New Mexico in Focus assesses New Mexico's media ecosystem

This week on New Mexico in Focus, we celebrate Independence Day by assessing New Mexico's media ecosystem. Correspondent Gwyneth Doland speaks with three people working to strengthen the financial stability of our state's local news organizations.

At Searchlight New Mexico, investigative reporter Alicia Inez Guzmán covers New Mexico's nuclear legacy and future - and the New Cold War. In an in-depth conversation with Our Land Senior Producer Laura Paskus, Guzmán talks about her award-winning story, "Buried secrets, poisoned bodies," digging in to the illegal autopsies scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory and doctors at the Los Alamos Medical Center performed on people for over 35 years, and the unique challenges of being a reporter on the 21st century atomic beat.

Executive Producer Jeff Proctor interviews Pat Davis of CTRL+P Publishing and Rich Connor of El Rito Media Group about their decisions to buy more newspapers over the last year. During their discussion, they talk about flagging trust in media, why readers should trust overtly partisan ownership and whether Davis's or Connor's goal is to actually make money.

NMiF airs on NMPBS 5.1 (KNME HD) on Friday, July 5 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, July 7 at 7 a.m., and streaming on the PBS video app.

NMiF Segments

Stopping the Spread of News Deserts
Correspondent
Gwyneth Doland

Guests
Christina Shih, associate director, Press Forward
Michael Marcotte, retired rrofessor, UNM Communication & Journalism Department
Rashad Mahmood, executive director, New Mexico Local News Fund

Covering the New Cold War
Correspondent
Laura Paskus

Guest
Alicia Inez Guzmán, investigative reporter, Searchlight NM

News Ownership in NM
Correspondent
Jeff Proctor

Guests
Pat Davis, owner, Ctrl+P Publishing
Rich Connor, editor & investor, El Rito Media Group

New Mexico in Focus is the New Mexico PBS prime-time news magazine show covering the events, issues, and people shaping life in New Mexico and the Southwest. NMiF takes a multi-layered look at social, political, economic health, education, and art issues and explores them in-depth with a critical eye to give them context beyond the "news of the moment."

NMPBS Executive Producer, Public Affairs, is Jeff Proctor. New Mexico in Focus's senior producer for public affairs is Lou DiVizio. "Our Land" Senior Producer is Laura Paskus. The producer of New Mexico in Focus is Antonio Sanchez, and co-producer is Kathy Wimmer.

Funding for New Mexico in Focus is provided by the McCune Charitable Foundation and Viewers Like You.

Funding for the Your New Mexico Government Project comes from the Thornburg Foundation and New Mexico Local News Fund.

The Neeper Natural History Programming Fund for KNME-TV provides funding for Our Land: New Mexico's Environmental Past, Present & Future.