When Humberto Castello, editor of The Miami Herald‘s sister paper, El Nuevo Herald, decided to resign last month rather than cut the staff, it wasn’t another example of an editor siding with reporters over accountants. It was, The Miami Herald reported, about editorial independence:
“‘In the end, it’s going to be something else,’ he said, urging the staff to do their utmost to provide its readers ‘a unique newspaper designed for the community, which deserves that.'”
His resignation caught the attention of Carolyn Nielsen, a professor at Western Washington University. Nielsen wrote in her Above the Fold blog that budget cuts and consolidation efforts threaten Spanish-language newspapers’ abilities to provide the kind of targeted, local coverage they strive for.
Her views grew out of her general research of the Spanish-language media during the past three years. In this edited e-mail interview, she elaborates on what she’s seen and why she thinks it’s happening.
Aly Colon: What prompted your interest in the connection between the declining circulation of major English-language dailies and how it might affect their Spanish-language papers?
Carolyn Nielsen: Would it be bad to say “cynicism?” The growth in Spanish-language newspapers has been driven not only by a desire to serve readers, but also by advertisers’ desire to reach a growing target audience. Now that the vehicle exists, newspapers may decide to maintain targeted advertising while reducing the costs of producing stories specifically for that audience. I am interested to see whether coverage for the Spanish-language community will be viewed as dispensable or as crucial to maintaining readership.
Editorially independent, Spanish-language newspapers offer their readers more than those that are simply translations of their English-language sisters. However, it’s cheaper to translate one newspaper into two languages than to maintain two newsrooms.
It’s possible that even healthy, well-established Spanish-language dailies could be dragged down by their ailing English-language counterparts. Cuts in the Spanish-language newsrooms would reduce coverage of key communities, forcing editors to fill space with translated stories from their sister papers.
I plan to examine how the declining circulation of English-language dailies affects Spanish-language papers in the future, after there has been time to observe whether the change has affected coverage. It would be interesting to see whether Castello’s concerns became reality.
What have you learned from your research?
Nielsen: While language may play a role in some readers’ newspaper choices, it’s not always the primary factor. Readers choose Spanish-language newspapers because they are looking for something different from what English-language newspapers offer. It’s not necessarily a choice of one or the other. A 2004 Pew Hispanic Center report showed more Latinos, including people who are fluent in English, get their news in both English and Spanish.
What surprised you?
Nielsen: I have been most surprised by the sheer growth in the number and circulation size of Spanish-language newspapers over the past decade. While few U.S. cities have more than one major English-language newspaper, a growing number of cities have competing Spanish-language newspapers.
Do you have any sense of whether the members of the Spanish-speaking community find the translations of a bigger sister paper as effective as news directly related to them?
Nielsen: That is an issue I would love to examine. We hear a lot lately about readers’ desire for “hyper-local” news. Sometimes that is defined by geography (what’s going on in a particular neighborhood), by lifestyle (sections for parents of young children or for senior citizens), or, in this case, by ethnicity.
For example, on my desk right now, I have a copy of La Raza del Noroeste, a free Spanish-language weekly paired with The Herald of Everett, Wash. (owned by The Washington Post Co). Everett has about 98,000 residents. Census data shows less than 7 percent of them speak Spanish. This edition has three stories by its two La Raza reporters, one story carrying the double byline of a La Raza reporter and a Herald reporter, wire stories from a Mexican news agency and a number of regional, national and international AP stories. The front page features a large photo of the Mexican soccer team and a story alerting readers about an identity-theft phishing scam hitting local Hispanic-owned businesses. The sports section is futbol, futbol, y mas futbol and a story about baseball star Alex Rodriguez.
I don’t know if Everett’s Spanish-speaking community responded more strongly to the phishing scam story or to the property tax and crime stories in that day’s Herald; but I do know that the scam targeting Hispanic-owned businesses did not appear in that day’s Herald, nor did the Morelia vs. UNAM score.
While Spanish-language publications are not losing circulation, will they start to lose readers if the papers start publishing translations instead of reporting community news with Spanish-language editors and reporters?
Nielsen: Some of the largest Spanish-language newspapers have seen small dips in circulation, but nothing like the blood loss (or death) we’ve seen at major English-language dailies. This is just my opinion, but I think a drop in quality could drop circulation only to a point. Readers have a romantic affinity for native-language media.
People like my grandparents will pay a hefty postage rate for a newspaper from Denmark that arrives a month late. It’s not even newsy anymore, but it’s in Danish and it’s a piece of “home.”
Do you have any indication that Spanish-language readers are migrating to Spanish-language news on the Web as their English-language counterparts?
Nielsen: Spanish speakers in the U.S. are young and plugged in. Los Angeles’ La Opinion says young readers (ages 18-34) dominate its online readership. If it can maintain reader loyalty and continue to attract young readers, that bodes well for continued growth.
It’s worth noting that many Spanish-language newspaper readers are looking for news from their communities as well as news from Latin America. In January, I visited El Universal‘s newsroom in Mexico City. El Universal is one of Mexico’s largest daily newspapers, referred to by one researcher as, “the Mexican Washington Post.” That paper is so tech-savvy it already has an iPhone mobile site.
It will be interesting to see whether online readers gravitate toward the super-slick sites like El Universal, rely on the online platforms of their local Spanish-language newspapers, or spend time with both.
Any other trends you see emerging in the Spanish-language newspaper market?
Nielsen: I don’t know if it’s a trend as much as an attitude shift toward a growing and diversifying ethnic media. In the past, the ethnic media was viewed by the dominant media — and by Euro-centric culture — as a tool for assimilating new immigrants. Now, it is viewed more as a voice for communities that want to maintain their cultural ties and identities and be part of a mosaic, rather than disappear into a melting pot.
