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Biz journalism center snags 'Republic' reporter

Arizona State University's journalism department just added another chip to the magnet it is becoming for Latino journalists.Andrew Leckey, director of the Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism at ASU, recently announced the hiring of Arizona journalist Jonathan Higuera as deputy director.

Higuera will leave the business section at The Arizona Republic to take the post. He began his career with Ogden Standard-Examiner and the Washington Times in D.C. He joined the National Association of Hispanic Journalists as a program manager and was editor of Hispanic Link weekly report. He returned to Arizona to work at The Tucson Citizen and Arizona Daily Star business sections. He is currently president of the board for Arizona Latino Media Association (ALMA).

"Jonathan serves as a great role model and cares a great deal about cultivating and nurturing young Latino journalists in the business journalism field," Leckey says.

The Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism moved its headquarters to the ASU Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication from Reston, Va., in July 2006.

The center is using a $3.5 million grant from the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation to create what it hopes will become the top business journalism training program for working journalists and journalism professors. Plans call for business courses to be added to the Cronkite School's curriculum. It also runs the Web site, www.businessjoirnalism.org.

Leckey says most U.S. newspapers have small numbers of minority journalists and is especially true for business sections.

Of 559 members of the Society of American Business Editors and Writers who participated in a recent survey, only 60 were journalists of color. SABEW has a total of 3,419 members.

Leckey points out that a lack of diversity in business sections makes it hard to cover global trends and emerging ethnic markets.

"The Latino demographic is growing, and what's going on in the economy is so important to that. That's why we need more Latino journalists to cover those issues," Leckey says.