ^ Accredited Representatives, Press, Television, Radio ... Directory. Joint Committee on Rules. 1971. p. 85.
  11. ^ Assembly, California Legislature (1981). The Journal of the Assembly During the ... Session of the Legislature of the State of California. p. 304. Archived from the original on December 7, 2023. Retrieved December 6, 2023.
  12. ^ Rascoe, Ayesha (December 3, 2023). "Remembering pioneering Latina public radio journalist Maria Martin". NPR. Archived from the original on December 4, 2023. Retrieved December 4, 2023.
  13. ^ Martin, Maria (March 21, 2017). "Denied American dream, returning, deported migrants create Guatemalan dream". NBC News. Archived from the original on December 3, 2023. Retrieved December 4, 2023.
  14. ^ Martin, Maria (July 18, 2023). "Tensions rise ahead of the presidential election in Guatemala". NPR. Archived from the original on December 2, 2023. Retrieved December 2, 2023.
  15. ^ "Best Voice On The Radio: Maria Martin at Latino USA". The Austin Chronicle. Archived from the original on December 2, 2023. Retrieved December 2, 2023.
  16. ^ "Horns Up!". The Alcalde. Emmis Communications: 21. November 2000. Archived from the original on December 7, 2023. Retrieved December 6, 2023.
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