The Latino News Network (LNN) was founded in 2012 by veteran journalist, and former president of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ), Diane Alverio.
Responding to the gap in news coverage of the Hispanic-Latino community in her then-home state of Connecticut, Alverio launched LNN with Connecticut Latino News, CTLatinoNews.com (CTLN). It was the first English-language news and information outlet dedicated to the Hispanic-Latino community in the state. Massachusetts Latino News, MALatinoNews.com (MALN) soon followed.
In 2019, LNN was acquired by nationally recognized journalist and media advocate, Hugo Balta and his wife Adriana Balta Naranjo. Under their leadership, LNN has expanded its statewide coverage, and Hispanic-Latino editorial focus to include independent news outlets in New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Washington, WALatinoNews.com (WALN). In 2024, the LNN landing page, which had been a marketing tool for the seven full fledged websites, converted into a national news outlet.
“As other news outlets are forced to retreat, we are meeting the challenge and advancing,” explained Balta. “It’s a presidential election year, the migrant crisis at the border is spilling over cities across the country, COVID is still gripping the community, poverty, unequal access to health care, lack of education, stigma, and racism -coverage addressing the social determinants of health and democracy has never been more important for Latinos.”
LNN’s mission is to provide greater visibility and voice to the Hispanic-Latino community, amplify the work of others in doing the same, mentor and provide young journalists with real work experiences, and apply the principles of solutions journalism in producing stories focused on the social determinants of health, and democracy.
Hugo Balta is the Publisher of the LNN. Balta is a 30-year multimedia journalism veteran with multiple market and platform experience that includes leadership positions in NBC, Telemundo, ABC, CBS, and PBS among other storied news networks. He is the twice president of the NAHJ. Balta and his family live in Chicago, Illinois.
Jacqueline Cardenas is the Multimedia Journalist/Editor, leading LNN West overseeing WALatinoNews.com (WALN) and California Latino News (CALN), Annabel Rocha is the Senior Writer/Editor for LNN Midwest overseeing ILLatinoNews.com (ILLN) and WILatinoNews.com (WILN), and Belén Dumont is the Senior Reporter/Editor for LNN East overseeing CTLN, MALN, NHLatinoNews.com (NHLN), and RILatinoNews.com (RILN).
Cardenas is a recent graduate of DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois. In 2022, they was recognized as part of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists DePaul chapter and was awarded “Student Chapter of the Year” at the Las Vegas NABJ/NAHJ Convention and Career Fair.
Among her accomplishments, Rocha led a series on period poverty thanks in part through the support of fellowships from the University of Southern California’s Center for Health Journalism and the Journalism & Women Symposium.
Dumont has also benefitted from the support of USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism that “selected her as one of 20 talented journalists to participate in its National Fellowship to report on issues affecting child, youth and family health and well-being in the United States.”
Both Dumont, Rocha, and Balta have been cohorts in fellowships led by the Solutions Journalism Network. Balta is an accredited solutions journalism instructor.
“Forming partnerships and collaborating with other newsrooms – big and small – has been essential to LNN’s growth and mission to provide greater visibility and voice to the local Latino communities we serve,” said Rocha. “We have also had the privilege of supporting journalism classrooms and students at Boston University and Roger Williams University through publication and guidance,” added Dumont.
LNN works with freelance Writer/Reporters across the country in producing original multimedia reporting. If you are interested in working or collaborating with LNN, please email us at info@LatinoNewsNetwork.com.