San Antonio’s Spanish-language television station made history in May 2001 by integrating viewers into its newscasts through Web cameras in their homes. The feature, “Teledirecto TV,” was incorporated into regular newscasts at 5 p.m. and 10 p.m. to add the voice of ordinary citizens to those of experts and politicians on stories that impact the public.
The station identified “neighborhood correspondents,” citizens chosen on the basis of their involvement and interest in the community, and installed Web cams – video cameras with built-in microphones – in their homes. Pew support helped pay the salary of a special coordinator who reviewed the news budget for stories affecting the “correspondents,” then asked them to appear on that evening’s news. The correspondents had only to click on a couple of icons to activate the Web cam and add their views to those of the officials or experts appearing in the story.
The first two neighborhood correspondents were Mary Lou Mendoza, a wife and mother involved with special education at a local elementary school, and Andrea Garza, a dental assistant active in her church and other organizations. The station planned to install Web cams and computers in 40 San Antonio homes and hoped eventually to have 100 neighborhood correspondents.
Contact:
Emilio Nicolas, Jr.
VP, General Manager
KVDA Channel 60
6234 San Pedro
San Antonio, TX 78218
Phone: (210) 340-8860
Email: exnicolas@telemundo.com