Joselina Salazar: Using TV visuals to connect viewers to the world

As an associate producer for Al Jazeera America's Consider This, Joselina Salazar works with segment producers to come up with the elements — the video, stills, and other creative visuals — that accompany stories on television. Joselina does not take the power of TV for granted — ever since she was a young girl, she has seen how the medium connects an audience to the world at large.

Q. What first got you interested in TV?

A. When I was seven, I emigrated from the Dominican Republic. And I really didn't speak any English, and I went directly into school in North Tarrytown, N.Y. … My parents are Spanish-dominant and they took a longer time to learn English than I did, and a lot of [what] I was able to understand, and how to pronounce and how to say things, outside of school, [I learned] through television.

… Before I traveled [in real life], I traveled by seeing something on The Discovery Channel or on the Travel Channel. … I loved being able to look into a conversation that I would have never been exposed to — everything from painting classes to hobbies that I couldn't necessarily do on my own. … It was like an afternoon filled with dreams, filled with hobbies, filled with new information.

Q. As an immigrant, you had to figure out a whole new culture, a whole new language. Has that informed your work as a journalist?  

A. It informs the way that I view things in general. … When you come from somewhere else, everything that you’re surrounded by is really new to you. It's different from people who have been here generations upon generations. … Certain things that are commonplace for them, for me they're all new. This entire process and the transition of my life has been absorption of the culture I'm surrounded by, and trying to balance that out with the culture I already have. And both things influence one another.

Q. So how did you become interested in journalism?

A. I went to City College [of New York], I got a communications degree and I went into public relations. … For as much as I was doing events and press releases, I thought that I was representing companies. And I wanted to represent people. … When I worked in public relations, I was working for places like NBC, so I was working for television networks. So already I had some exposure. … I started taking a part-time class that they offered at my school, because I had no contacts. The economy at the time [in 2009] was really rough and everyone said, "The only way you're going to get to this, if you have no connections, is you have to get an internship and you've got to work your way up from there." That’s what I did, I got an internship at [the local affiliate of] ABC [in New York], I went to [the local news channel] NY1, I went back to work to ABC, and then Current TV, and now Al Jazeera America.

Q. What did you learn from working in those local news stations?

A. I think local news, and especially working out in the field, just gives you a general sensitivity. It's the closest connection to a story. You can fact-check an issue all you want, you can write it as well as you can, you can have the presenter and the visuals, but [you need to] go and speak to that person it directly impacts.

Q. Which memorable stories did you work on?

A. I won't forget that I was there after they passed gay marriage in New York City [in 2011]. I was at the first weddings all day … going from Manhattan to Brooklyn, and all of the excitement. And every time you see that video, they show the same [clips] all over again on all the networks, and I'm like, "I was there." … The 10-year anniversary of 9/11, NY1 [had] us go out there and get people's [stories]. You really learned a lot about the city and people's frames of mind after that. … For me, most importantly, it gives you a sense of humanity. And without humanity, you can't really have journalism.

Q. You want TV to share people's perspectives. How does that inspire the work you do for Al Jazeera and for Consider This? 

A. The model that Al Jazeera built, I think, is so beautiful, to be the voice for the voiceless. And coming from a family that I know has been voiceless for a long time, and coming out of voiceless-ness myself, I was really proud and really happy. Part of the reason why I was really excited to make the transition from Current to Al Jazeera was because I really, really, really wanted to be part of telling these new stories and these new perspectives.

… People [who are] hurt most and impacted directly by what's going on in this country often aren't heard, because people really aren't willing to go that deep. … Very few places are willing to go there. And I think people — for as much as it's [said] that you respond more to tragedies and to headliners — people respond most to connection.

Joselina Salazar's interview has been condensed and edited.