For many people, particularly Latinos, in Northern Nevada, there is a lack of news media in Spanish to share important and useful information with the nearly 28% of the population that identifies as Hispanic. This is why the inclusion of Noticiero Móvil in the research book “News Desert U” out now by Bloomsbury Publishing is an important achievement.

Noticiero Móvil is one of six university news outlets included in the academic title – and the only bilingual one – by author Teri Finneman, an associate professor at the University of Kansas and publisher of the student publication The Eudora Times.

In this case study, Finneman wanted to highlight long-lasting news-academic partnerships to learn and share how the managing faculty members and their respective university programs sustain these media initiatives while simultaneously focusing on developing the student’s journalism skills and providing a platform to showcase their work. Finneman navigates how colleges and universities attempt to close the news desert gap in their communities in order to distribute more local news and the many challenges that still persist.

Claudia Cruz, managing editor of Noticiero Móvil and instructor at the Reynolds School of Journalism, shared how valuable it is for the faculty-run, student-produced outlet to be recognized in this feature.

“The significance of having a dedicated chapter in this book is exciting and validating for our small bilingual student publication,” Cruz said about the 11-year-old, award-winning digital site, which she believes can be a model for other journalism departments. Noticiero Móvil launched in 2015 with a major grant from the Online News Association. 

Finneman also addresses the beginnings of Noticiero Móvil throughout her research.

“Reno, Nevada, may not seem like a news desert with its daily newspaper, handful of TV stations and numerous radio stations in a city of 280,000 near the California border,” Finneman wrote, “but a decade ago, [the previous editor] saw a population that was one-fourth Hispanic/Latino being left out of mainstream coverage unless it related to crime, big political stories or entertainment.”

Since its beginnings, Noticiero Móvil has prepared students to produce and provide newsworthy content about the local region; at the same time, it encourages its small staff to help bridge the information gap that prevents Latinos in the area from accessing media in their language.

These news-academic partnership programs rely heavily on the faculty and the students who do the coverage. The sustainability of this initiative depends on the grants and contributions made towards it. 

“News Desert U” is an opportunity for anyone thinking of launching a similar academic-news partnership to prepare for the ups and downs of this work. The book demonstrates to readers of the chapter, “Noticiero Móvil: Transitioning a News-Academic Partnership in Nevada” that with passion, a supportive environment, motivated student journalists and a lot of café, a local university can add value and more information to the news coverage of its local population.