OUR STORY · MEMPHIS NOTICIAS

An informed community is a powerful community.

Since 2017, Memphis Noticias has been the Spanish-language newsroom Memphis turns to first. We cover immigration enforcement operations and daily city news, and we give families the information they need to make decisions, every day, not just on the hardest ones.

IN THIS STORY

WHY WE EXIST

Memphis is home to Tennessee's second-largest Spanish-speaking community, and almost no journalism written for it.

We exist because information is power. When the National Weather Service doesn’t translate its severe weather alerts into Spanish, when the county DA’s office doesn’t share its announcements in Spanish, or when a Latino family can’t find public health information in a language they understand, that gap has real consequences.

We don’t translate other people’s reporting. We send our own reporters to the courthouse, the press conference, the meeting in a church basement, and the federal building. Then we write about what we saw, in the language our readers already think in.

Manuel Durán, founder and editor-in-chief. Photo: Melisa Valdez, Memphis Noticias.

Manuel Duran founded Memphis Noticias the year he broke away from traditional journalism.

Manuel Duran arrived in Charlotte, North Carolina, in 2006, fleeing political persecution tied to his journalism work in El Salvador. Back home, he had worked in radio and later ran television newsrooms. He moved to Memphis in 2008, where he spent nearly a decade in Spanish-language radio as a host, producer, and anchor.

In 2017, he founded Memphis Noticias.

From day one, the mission was to cover what English-language media were leaving out, do it in Spanish, and do it from inside the community the stories were about.

From the start, Memphis Noticias sent its own reporters to the courthouse, the press conference, and legislative sessions in Nashville alongside partners like TIRRC, to cover what other outlets left out.

In April 2018, just over a year after founding the outlet, Duran was detained while covering an immigrant rights demonstration and spent 465 days in ICE custody. Memphis Noticias never missed a week of publishing, Melisa Valdez stepped in as editor-in-chief for the duration. Duran was released in 2019, granted asylum in 2022, and that same year received the First Amendment Award from the Hugh M. Hefner Foundation.

During the pandemic, when official English-language reporting didn’t explain why Latinos, just 10% of Shelby County’s population, came to account for 28.4% of COVID cases, Memphis Noticias published daily Spanish-language updates to close that gap.

Today, Duran is editor-in-chief of Memphis Noticias. He runs the newsroom and reports primarily on crime, immigration, and civil rights violations. He also serves on the board of directors of CasaLuz since 2024. The community Memphis Noticias covers has grown, but the mission hasn’t changed.

Nine years covering Memphis.

2017 to today

2017

Memphis Noticias is founded

In January 2017, Manuel launched memphisnoticias.com, the same month the Facebook page he ran under the name ‘Las Noticias con Manuel Duran’ was renamed Memphis Noticias. From the start, the team was Manuel and Melisa.

April 2018

Founder's detention by ICE, and continuity

Manuel is detained by ICE on April 3, 2018, while covering an immigration protest, and spends 465 days in federal custody. Melisa Valdez steps in as editor-in-chief, and Memphis Noticias doesn’t miss a single week of publishing. CNN, The New York Times, NPR, and CPJ cover the case. Manuel is released on bond in July 2019.

2020

Latinx Community Leader Award

Cazateatro Bilingual Theatre Group recognizes Memphis Noticias for its pandemic coverage and its impact on Memphis’s Hispanic community.

2020

Daily pandemic coverage

Memphis Noticias publishes daily Spanish-language updates on COVID in the Mid-South. Latinos were 10% of Shelby County’s population, but at the July 2020 peak, they accounted for 28.4% of positive cases, a disparity official English-language reports didn’t explain.

2022

Asylum and recognition

Manuel is granted political asylum, and that same year the Hugh M. Hefner Foundation recognizes him with the First Amendment Award for journalism produced under federal pressure.

2023

Hispanic Heritage

The Memphis City Council declares September 15 through October 15 Hispanic Heritage Month and recognizes Memphis Noticias as a trusted source of Spanish-language news for the city’s immigrant community.

2026

Hundreds of thousands of readers, and growing

The newsroom today reaches hundreds of thousands of followers across Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Threads, and LinkedIn, and its video reporting draws millions of views a month, with a daily Spanish-language newsletter launching this year.

What we believe, and what we will not do.

Six commitments that guide the calls we make every week, especially the hard ones. These are the rules of our work.

In the language, not translated

We don’t translate stories written for an English-speaking audience and call it service journalism. Our reporters write in Spanish, for Spanish-speaking readers, with the cultural references and reading rhythm that audience already has.

Independent, editorial, verified

We’re not part of a national chain. Every story goes through human editorial review before publishing, carries a byline, and that byline answers to an editor. We publish corrections openly when we get it wrong.

Service over spectacle

We don’t chase sensationalism or the easy story. We prioritize information our readers can use. ICE enforcement operations, school enrollment deadlines that matter, a court case that could affect their family.

Verified over fast

On crisis stories we use a “What we know / What we cannot confirm yet” pattern. We would rather publish a thin verified story today than a thick speculative one this morning.

Protecting sources over exclusives

We protect the identities of vulnerable sources, we accept encrypted communication, and we have never handed a source over to a federal agency. Our founder spent 15 months detained for this work. That protection isn’t negotiable.

Community first, not a market segment

No advertiser decides what we cover or how we cover it. We sell advertising based on our audience’s real profile, but not editorial influence.

The people writing it.

A small newsroom, deep coverage. We hire bilingual journalists with roots in the community, not freelancers we’ll never see again.

Manuel Durán Ortega

Founder, Owner & Editor-in-Chief

Salvadoran journalist with over 30 years of experience in media. Founder and editor-in-chief of Memphis Noticias since 2017, where he writes primarily about crime, immigration, and civil rights violations. He was detained by ICE for 465 days in 2018, granted asylum in 2022, and that same year recognized with the First Amendment Award from the Hugh M. Hefner Foundation in Washington, DC.

Melisa Valdez

Managing Partner & Contributing Editor

Served as editor-in-chief of Memphis Noticias during the 15 months Manuel Durán was held in ICE detention between 2018 and 2019. Also contributed to the local news section of the newspaper El Norte Noticias. Produces original journalism alongside Manuel, focused on community, health, and climate coverage. Runs all of the outlet’s English-language operations, including sales, partnerships, and public relations.

Patricia Frias

Contributor

A writer by training, with years devoted to the craft. Contributed to Memphis Noticias’s local news and events coverage between 2017 and 2018. Currently working on her first formal publication, a collection of short stories and poems.

Recognition.

The work has been recognized by national press organizations, civil rights groups, and U.S. and international newsrooms that have covered our story.

2022

Hugh M. Hefner Foundation

First Amendment Award

Awarded to Manuel Durán for journalism produced under federal pressure, including continued coverage during and after his 465 days in detention.

2020

Cazateatro Bilingual Theatre Group

Latinx Community Leader Award

Recognition for community impact, for Spanish-language reporting during the pandemic, and for uninterrupted publishing during the detention case.

2018–22

CNN · NYT · NPR · CPJ · BBC

National and international coverage

Manuel’s detention case and Memphis Noticias’s uninterrupted publishing throughout were covered by every major U.S. newsroom and by the Committee to Protect Journalists.