Journalism made luxury at a Town Hall in Washington Heights

Community residents complained about bureaucracy affecting service in public offices, while organizers were flooded with unresolved complaints.

It felt like a women’s convention at the Isabella Home Geriatric Center : four panelists spoke about discrimination and racism in their workplaces, two other women translated the meeting in real time for the English speakers in attendance, and the majority of the nearly 130 people who entered and left the room were mothers with children on their shoulders and women of retirement age.On September 26, 2017, women also complained about the lack of serious, personalized advice during the four-hour community meeting broadcast via Facebook Live. “I came here to get an answer, and look… What a show !” said Luciana García, 53, who traveled from the South Bronx to hear wise words from a public official regarding her case of ethnic discrimination in the workplace.

“It took 30 years of work and paying my union paycheck after paycheck , and when they discriminated against me for ‘having a strong accent,’ they didn’t even pay attention to me or help me find a lawyer,” explained García, who intends to sue the 32BJ union for negligence and the midtown Manhattan hotel where she cleaned for discrimination. The problem? This happened three years ago, and she’s still unemployed and doesn’t know where to start .

Luciana García, 53, filed a case alleging discrimination by her employer and another alleging negligence by her hotel cleaning workers’ union.

Univision 41 organizes community meetings in various counties across the tri-state area to address issues of concern to its predominantly Hispanic audience, and does so in conjunction with other media outlets and public agencies in the city.

At this  town hall meeting , the local television station collaborated with the newspaper El Diario NY , radio station WADO 1280 AM , and agencies from the Human Rights Commission of the New York City Mayor’s Office.

The intention was to discuss workplace discrimination in Upper Manhattan with Marisol Alcántara , Senator for the 31st District of New York State, Lorraine Cortés-Vásquez , Advisor to the Mayor’s Office, Lisette Camilo, Commissioner of the Department of Administrative Services of the Mayor’s Office, and Carmen de la Rosa , Assemblywoman for the 72nd District of the New York State Assembly.

It began as a rather educational meeting. They mentioned that New York is one of the states with the greatest legal protections against discrimination, with 22 types of discrimination penalized by law. More than 50 percent of the complaints filed with the Mayor’s Human Rights Commission are about discrimination. They also reminded everyone that there is a 311 hotline to receive guidance in the language they feel most comfortable with.

Several participants brought documentation to show to the officers.

“These meetings are also educational campaigns, so you can put the power in your own hands,” said Berenice Gartner , the event’s main organizer and investigative journalist for Univisión 41, during the ceremony.

However, when participants, those brave enough to stand before the lights and cameras, had the opportunity to share their anecdotes and problems, a group of opinions emerged. Whispers could be heard when one of the officials gave a vague response to a community member’s particular case.

That’s when Carmen Piñeiro, 49, questioned the purpose of the meeting, believing there weren’t enough public agency staff to serve each participant individually.

“How many questions were resolved here today? That’s it. They come here to say what they want and then leave, when people have problems to resolve,” said Piñeiro, who has been an organizing member of The Bronx Defenders , a nonprofit agency that provides public legal defense services to low-income people in the Bronx, for the past 18 years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dBMUWFRxMw

Service journalism , also known as intermediary journalism , has a different meaning in places like the Dominican Republic. For example, legendary broadcaster Freddy Beras-Goico made his name and journalistic legacy with the program “El Gordo de la Semana ,” in which he used his humor to carry out donations, marathons, legal services, and social assistance and public health rounds in remote parts of the country, or in the television studio itself where the six hours of live weekly production were carried out.

Beras-Goico and his team used the skills of journalism and the power of the media for 30 years to engage the public and private sectors in alleviating the hardship and anxiety affecting the most disadvantaged in society.

According to Francisco Rodríguez , president of the United Hearts Foundation , who spoke to the newspaper El Nuevo Diario RD, more than 3,500 Dominican children received medical services at various hospitals in the United States under the coordination of the foundation , thanks to the support provided by the television program. This is something Piñeiro believes is lacking in these Univision community meetings.

“We need to bring people here, many more people, who can respond to the community so they can solve the problems that are keeping them from living in peace. Not just people who come here with this red tape and make fun of it,” he said.

On the matter, Assemblywoman Carmen de la Rosa said that public agencies and local officials must recognize the level of frustration people are experiencing. “The waiting lists are very long, and the process for a person to be heard and assisted takes a long time, and we don’t have the capacity to handle so many cases,” she explained.

At least four agencies of the Mayor’s Human Rights Commission offered advice and information about the services they provide.

Throughout the rest of the year, the television network will hold other community gatherings in various neighborhoods. The next one is on October 11 at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in downtown Newark, NJ. They plan to host a discussion on New Jersey local government from 8 to 10 p.m. They will be doing so in conjunction with WADO 1280 AM, El Diario NY, WABC, NALEO, and the Philadelphia University station.