Encourages students to keep striving for excellence.
Mercedes Vigón: incredible professor in charge of having us comprehend the, at first sight, almost impossible chasm of media literacy and what it ultimate signifies for the serious student of mass communications. I took IDS3309- How We Know What We Know on Spring of 2025 (as part of the the Public Relations, Advertising, and Applied Communications bachelor at FIU) with this professor, and if any of you ever choose her as I did, then the class will mean to you How Now I Really KNOW About Media And Not Just “Think” I Know. This is a class mandatory for all students of mass media at FIU (journalism, advertising and pr) and now I see why. The text book is excitingly interesting, when each chapter delving deeper into the media realm, which then the assignments explore in its totality. In the discussions section you can interact with the other students in the form of commenting their work and how it reflects, or not, the subject of each chapter. the main works will allow you to express just how much you have learned from the class, and they are six in total, being the last one a monumental work to gracefully close the semester in a very academical style. Get ready to read the book, study it, do research, go back to the book and read it, study it again, and double check on the research. And after all that, just in case, do everything all over. In other words, a close approach to what REAL LIFE WORK is. After all, we are studying to learn, seriously, about the extra highly competitive world of mass communications. But back to the professor. She will make sure you learn, guiding you at every step, and, contrary to other so-called professors at FIU, will provide practical feedback for every assignment. In addition, the discussions are in the form of video, which it was perfect for me to practice my public speaking skills. Quizzes are nowhere to be found, and not needed in reality since the works determine your academic advance in the class. Thus, enjoy the subject and this great human being called Dr. Vigón, Ph.D.
Mercedes Vigon, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the Lee Caplin School of Journalism & Media and Associate Director of the International Media Center at Florida International University. A native of Spain, she earned her Ph.D. from the University of Miami's Latin American Program in the History Department in 2003, M.A. in Broadcast Journalism from the University of Miami in 1995, postgraduate courses in Media Management from Universidad Complutense de Madrid in 1993-1994, Master's in Print Journalism from the Spanish Daily ABC in 1993, and Bachelor's in Communication Sciences from Universidad Complutense de Madrid in 1991. Her professional career includes serving as News Director for Net Financial News, where she launched the TV channel in 60 days, staffed the newsroom, and expanded operations from two to eight hours of daily coverage. She was Executive Producer and Line Producer at CBS-Telenoticias, coordinating newsroom operations for events like the Peruvian hostage crisis and the Pope's visit to Mexico, and worked as an editor and journalist for United Press International's Spanish Service and ABC national daily, covering human rights in Guatemala and financial crises.
At FIU, Vigon launched the Journalism Master's Program with Tec de Monterrey México and has trained journalists in Mexico, Nicaragua, Paraguay, the Western Caribbean, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Dominican Republic, Argentina, and Spain. Her research interests encompass Spanish-language media coverage of environmental challenges, immigration, sea-level rise, and minority audiences in Latin America and the Caribbean. Notable publications include co-editing the book "News Media Coverage of Environmental Challenges in Latin America and the Caribbean: Mediating Demand, Degradation and Development" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018), which was co-winner of the 2019 Knudson Latin America Prize from AEJMC; the article "NEWS DIVERSITY AND MINORITY AUDIENCES Using Real Simple Syndication (RSS) to assess the democratic functions of Spanish-language media in the digital age" (Journalism Practice, 2016); and book chapters such as "Comparing Cuban and South Florida Spanish-Language Media Coverage of Sea-Level Rise" (2018) and "Environmental News Coverage in Ecuador: New Resources, Old Media-State Tensions and Practices" (2018). As Principal Investigator, she has managed close to $1.5 million in grants from the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs and others for media training programs, including "The Next Step For Cuba's Independent Journalists" (2010-2015) and Paraguayan Press Week Workshop (2012).
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