Spanish-language version of Cronkite NewsWatch airs

A Spanish-language version of Cronkite NewsWatch is now being aired on Univision’s TeleFutura network in Phoenix.

NewsWatch Espanol is produced by top bilingual students in the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University. It airs twice a month on weekend mornings. Spring semester broadcasts will begin in February.

Telefutura can be found over the air on Channel 35, on Cox Cable channel 54 and on DirectTV Channel 13.

The 30-minute program features stories about major events and issues on campus and around the region. Recent stories have examined Arizona ballot propositions, new measures to protect the Mexico-Arizona border and programs designed to help Valley residents facing home foreclosures.

“Several of our top broadcast students are bilingual and truly spearheaded this new venture for us,” said Mark Lodato, news director for Cronkite NewsWatch. “We’re very proud of this new partnership with TeleFutura and its parent network, Univision. We believe we’ll be able to build upon this strong start and increase the number of Spanish-language newscasts in the months ahead.”

The English-language version of NewsWatch, which began in 1975, has a long record of success. NewsWatch students were named the Best Collegiate News Team in America by the Broadcast Education Association last year and won nearly two dozen awards in the regional Society of Professional Journalists awards program. In addition, NewsWatch students have contributed to a string of top placements nationally in the prestigious Hearst Awards.

At the height of the semester, Cronkite NewsWatch is produced live three times each week and distributed to hundreds of thousands of Arizona homes via cable. In addition, many Cronkite NewsWatch pieces are fed to network affiliates throughout the state via the Cronkite News Service.