Latinhub
I created LatinHub in Australia in 2011 as an independent Spanish-language digital journalism and community media platform for Spanish-speaking migrants, students, families and community organisations.
The idea came from a gap I saw soon after arriving in Australia. There was a large and diverse Spanish-speaking population, but information was fragmented across different organisations, community groups and institutions, and much of what people needed to understand life in Australia was either available only in English or difficult to find. I wanted to create a digital-first platform that could bring together journalism, practical information, community resources and public-interest content in one place.
From the beginning, LatinHub was intended to do more than report news. I wanted it to make Australian public information more accessible in Spanish, help newly arrived migrants understand the country they were living in, connect people with community organisations and services, and provide journalism that reflected the interests and experiences of Latin American and other Spanish-speaking communities in Australia.
The site published news, current affairs, interviews, community information, practical resources, events and original journalism, while also selecting, explaining and contextualising Australian information for Spanish-speaking audiences. It operated across the website and social media and gradually developed into a broader multimedia and participatory journalism project.
As LatinHub evolved, I became increasingly interested in moving beyond producing journalism simply for the community and creating journalism with the community. The platform began developing citizen journalism, youth media and participatory storytelling projects designed to give people the skills and opportunity to document their own experiences, histories and perspectives.
One of LatinHub’s major initiatives was an intergenerational multimedia project that brought young Latin Australians together with first-generation Latin American political refugees living in Australia. Young participants were trained in interviewing, video production and editing, and then worked with older members of the community to record stories of political violence, exile, migration and resettlement in Australia, that fostered inter-generational understanding.
Supported through Australian Government heritage funding, the project eventually became 9 Historias Vitales / 9 Vital Stories, a collection of nine audiovisual stories documenting the experiences of Latin American political refugees in Australia. The project combined journalism, oral history, media education, community participation and the preservation of migration memory.
The documentaries were later used as the basis for further intergenerational engagement, with younger people viewing the stories, developing questions for those featured and participating in conversations about Latin American history, displacement, dictatorship, human rights, migration and identity. The project ultimately expanded into a bilingual Spanish-English book, published in 2014.
Through LatinHub, I also collaborated with community organisations, educational institutions and cultural organisations, including Instituto Cervantes in Sydney, and took part in public screenings, educational activities and community events. These projects explored how journalism could be used not only to report on communities, but also to strengthen community knowledge, preserve cultural memory and create opportunities for younger generations to understand the experiences that shaped earlier waves of migration to Australia.
Another area of the project focused on young people and international students. LatinHub provided a platform where Spanish-speaking students and migrants could tell their own stories and participate in media production, rather than appearing only as subjects of journalism.
LatinHub received recognition within Australia’s multicultural media sector. Its 9 Vital Stories project was selected as a finalist in the Best Use of Online and Digital Media category at the 2014 NSW Premier’s Multicultural Media Awards. The project also received government and community support for several initiatives, including funding for intergenerational heritage storytelling and collaborative community projects involving Spanish-speaking international students and community organisations.
The editorial approach behind LatinHub was grounded in access, participation and connection, combining journalism with explanation, community information, participatory media and training. I wanted it to help people navigate Australian society while creating space for Spanish-speaking communities to tell their own stories and challenge narrow or stereotypical representations of Latin American identity.
What began as a platform helping Spanish speakers access and understand information about Australia evolved into a broader community journalism project: connecting generations, preserving collective memory and expanding who gets to tell stories and whose experiences become part of the public record.
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Latinhub closed after I started working full time in Australian public media, to avoid any real or perceived conflict of interest.