Give now to DOUBLE your gift! Donations made here before Dec. 31 will be matched, thanks to NewsMatch, a national campaign to support non-profit news in the U.S.
In an era of quickly evolving media, building a strong pipeline of journalists has never been more urgent. Our program is a living laboratory for young storytellers from the U.S.–Mexico border region of El Paso, Juarez and Southern New Mexico.
Since 2008, Borderzine, a bilingual, online news magazine, has reported insightful stories of our border community as part of UT El Paso’s multimedia journalism program. Borderzine student staff learn as they report stories for TV, radio, newspapers and online media on a range of topics from immigration and government to health, education, border economics and culture. They learn to ground their craft in the fundamentals of traditional journalism while mastering new media tools, from social video to data journalism and ethical use of ai in reporting.
Cutbacks in traditional media newsrooms mean there are fewer internship opportunities for aspiring journalists and this makes our project even more vital to prepare young Borderlanders with the experience and portfolios needed to succeed in local, state and national media as well as with businesses and non-profit organizations across myriad platforms.
Your support provides for technology and professional experience, as well as access to conferences and learning opportunities for student journalists and faculty to continue growing the UTEP multimedia journalism program as a respected information source and training ground for emerging communicators.
Thanks to the support of NewsMatch donors we’re offering more opportunities than ever before:
• In the spring of 2025 we launched our Multimedia Innovation Studio, converting the old darkroom in Cotton Memorial into a large studio space for broadcasting, podcasting and innovative content creation. We launched a regular podcasting series by student in the Digital Media Production program. And we livestreamed our Borderzine news magazine showcase. We have basic studio equipment but need funding for more production gear.
• Drone photography – Aerial cinematic techniques are becoming more mainstream and demand for aerial video content is increasing among audiences and producers. It provides a simple way to boost production value and can help multimedia journalism and digital production students have a competitive edge in the work force.
• Internship opportunities with professional media outlets. We have seen time and again that organizations tend to hire their interns. We provide several stipends each year to give students the opportunity to show what they can do. This year we saw interns who we sponsored land jobs with KERA in Dallas, the Dallas Morning News and El Paso Inc.
Graduates of the Borderzine program work in local media and at major news outlets including the Associated Press, Univision, Telemundo, CNN, NPR, Time, ESPN, Dallas Morning-News, Houston Chronicle, Austin-American Statesman, and many others.
As news deserts continue to expand, many communities around the country are left without critical access to reliable information. Information that’s backed by sources, facts and research. You can count on us to deliver accurate reporting that brings our community together and gives our students high quality skills and values that they will take to their professional careers representing the Borderland at home and across the nation.
If you value the work we're doing in this challenging time for the future of quality journalism, please donate today. Make a difference in supporting our mission and continue to build our program.
