Schedule Set For 2023 Miami Dade College Journalism Speaker Series
Grab your pens and notepads—the Miami Dade College Journalism Speaker Series has returned.
This year’s five episodes will be broadcast on MDC-TV, YouTube and Instagram Live—@mdcthereporter. Featured guests will include journalists from Bloomberg News, NBC 6, the Miami Herald and the Locked On Canes podcast.
“We are excited to have these veteran journalists share their knowledge with our students,” said Manolo Barco, who created the Speaker Series and serves as media adviser to The Reporter, the student newspaper at MDC.
Kris Anderson, a morning anchor for NBC 6 News Today, launched this year’s series on April 19.
The next guest will be Alex Donno, host of the Locked On Canes daily podcast, who covers the University of Miami athletics department. He will be featured on May 16 at Kendall Campus, 11011 S.W. 104 St., in Room M-239 at 11 a.m.
Donno, a 2007 UM graduate, has covered the Hurricanes since 2005—first at the university’s student radio station and later on 560 WQAM.
The South Florida native has also been a studio host for the Miami Dolphins and Florida Panthers and a midday and evening talk show host on WQAM.
Felipe Marques the Miami bureau Chief for Bloomberg News, who covers Florida politics, will be showcased on May 22 at Wolfson Campus, 300 N.E. Second Ave. in Room 8106 at 11 a.m.
The Brazilian national has previously served as a wealth reporter for Latin America, covering the region’s billionaires, largest banks and hedge funds. He is a graduate of the University of São Paulo.
Photojournalist Al Diaz, who has worked at the Miami Herald for more than four decades, will speak at the series on May 31 at Kendall Campus in Room M-239 at 11 a.m.
Diaz has won numerous recognitions since he started his career at the Herald in 1983, including the 2014 Humanitarian Award from the National Press Photographers Association and the Associated Press Media Editors Showcase Photo of the Year for capturing an image of the CPR rescue of a baby on a Miami highway.
He has also contributed to two Pulitzer Prize-winning teams, covering the sudden collapse of Champlain Towers South in Surfside in 2022 and Hurricane Andrew in 1993.
Diaz has a bachelor’s degree in journalism with a minor in visual arts from the University of Florida. He started his collegiate journalism career at MDC in the fall of 1976 serving as photographer for The Catalyst, the former student newspaper at Kendall Campus.
The final guest of this year’s series will be Bea Hines, the first Black female reporter at the Miami Herald. She has worked as a reporter and columnist for the paper for more than 50 years and got her start in journalism at The Falcon Times—the North Campus’ student newspaper until 2010—in the late 1960s. The details of her appearance have not been finalized yet.
The MDC Journalism Speaker Series was initiated in February of 2008 to provide students with the opportunity to learn from working journalists. To date, more than 77 journalists have participated in the series.
Interviews are in 25-30 minute intervals and viewers can interact with guests at the end of each presentation during a 15-minute Q&A session.
For more information, contact Manolo Barco at (305) 237-1255 or at mbarco@mdc.edu.
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