I've been working on a story about #Latinx leaders who have passed away in Greater #Philly during this time and what this means to the communities.

Yesterday, as I continued to report on the project, I was rejected -again- by someone who knew one of the leaders closely. Why? 1/4

They said I "represent the rivals" as a person who works for The Inquirer. The person added that they knew that my reporting was "part of the community," but that my affiliation to the newspaper wasn't pleasant to them.

After 2.5 years embedded in Latinx Philly, ... 2/4

...The Inquirer is still far from community journalism that serves Latinxs.

This is evidence of the need for more structural, newsroom-wide, company-driven initiatives that create a base and framework for community engagement to flourish.

This is evidence that suggests... 3/4

...that journalists in legacy local media need to stop producing work that explains communities to people who aren't part of the collective, but center reports on serving community needs & highlighting the issues that people want journalists and media to address with them. -FIN-