Internationally renowned journalist and author Juan González – co-host of “Democracy Now!” – visited California State University Northridge, as part of his book tour to promote News For All the People: The Epic Story of Race and the American Media.

The event, hosted by CSUN Latino Journalists and El Nuevo Sol, took place before an overflow crowd including more than 100 faculty members and students from various departments. Students who could not fit in the presentation room watched a livestream of the event, shown outside in the hallway.

The book is a history of what González and his co-author Joseph Torres see as the three distinct – and often opposing – streams of American media, which include the commercial (corporate) press, the independent (alternative) press, and the ethnic media (owned and operated by people of color).

According to González, ethnic media has always offered a counter-narrative to the White version of events which typically appeared in the mainstream press.

González presented a brisk overview of his book, touching upon several key developments and surprising moments in American media history, such as how a system of government subsidies fostered the creation of numerous media from the earliest newspapers up to the Internet of today; how the very first newspaper in the American colonies, “Publick Occurrences,” was begun in Massachusetts in 1690 largely to alert settlers to the activities of Native Americans; how prominent Democrat Josephus Daniels used his newspaper in Wilmington, NC in 1898 to instigate racial violence which led to the deaths of sixty black citizens; how Los Angeles radio broadcaster Pedro J. González was arrested in 1934 and later deported to silence him from speaking out against the mass deportation of Mexicans; and he shared many more examples of path-breaking Hispanic, Asian, black, and indigenous journalists who covered stories that did not appear in the commercial press, in the process providing people of color with dignified portrayals of themselves.

Following his presentation, González and co-author Torres answered questions prepared by the event organizers.

Watch the event here:

Tags:  amos & andy CSUN CSUN Latino Journalists Democracy Now ethnic media history joseph torres journalism juan gonzalez News For All pedro j gonzalez