For more than 18 years, La Estrella de Tucsón has brought reliable, useful and timely information to Tucson’s vibrant Latinx community. Today, we add a new audio and text message service that will help us connect with you and keep you informed in just a few minutes.
“What’s Up? Con La Estrella de Tucsón” is a weekly audio newscast that will be launched Thursday, Sept. 1. It will go directly to your WhatsApp or SMS, whichever you prefer, in either English or Spanish. What excites us most is that it will act as a channel for us to chat with you, listen to your questions or suggestions, and find out how we can better serve you.
The goal of this service, from La Estrella de Tucsón and the Arizona Daily Star, is to stay in touch with our community and provide you with useful information. We want to reach you where you are rather than asking you to come and find us.
After you subscribe through tucne.ws/whatsup, each Thursday evening you will receive a WhatsApp notification or text message that you can listen to or read quickly. We’ll share the most important information of the week, community resources, and things to do over the weekend in and around Tucson.
This is not the first time that we have used these platforms to connect with Tucson’s Latinx community. In 2019, we created our first WhatsApp group to share relevant information. In 2020, we migrated our service to SMS to distribute information about the COVID-19 pandemic.
Recently, we asked you through surveys in both English and Spanish about your news consumption needs and preferences. Thanks for sharing your feedback with us.
At La Estrella de Tucsón, and especially with the “What’s Up?” project, which we are launching with the support of the American Press Institute, we have paid special attention to respecting and highlighting the diversity of Tucson’s Latinx community.
As Latinx, we are united by traditions, music, food, language and hugs, but we are also distinguished by our own experiences. Some of us were born here, and others arrived walking, driving, flying or through the river. Some of us love tacos, and others love arepas. Some of us vote, and others long to be able to do so. Some of us struggle to communicate in English and others speak only English or are bilingual — or trilingual. Some of us have opened the doors to progress as the first generation of college students in our families, and others are learning to navigate the educational system of our new country.
“What’s Up? Con La Estrella de Tucsón” is for one and all. It’s aimed to connect us. To get us closer to big opportunities. To recognize and celebrate us.
As I shared in a column in 2019, when we celebrated the first 15 years of La Estrella, Tucson is a city with an accent, and we put the accent on the Latinx community by providing real information, journalistic support, Latinx pride, a local approach and historical reference.
“What’s Up?” will be an easy, fast and simple way for us to honor those commitments to you. We hope you enjoy it, and we hope to hear from you.
