Odette Alcazaren-Keeley’s Remarks

In our webinar on Tuesday, November 10th, our day of action and education for DEI in public media, Odette Alcazaren-Keeley from Maynard Institute for Journalism Education gave a deeply personal speech about her experiences as an immigrant and journalist, and the need for public media to reflect all the diversity of America now more than ever. Thanks to volunteers for transcribing her remarks.

Hello everyone! I’m Odette Alcazaren-Keeley, Director of the Maynard 200 Journalism Fellowship program at the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education. I’m also the President and Founding Partner of my strategic, multicultural media consultancy, Global MediaX.

I’m privileged to add my voice to the public media day of action to elevate the critical role of DEI and EID in the sector. As I share this testimonial for this pressing campaign, especially in these days following the most consequential elections in the elections of our lifetime and all that’s before us now as a nation, I’m reminded of how my own broadcasting journalism media/advocacy career have been deeply rooted in public media here in the San Francisco/Bay Area, and how my own work even many years ago in this space continues to be resonant. Especially now in this pivotal moment in our history. 

14 years ago as a freelance producer for KQED FM, one of my first radio segments for the beloved former program Pacicif Time was a first person commentary after I had taken my oath as a U.S. citizen having migrated here from the Philippines. I shared in that radio piece two of my most important reasons for doing so, for becoming an American citizen.

Number one: that as an immigrant, I would never be separated from my family. And number two: that I would be able to vote and my voice would be heard.

For 11 years until 2017, I continued to anchor news segments for the ethnic media consortium New America Media where I held an executive media role (and these were broadcast via longstanding public media partner and ally, 91.7 KALW). I also served as a regular commentator on Pacific Time and also as a regular panelist on KQED’s This Week in Northern California hosted by broadcasting legend Belva Davis.

And four years ago - I think it’s still fresh and raw to many of us especially given where we are in at this moment - the morning after the 2016 election night when Donald Trump was declared President, I still remember my daughter’s tearful question to me when she heard the news. It was still playing in my mind as I drove to work. She had asked me because she had not yet fully grasped the scope of and the true meaning of my US citizenship at that time. She asked, “does this mean, Mom, that you’ll be deported, too?” I remember vividly that I reassured her that this is not the case.

 As I listened on my car radio to KQED news, they were interviewing a Muslim father. He had broken down on air, terrified, for his and his daughters’ future. I’m grateful that I was able to reassure my daughter that we would not be separated from each other. And heartbroken at the same time for the countless others who could not do the same, perhaps including this father that I was just listening to. These voices I shared during our editorial meeting that morning. 

Public media serves as a comprehensive daily source of news and perspectives nationally and globally, but it’s clear now more than ever before that its leadership, its workforce, and its coverage need to be more authentically reflective of the diversity of its audience.

KQED and KALW are just two examples of public media stations that are bringing not just media content - national content - but also award-winning local and hyperlocal programming that magnify the diverse voices of the region, and that are chronicling the American story.

Now, as the nation continues to grapple with its racial reckoning since the death of George Floyd and countless other Black and brown Americans, with the societal chasm cemented by the 2020 vote, wider now than ever before. As journalists we are called to reflect and to acknowledge, to ask ourselves: have we been complicit to sustaining structural racism in our own newsrooms, in our media organizations, and in our coverage of the American experience? 

At the Maynard Institute amid this tipping point in our field - including in public media - our mission is to be dismantlers of systemic white supremacy and inequity. To embolden all journalists, especially those of color, with authentic power and chance agency in order to be the force for DEI and EID in their newsrooms and media organizations, and in their coverage. So that as our visionary MIJE Executive Director Martin Reynolds articulates, we can all ultimately help create institutions of belonging. 

We stand together with the Public Media For All coalition because we know we will need - especially in these weeks, months, and years ahead - to find our collective strength and continue to do the tough work needed from all of us to heal our democracy together, regardless of and respecting each others’ differing beliefs. 

We at MIJE salute all those working tirelessly for Public Media Day and this overall initiative. We are grateful for your allyship and hang onto the hope for all that we will accomplish together as journalists and as Americans. Thank you.