Macarena Hernández is a

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

academic and

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

from

La Joya, Texas La Joya is a city in Hidalgo County, Texas. The population was 4,374 at the 2020 United States Census. It is part of the McAllen–Edinburg–Mission and Reynosa–McAllen metropolitan areas. History Its name, meaning "the jewel", was inspired ...

. She has written about

Latino Latino or Latinos most often refers to: * Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America * Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States * The people or cultures of Latin America; ** Latin A ...

issues such as

immigration Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...

and

education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Va ...

Newspaper work and scandals

Hernández has a B.A. in English Professional Writing and Journalism from

Baylor University Baylor University is a private Baptist Christian research university in Waco, Texas. Baylor was chartered in 1845 by the last Congress of the Republic of Texas. Baylor is the oldest continuously operating university in Texas and one of the fir ...

, and a Masters in Journalism from

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

. While in college, Hernandez interned at ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', and following graduation, became the

Rio Grande Valley The Lower Rio Grande Valley ( es, Valle del Río Grande), commonly known as the Rio Grande Valley or locally as the Valley or RGV, is a region spanning the border of Texas and Mexico located in a floodplain of the Rio Grande near its mouth. The ...

Bureau Chief for the ''

San Antonio Express-News The ''San Antonio Express-News'' is a daily newspaper in San Antonio, Texas. It is owned by the Hearst Corporation and has offices in San Antonio and Austin, Texas. The ''Express-News'' is the third largest newspaper in the state of Texas, with ...

''. In 2003, a ''New York Times'' reporter who had interned alongside her, Jayson Blair, was caught plagiarizing a newspaper article she had written for the ''Express-News''. The revelation uncovered dozens of other stories that Blair had plagiarized or fabricated for ''The Times'', setting off a national media story. Hernández joined the staff of ''

The Dallas Morning News ''The Dallas Morning News'' is a daily newspaper serving the Dallas–Fort Worth area of Texas, with an average print circulation of 65,369. It was founded on October 1, 1885 by Alfred Horatio Belo as a satellite publication of the ''Galvesto ...

'' in August 2005. Soon after, she penned a column discussing the frequency with which illegal immigrants are the victims of crime in the United States, citing a Georgia case in which six Mexicans were murdered. When Fox's Bill O'Reilly expressed outrage that the Mexican flag was flown as a show of sorrow, Hernández accused O'Reilly of preaching hate. In retaliation, O'Reilly called for a boycott of the ''Dallas Morning News''.

Academic career and awards

Hernandez later became the Victoria Advocate Endowed Professor in Humanities and taught in the Communications Department at the

University of Houston–Victoria The University of Houston–Victoria (UHV) is a public university in Victoria, Texas. It is part of the University of Houston System. Its campus spans in Victoria with a satellite location at UHV Katy. Founded in 1971, UHV has an enrollment o ...

, where she was co-founder and managing director of Centro Victoria, creating resources for Latino literature in the United States. She is now the Fred Hartman Distinguished Professor of Journalism at her alma mater, Baylor University. In 2003, ''Latina'' named her one of their Women of the Year, and ''Hispanic Magazine'' named her one of 2004’s Trendsetters. In 2006, the Los Angeles Times called her a "Media Face to Watch." In 2016 Hernandez was the recipient of a Creative Capital Award.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hernandez, Macarena American newspaper journalists The Dallas Morning News people Living people American women journalists Baylor University alumni University of California, Berkeley alumni Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American women