Online Panel Discussion: COVID-19 and the NM Media Response

How did journalists that usually report on other issues quickly pivot to report on the COVID-19 crisis competently and confidently? What are the stories they would have liked to tell?

Join us on Monday, June 15, from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. for a NMPW and Las Cruces online video event, “COVID-19 and the NM Media Response,” with a panel discussion moderated by Damien Willis, a lead reporter for the Las Cruces Sun News and the NMPW 2020 Communicator of Achievement.

Panelists include: Sharon Chischilly, photo editor for the Daily Lobo; Algernon D’Ammassa from the Las Cruces Sun-News; Patrick Hayes, general assignment reporter for KOB-TV; Trip Jennings, executive director for New Mexico In Depth; Ryan Lowery from the Las Vegas Optic; and Joy Wang, also from KOB-TV.

Topics include how reporters across the state had to become competent public health reporters during the COVID-19 crisis—and also the stories that panelists believe should have been told but were lost because of the pressing need to keep up with quickly changing updates and important information from health and government officials.

There is no charge for the event, but registration is required to receive the Zoom link. Email lcpresswomen@gmail.com with “COVID panel” in the subject line and include your full name and affiliation (if any).

NMPW Vice President Damien Willis pens article on Corona, New Mexico

Damien Willis, a journalist with the Las Cruces Sun-News, wrote an article called “A town named Corona: Rural New Mexico village shares name with a pandemic” that appeared in the Albuquerque Journal on 27 April 2020. Link: https://www.abqjournal.com/1447917/a-town-named-corona.html

Willis drove to Corona, New Mexico to interview folks in a village of 163 residents in Lincoln County, and wrote a delightful article about how its citizens are adapting to now having a notorious name.