Ethnic Press Voices

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• IPA-NY’s “Voices That Must Be Heard”
  http://www.indypressny.org
  SREE TIP: Great resource for tracking ethnic communities
  
  As part of my occasional look at the sites of journalism organizations (last week: ReligionLink: Resources for Reporters from the Religion Newswriters Association), I wanted to do something with a 9/11 tie-in. So we’ll take a peek at the Independent Press Association of New York, a project of the Independent Press Association (which “works to promote and support independent publications committed to social justice and a free press”). The 9/11 tie-in in this case is trying to understand the diversity of America.
  
  I get the feeling that many U.S. journalists woke up on Sept. 12 and realized for the first time that there are so many ethnic communities across this country and that the ethnic press is a good resource for stories. In fact, ethnic print and broadcast outlets regularly run stories that eventually make their way into the mainstream press, sometimes with credit, most often without (in Chip Scanlan’s seminars at Poynter, we call this process “honoring” someone else’s writing).
  
  After the WTC and Pentagon attacks, a lot more journalists started turning to ethnic newspapers to find ideas and sources. That’s where “Voices That Must Be Heard” comes in. Each Thursday, editor Dania Rajendra, working with journalists who work in ethnic newspapers, puts the spotlight on several stories from those papers that mainstream media outlets would be interested in, translating them into English when necessary.
  
  Take the latest issue, Aug. 29 (there was no issue for the week of Labor Day): There are stories from Pakistani, Chinese, Equadorian, Filipino and Korean papers, plus access to the archive going back to November 2001. Because it’s a New York association, the stories here are from the New York press. But journalists in other cities can easily find similar stories in their local communities, too.
  
  The site also sends out a weekly digest, which is worth getting (you can sign up for the free e-mails here). Each Thursday, you will get a useful set of ideas that you can “honor.”
  
  
  
• A good resource for tracking ethnic press stories in California is the site of New California Media, an association of 400 ethnic media organizations.
  

In the meantime, my colleague Jon Dube’s been collecting some excellent general 9/11 resources.

Know a journalists group’s site I should explore? Let me know: poynter@sree.net.