Philadelphia Weekly

Mainstream papers en inglés continue to suffer from the migration of readership to the Internet, decimated by falling classifieds revenue and newsroom disemboweling dictated by profit-hungry conglomerates. Spanish-language media, on the other hand—while not immune—may be better positioned to weather the storm. 


“In the middle of this so-called crisis in advertising, our media is able to grow, in part because our demographics continue to grow,” says Hernán Guaracao, publisher of Al Día, the city’s largest Hispanic weekly. 


The 2000 census showed Philly’s Latino population growing by 46 percent over 10 years to 150,481, as Mexicans and South Americans moved into a community that’s still largely Puerto Rican. That growth has been a boon for the city’s Spanish-language media, which saw Al Día boost its circulation from 43,552 in June 2005 to 56,253 in March 2008. 


Spanish-language papers are not shaped by the same forces as English-language print media. Latinos—alongside poor folks and people of color as a whole—are victims of the “digital divide” and have less access to the Internet. 


Alberto Vourvoulias, editor of New York’s standard-bearer El Diario La Prensa, says that a less Internet-
connected readership is more likely to get its news from a paper, radio or television. 


“Many of our readers don’t have desk jobs, which means they don’t spend all day in front of a monitor checking up on websites to see what the latest news is,” said Vourvoulias on NPR’s On the Media . As a result, “they take the paper into the office, share it with the people they work with, take it home at night and share it with their families.” El Diario La Prensa has reaped the benefits, printing 51,251 copies a day. 


The growing Latino population depends upon Spanish-language media to navigate the complexities of a new and foreign home, build community and maintain ties to their native country. Like black or Asian media, papers like Al Día speak to a community’s particular needs and reveal issues that go undercovered in the mainstream media. 


Al Día covers topics like immigration, retrospectives on the 1960s militant group the Young Lords, and Latin American politics. The paper also shares practical tips with readers, like how to go about planning a funeral in Philly.


On the production end, ethnic media offers an important platform for journalists of color, who are underrepresented in mainstream newsrooms. 


Yvette Núñez, president of the Philadelphia Public Relations Association, says Spanish-language media challenges stereotypes (of criminals, “illegals”) in the mainstream press. Ethnic media as a whole, she says, “show people of color off the crime pages.”


Advocacy journalism has its place here, too, with Spanish-language outlets taking the lead in voter registration drives and publicizing immigrant rights marches.


The Spanish-speaking community’s predilection for print notwithstanding, some papers are indeed suffering. New York’s Hoy , a Spanish-language daily with a circulation of 31,000, recently closed after a 10-year run. A few of its reporters, however, are opening a new rag. 


Other corners of the ethnic media are feeling the heat, as well. San Francisco’s AsianWeek print edition is no longer with us. Staff at Ebony and Jet, seminal black magazines, must all reapply for their jobs, fingers crossed—ad revenue is way down despite incremental upticks in circulation.


They’re also feeling the pinch over at 
 Impacto, Philly’s second-largest Spanish-language paper. Editor Napoleón García says falling ad revenue forced them to lower the paper’s circulation to 30,000—9,000 fewer than at its 2007 peak. But García doesn’t anticipate disaster. 


“There’s a flight to the Internet in the mainstream media. The digital media flight is less for our readership, because they have less access to Internet.”


Activists Do Media Bottom Up


Latino community media, like most media, is undergoing rapid changes, calling into question traditional definitions of news and newsmaker. Activists are using everything from community radio stations to video documentaries as community organizing tools. In April, Latino media activists from around the country gathered at the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School for a conference, “Community, Media and Immigrants: When Communication Is in Our Own Hands.” 


Proyecto Sin Fronteras (No Borders Project), located in North Philly’s Olney neighborhood, presented its audio documentary project of testimonies from Latino immigrants. Sin Fronteras Executive Director Manuel Portillo says the project allows immigrants to share painful stories with one another, often for the first time. 


In one recording, a woman spoke of how she has not seen one of her two sons’ since she migrated from Ecuador. “I know that they are far away, I know that I cannot see them. But I know that they are not in need.”