(Cydney McFarland/DD)
The New York Times’ Phoenix Bureau Chief Fernanda Santos discussed her journey as an immigrant through American journalism Monday in the Walter Cronkite School’s First Amendment Forum.
Santos spoke about the adaptations she made moving from her home in Brazil to the United States so she could create opportunities for herself and further her career as a journalist.
“In many ways my life here has been kind of an American dream,” Santos said.
She said after moving to the U.S. and attending Boston University, she learned a culture where ethnicity is noticed in both social environments and the professional world.
“All of the sudden I come here and I am looked at … as the Latina, the person who knows everything about Latin America, when my identity as a Latina didn’t really exist until I was kind of forced into one of these boxes,” she said. “It was a pretty weird position for me to be in.”
Santos explained how as an immigrant, she often found herself trying to become the norm and to write like some of her journalistic heroes.
“The more I tried to be, and write especially, like the people I was surrounded by, the worse I was,” she said.
Santos said her years of experience in a predominantly white newsroom helped her to understand who she was as a writer and a person.
“All along I think I tried to be like other people … but what makes each and every one of us special is who we are,” Santos said. “What you have to offer is what nobody else has because nobody is you. Nobody has gone through life the way you have.”
She said she always tries to look at a story in a positive light, and to admire the ethnic and cultural diversity of places such as Arizona.
“Diversity is great in every sense of the word,” she said.
Cronkite writer-in-residence Terry Greene Sterling explained her admiration for Santos and her career as a journalist.
“She is a literary journalist, and her eye for character, telling detail and narrative distinguish her journalism from the work of the pack,” Sterling said.
Santos said Twitter has helped her share her stories with people from all over the world.
“You can bring the world a little slice of life,” she said.
Santos said to students the opportunities journalism, especially in the United States, has brought her.
“It’s such an amazing power to have,” she said. “As a journalist it’s a huge responsibility, and it’s a huge privilege to be able to knock on anybody’s door, or approach anybody on the street.”
Journalism graduate student Dominique Johnson appreciated Santos’ ability to remain objective.
“I appreciated her perspective as a woman journalist and also as a Latina journalist being here in Arizona with all the issues that are going on right now,” Johnson said. “She’s able to be objective enough to actually report on the stories.”
Contact the reporter at whitney.ogden@asu.edu
