This week, New Mexico in Focus finishes the deep dive into the state’s evolving journalism ecosystem. Executive Producer Jeff Proctor opens the show with the second piece of a conversation viewers will only see on NMPBS — a one-on-one interview with the new executive editor at the Albuquerque Journal, Patrick Ethridge. Jeff asks about the many challenges facing the state’s largest newspaper as Ethridge settles into the job.
Gene Grant sits down with three non-journalists to get their perspective on the news media in our state. Gene asks the group about what the industry is doing right and where it’s falling short, plus all three panelists share insight on the changing ways people consume news in 2023.
In his second one-on-one interview, Jeff Proctor talks with Albuquerque City Council President Pat Davis, who also now owns four newspapers in the state: The Paper., the Edgewood Independent, the Sandoval Signpost and the Corrales Comment. In the second part of his interview, Jeff asks Mr. Davis about why readers should trust a publication owned by a sitting city councilor.
Gene Grant catches up with two prominent Black journalists in New Mexico to learn more about their contributions to the state’s news environment. Adolphe Pierre-Louis explains his role as a photojournalist and talks about the responsibilities news organizations have to cover stories in New Mexico’s Black communities. Ron Wallace gives some background on Perspective Magazine, a publication covering Black issues since 1984, and lays out why he thinks it’s been vital in telling positive stories impacting Black people in Albuquerque and the entire state.
NMiF airs on NMPBS 5.1 (KNME HD) Friday, July 14 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, July 16 at 7 a.m., and streaming on the PBS video app.
NMiF Segments
One-on-One with the Albuquerque Journal’s New Executive Editor Pt. 2
Correspondent
Jeff Proctor
Guest
Patrick Ethridge, vice president, executive editor, The Albuquerque Journal
News Consumers Assess Journalism in NM
Correspondent
Gene Grant
Guests
Catherine McGill, founder & director, New Mexico Black Leadership Council
Almarina Sosa, UNM student
Maureen Sanders, attorney
Pat Davis: Politician and Newspaper Magnate Pt. 2
Correspondent
Jeff Proctor
Guest
Pat Davis, Albuquerque City Council President, Newspaper Owner
Black Journalists in New Mexico
Correspondent
Gene Grant
Guests
Ron Wallace, publisher, Perspective Magazine
Adolphe Pierre-Louis, photojournalist
No LINE Opinion Panel this week
Host
Gene Grant
New Mexico in Focus is the New Mexico PBS prime-time news magazine show covering the events, issues, and people that are shaping life in New Mexico and the Southwest. NMiF takes a multi-layered look at social, political, economic health, education, and art issues, and explores them in-depth with a critical eye to give them context beyond the "news of the moment."
NMPBS Executive Producer, Public Affairs, is Jeff Proctor. New Mexico in Focus Senior Producer for Public Affairs is Lou DiVizio. “Our Land” Senior Producer is Laura Paskus. The producer of New Mexico in Focus is Antonio Sanchez and Co-producer is Kathy Wimmer.
Funding for New Mexico in Focus is provided by the McCune Charitable Foundation and Viewers Like You.
Funding for the Your New Mexico Government Project comes from the Thornburg Foundation and New Mexico Local News Fund.
Funding for Our Land: New Mexico’s Environmental Past, Present & Future, is provided in part by the Neeper Natural History Programming Fund for KNME-TV.