The Center for New York City Affairs and WNYC, New York Public Radio, present Same News, Different Views: Bridging the Gap Between Ethnic and Mainstream Media with Ti-Hua Chang, Elaine Rivera, Sree Sreenivasan and Alberto Vourvoulias. Brian Lehrer moderates.
The federal immigration policy debate may soon reach its climactic moment, changing the lives of hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers. Meanwhile, our city's immigrant communities face unique - and not so unique - local challenges related to schools, poverty, housing and more. If you read or listen to the mainstream English-language press, what are you missing? A Town Hall meeting with the ethnic and mainstream press, hosted by Brian Lehrer and taped for broadcast on WNYC, New York Public Radio- The New School
Bio
Ti-Hua Chang
Award-winning journalist Ti-Hua Chang returned to WCBS-TV where he worked earlier in his career to serve as a general assignment and investigative reporter in January 2005. He quickly distinguished himself with his work. Among other things, he won a 2005 Edward R. Murrow Award for a piece entitled" Police Voyeurs" about officers using a helicopter and high tech infra-red equipment to spy repeatedly on a couple's passionate embraces on a pitch-black rooftop.
Before rejoining WCBS, Chang was a reporter with WNBC. On 9/11, he was the first reporter to inform the public on the number of causalities that day quoting Mayor Giuliani and city officials. In 1996, he won the prestigious Peabody Award for a series of reports he filed on accused drug-dealing murderers who escaped to the Dominican Republic. In 2004, he won a New York Press Club award for his reports on a shooting at City Hall. Chang's investigative reports include the death of civil rights leader Medgar Evers. In his report, Chang discovered four new witnesses to the Evers murder, eventually leading to the re-opening of the famous case.
Chang joined WNBC from WNYC-TV, New York, where he was host of his own talk show, New York Hotline. Previously, he was an investigative producer at ABC News.
Brian Lehrer
Brian Lehrer is a radio talk show host on New York City's public radio station WNYC. His daily two-hour program, The Brian Lehrer Show, features interviews with newsmakers and experts about current events and social issues. Lehrer was formerly an anchor and reporter for NBC Radio Networks, and has been in broadcast journalism for more than 20 years.
Lehrer obtained B.A.'s in Music and Mass Communications from the State University of New York at Albany. He holds a Master of Public Health degree from the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and a masters degree in Journalism from Ohio State University.
Elaine Rivera
Elaine Rivera joined the WNYC staff as the politics/economic development reporter in August. Prior to her arrival, Elaine had worked as a staff reporter at the Washington Post. From 1995 to 2001, she was a correspondent in the New York bureau for Time magazine. There, she worked on a variety of major stories that included the crash of TWA Flight 800, the police shooting of Amadou Diallo and the Mexico border crossings. After she left Time, she worked as a reporter on a number of Sept. 11 projects which included the award-winning Frontline documentary, “Faith and Doubt at Ground Zero” and the Life Magazine photo project, “Faces of Ground Zero.” She also covered the 2002 Winter Olympics for NBC’s web site. Rivera was also a staff reporter for nine years at New York Newsday where she focused on immigration and urban issues. Other publications she has worked for included El Diario La Prensa, The Washington Times, Hispanic Link News Service, and the Akron Beacon Journal. Originally from Cleveland, Ohio, Rivera received her B.A. in journalism from Kent State University.
Sree Sreenivasan
Sree is a journalism educator at Columbia University, freelance technology reporter and an expert on convergence journalism - teaching journalists to work in multiple media formats such as print, TV, radio and online.
Since July 2005, he has been Dean of Students at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, overseeing student affairs for the school's 400ish students. In this, his 13th year of teaching, he continues to run, and teach in, the new media/Web journalism program. In July 2007, he was promoted to Professor of Professional Practice. He also teaches workshops in "Smarter Surfing: Better Use of Your Web Time", Figuring Out Blogs & Whatever's Next, along with other topics, in newsrooms and educational institutions around the US and abroad.
Sree has been a fixture on NYC-area television for almost seven years. He is WNBC's tech reporter, covering all kinds of technology issues, gadgets and trends. He appears twice a week, on Thursday mornings at 6:45 and Monday evenings at 5:45 on NBC-4. He also blogs ("New to Sree") and does other web work for WNBC.com (samples). He had previously served for six years as the "Tech Guru" on WABC-TV (he made 500+ appearances there). In April 2002, he hosted and co-produced a half-hour WABC documentary about technology called "Computers 101." He has also guest hosted segments of "Asian America" on PBS, a nationally syndicated English program about Asian American affairs.
Alberto Vourvoulias-Bush
Alberto Vourvoulias-Bush as Executive Editor of the nation's oldest Spanish-language daily newspaper. Vourvoulias-Bush is a veteran journalist and scholar with extensive experience leading editorial teams of notable publications. The appointment is effective June 1, 2005.
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