a doorway to ethnic media in the american heartland
Archive for Business strategies
October 29, 2009 at 5:42 pm · Filed under Business strategies, Ethnic Media in Chicago
So, a student asked, learning forward to ask a tough question, how is the ethnic media going to survive?
Everyone else is collapsing, he said.
Hmmph. Quiet. Tough to answer.
And then Lou Ransom, executive editor of the 104-year-old Chicago Defender, explained how and why and it seemed so perfect and so true.
We will survive, he said, seated among the panel of editors and journalists at our job fair the other day for college students to learn about the ethnic news media, because we have always survived.
We will survive, he said, because we have always had to do more with less, because surviving was the only choice and because we learned how to survive long ago.
And now, he said, while others are bankrupt and suffering because they’ve come down from the mountain of good times, the ethnic news media will survive because it never had that much to go on and so it is not scared of tough times.
Amen,
And in case you need some survival theme music, here it is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBR2G-iI3-I&feature=fvw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xui7x_KF7bY&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8PUSg5SL7s&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvsI3jc4pPA&feature=related
and this is my favorite -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdcZvnSjFIk&feature=related
September 30, 2009 at 12:14 pm · Filed under Business strategies
Nowadays the ethnic news media can use every helping hand possible, and this is one source that shouldn’t be overlooked. It is from the Latino Print Network.
http://mylatinonetwork.com/
June 1, 2009 at 7:41 pm · Filed under Business strategies
You are walking up Cicero and see a new store. Hmph. Good for the neighborhood. It’s doing good. But what’s up next?
You see there’s a new doctor on Devon. He’s from Hyderabad, too. He tells you there’s a new Hyderbadi restaurant nearby and that a lot of his patients are doing well in their jobs but he worries about business along the avenue.
You stop in the super-mercado and stare. That’s whathisname, the councilman whose aunt came from Jalisco too and who has visited your son’s school. But what about word that the school might close. You worry.
This is why your turn to your newspaper or radio station or television. You want to know what’s happening in your life. And when the ethnic news makes that connection; when it makes people turn to it because they know it is their connection, then it is on solid ground.
Heed this advice from Mike Smith, head of the Media Management Center at Northwestern University.
People want to see themselves and their values in their news media, he says. They want to see live their lives, their pictures, their sounds in what you do for them.
So what does that mean?
It says you have to identify with your readers, your group, your community. You have to tell stories and give them information that they can’t get elsewhere. You have to talk on their level and talk as if you are talking into their ear.
If you do this, they will listen.
This is the same message you have to give to your advertisers. You know who is following you and you know they are relying on you. And you know who they are – the young and old – and what kind of lives they live.
For a full account of Smith’s description for business strategies for advertising and editorial decisions in the ethnic news media in these tough times, send me a note and I’ll make sure you receive one.
He recently spoke at one of our workshops.
Steve@newstips.org.
May 26, 2009 at 5:27 pm · Filed under Business strategies
When the advertisers vanish and money goes away what do you?
One answer for the Chicago Defender has been to host events. It’s not traditional journalism, but its money and it serves a community purpose.
Cafe magazine has also been holding gatherings and that’s given them a lot of attention. Money too.
But what else can ethnic news media do to stay alive?
L. Nicole Trottie, publisher of the West Suburban Journal, sells videos that her paper takes of public and sporting events.
Scott Bae, vice-president of KBC-TV, looks for ways for Asian-American television stations to cooperate so they can cut costs.
And on and on. Some have solutions. But many do not in this terribly withered economy.
That is why we invited Mike Smith, head of the Media Management Center at Northwestern University, to talk at 11 a.m. Thursday (May 28th) about business strategies for the ethnic news media.
Whether it is advertising or circulation or just making a business plan, Mike will be ready to deal with your questions. If you work on the business side of your news outlet, this is especially meant for you.
The meeting is at the North Lawndale Community News, 1211 S. Western (corner of Ogden), Second floor. There’s parking on the street. The meeting should last just about an hour so you can get back to work.
April 6, 2009 at 4:00 pm · Filed under Business strategies, latino news media
You need advertisements to survive. But you are not getting them. They are out there. But they are going elsewhere or to bigger competitors.
Here’s an idea that can be a long-lasting solution. You form an agreement with similar publications in the same situation. This gives you a much larger audience to present to advertisers.
This is what six Chicago area Latino newspapers did last year. They formed a coalition called HOPE, Hispanic Owned Publications Enterprise. Together they explain to advertisers that they represent more than 121,000 readers in Chicago and the Suburbs.
The publications are: Chicago Deportivo, el Dia, el Imparcial, La Prensa, Nuevo Siglo and Teleguia de Chicago. All of them belong to the National Association of Hispanic Publications, http://www.nahp.org
Officials with the National Association of Hispanic Publications say the Chicago experiment may be the only one of its kind currently taking place in the nation.
“We are Latin owned. All of us. So we can make the argument to advertisers that they helping minorities when they help us,” explains Ezequiel Banda Sifuentes, a co-editor of Nuevo Siglo newspaper. http://www.nuevosiglonews.com
Zeke Montes of Teleguia de Chicago says the idea is based on the national coalition that the National Association of Hispanic Publications has created. He is the new head of HOPE, the Chicago-area coalition.
What has been the difference?
The results have been slim and there have been some problems.
But that does not discourage the group, says Banda Sifuentes.
“We are in a stage of experimentation. We are more than willing to expand,” says Banda Sifuentes
The publications have also begun sharing articles as a way to expand their resources.
And that too seems like a very smart lesson in how to survive today.
They can be reached at hope.seis@yahoo.com
