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Archive for latino news media
July 30, 2010 at 4:11 pm · Filed under community reporting that matters, latino news media
Up on the very crowded stage the mayor was shouting the kind of things that made the overflow crowd howl with joy.
He talked about how Chicago was made by immigrants, how immigrants are welcomed to Chicago and how Chicago needs immigrants.
Que cierto!
For a room packed one night this week with Latino politicos and community activists and friends of Extra newspaper, the mayor’s words and presence were a nice tribute to a newspaper celebrating its 30 year history and to a news media that continues to grow as Chicago’s Latinos claim their place in the sun. http://www.extranews.net/
If you wanted a reminder just how far the Latino meeting has come, you needed to sit in on the recent meeting here of the National Association of Hispanic Publications. Zeke Montes of El Imparcial is the group’s new president.
The message was that nationally Latinos are a fast growing market for advertisers, that Latinos respond very well to online advertising and that the publications which engage their audiences in high quality content and which listen to their audiences will prosper and survive. An important message.
And while we are talking about immigrants, do yourself a favor and click on this link to listen to immigrants talking about their lives here and there. This is from our collaboration with Medill professor Jack Doppelt, an effort funded by the Chicago Community Trust. http://www.immigrantconnect.org/?p=7516.
Northwestern University students have panned out this summer at festivals and parks and gathered the voices of Chicago’s immigrants. Listen to the audio files that they brought back.
Richie was right.
July 29, 2010 at 2:31 pm · Filed under community reporting that matters, latino news media
Here is a story from one of our interns that connects people with agencies that can help. And nowadays getting the right help is more important than ever for folks searching for new futures.
This is the article from EXTRA:
by Kaaren Fehsenfeld | trad. Víctor Flores
After 27 years of hard work at a factory, Martha Jaramillo was left with a knob in the place of her right hand, limiting her capacity to acquire other skills. Typing on a keyboard and learning to use a computer seemed out of the question.
“I thought I wouldn’t be able to learn,” Jaramillo said. “I had no idea how [computers worked]!” When Jaramillo was laid off two years ago, a friend suggested she enroll in Digital Divide, an adult computer-training program at the United Neighborhood Organization (UNO).
Classes are held in eight to 10 week sessions in UNO charter schools throughout Chicago. A suggested $20 donation covers enrollment. Digital Divide hosts three course levels. In the first course, students learn how to turn on a computer, how to search the Internet and use Microsoft Word.
After the second and third level, students learn how to make a PowerPoint presentation, chat through Skype or instant messenger and even use Google maps to track public transit. The Digital Divide courses also teach students how to protect themselves from identity theft and fraud while using the Internet. For Jaramillo, the class quickly turned from a hobby into a necessity.
“It helped me not feel depressed [after loosing my job],” Jaramillo said. “I met new people. [The class was] like therapy, it raised my self-esteem,” she said.
Enrollment in an education program qualified Jaramillo to receive financial benefits from her previous job, specifically those for laid off employees.
After completing three consecutive course levels, she learned to write e-mails, shop and search for jobs online. “[I] didn’t even know how to write a check,” laughed Jaramillo. “And I learned how to pay my bills online.” Jaramillo is now looking for a computer-oriented job, hoping to move away from physically demanding assembly work.
“Our computer classes are part of a bigger vision for the adult community [toward] American assimilation,” said Masha Chernyak, who emigrated from Russia as a teenager. Chernyak, former adult enrichment program director of the Digital Divide program, now heads the parental leadership program. She said computer literacy gives parents a voice in their community.
“If we have successful parents, we will have successful kids and most likely we’ll have a successful community,” Chernyak said. “[It’s about] building their own power. But there is no American dream if you’re not connected to the Internet.” Chernyak said UNO’s student retention rate is 20 percent higher than the national average for similar adult education courses, while the Digital Divide program has boasted over 2,000 graduating adults in the last four years.
She attributes this success to UNO’s no-nonsense approach to learning, where she says achievement is an “expectation, not a hope.”
“Students make a big sacrifice to come [to class],” said Jaime Leal, a Digital Divide instructor, who recalled a first time father who came to class regularly, though it meant not seeing his newborn son all day. Dámaso Ramírez, co-founder of the United Southwest Chamber of Commerce and owner of an auto and body repair shop in the Southside of Chicago, signed up for a Digital Divide class after he met Chernyak at his shop.
A successful businessman and community leader, Ramírez had almost no first hand experience with computers when he registered. “It’s time to change,” Ramírez said. “You can learn as much as you like,” he said. “We had a lot of fun. The teachers are patient, [and] it’s a good service for the community [because] it helps business owners be more efficient.”
Ramírez now saves money on customer thank-you cards his business sends. He used to pay for their design and printing, but now does it on his own using his home computer. He also uses Microsoft Excel to manage expenses and employee schedules. Ramírez, who studied through the third grade in his native Guanajuato, México, said he valued the opportunity for further adult education.
As for Jaramillo, her connection to the Digital Divide classes was so strong that after completing the three course levels, she returned voluntarily to help incoming students. “There was one woman who was so nervous, she was sweating [just] holding the mouse,” Jaramillo said. “I sat next to her, and [said] ‘don’t be scared, you won’t break it.’ I helped her not feel so nervous.”
For Jaramillo, helping her community became an integral part of the class. “I made a lot of friendships there,” Jaramillo said. “I wasn’t at home, thinking about the problems I had. I liked helping people [learn].” This community growth is what UNO emphasizes in its mission. “[We build] a micro community within the classroom,” Leal said. “[Where] people exchange information and resources.” Computer training program — The Digital Divide courses begins in mid-September; Registration begins the first week of September. To enroll at an UNO charter school near you, call Jacob Pérez, adult enrichment program director, at (312) 520-6937 or (312) 432-6301.
April 26, 2010 at 3:24 pm · Filed under Profiles, latino news media
Café is Brewing
By: Angela Evans
The flavor is by chance. The moment is now. The topics are international. El café esta caliente.
Alejandro Riera, editor in chief of Café Media, LLC explains that his company, along with the rest of the media landscape, is undergoing a transition.
Literally, so. But, in this case, it was a good transition.
The modest, urban offices of Café Media were to be relocated the coming week to a larger space. They needed more room because of the growth of the company, which got its start two years ago as pretty much of a risky bet.
Café Media was born amid an economic recession, countering financial adversity and onlookers’ doubts. Nowadays, however, it is going strong and focused as ever on its original target.
“Café media was created with the intention of providing content to an under-served segment of the Hispanic population,” says Riera.
“The reality is that in the last 10-15 years those of us who work in the Hispanic market have done an excellent job pushing Spanish language media. That is newspapers, radio, television– but there’s this growing number of 1st, 2nd, 3rd generation Hispanics born in the US, raised in the US, who have a strong foothold in both their paternal and maternal cultures back in Latin America and their Latin American culture in the US. There’s very little media that addresses those needs in English,” he says.
Café Media seeks to address those needs, and perhaps even establish a model for how to do so. Though the print magazine is Café’s primary media vehicle, Riera, 45, explains that the company has truly become a multi-level platform for modern Hispanic media.
The first issue of the magazine was published in October 2008. It is published bi-monthly with 45,000 copies in circulation. While 25,000 of those copies are distributed throughout Chicagoland and nearby suburbs, the other 20,000 are mail subscriptions. These subscribers are primarily based in Chicago, LA, Houston and New York.
Café wants to engage Latino readers with the issues currently impacting their lives and that of the Hispanic community through a myriad of means. There is online content available to Café’s community of readers, including features and articles from the magazine, blogs for different days of the week, reviews, recommended videos and more.
Café utilizes social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter to foster dialogue with and amongst readers. And there are also “Pick Up Parties” hosted to release their latest print copy of the magazine directly into its readers’ hands.
Increasing their web presence was one of Café Media’s primary successes. Because the economy was just beginning to decline when the company began, advertisers were tightening their budgets, and not as willing to risk investing in a product that wasn’t a sure bet.
“Our big challenge was to convince them of the viability of this particular target audience, and the viability of the magazine. That being said that crisis, the economic crisis that we faced early last year forced us to rethink our company structure…and it behooved us to seriously start exploring how to exploit our digital capabilities.”
Things have changed since Alejandro Riera began his foray into publishing, a career he says chose him rather than the other way around. Riera wanted to work in Hispanic television, and was noticed early on by an editor from the Tribune who approached him for ideas after seeing his work with English and Spanish programming on Chicago’s Access Network. Thus began Riera’s career with the Tribune.
Riera later began freelancing for Exito before they hired him on, and eventually held a senior manager role for each division of Hoy.
Riera was excited to step out of his comfort zone, telling stories the way they have also been told in Spanish media, when he jumped on board with Café Media a few months after it was a functioning company birthed from the mind of Julian Posada.
He describes himself as a creature of the moment, and one who bores easily. He felt confident enough in Café Media’s ability to deliver, albeit comments from people questioning the sanity of his decision.
Riera says he likes to tackle the projects right in front of him before moving on to the next thing. And the next thing for Café Media this following year looks a lot like expansion.
Indeed, they have already taken small steps towards this.
Because the content is broad enough to garner national interest, Riera doesn’t see why something in the magazine wouldn’t be of interest to one person or another. And so, he wants to keep tapping into stories from places outside of Chicago, growing both readership and advertisers.
As for himself, Riera, who clearly believes the possibilities ahead for his company, asks, “Myself? Well, I say how far can I go with this?”
And for now, he plans to keep trekking forward- no end in sight.
Angela Evans is an intern with the Community Media Workshop
March 30, 2010 at 4:04 pm · Filed under Ethnic Media in Chicago, latino news media
As I count them, Chicago’s Latino news media collected more awards from the recent annual contest held by the National Association of Hispanic Publications than any other city.
And if I missed one or two, so what. We were up there.
All of which reminds me how lucky we are to have such a vibrant news media.
Here is the list:
http://www.box.net/shared/d79uxvtzhx
December 27, 2009 at 12:53 pm · Filed under community radio we listen to, immigrant journeys, latino news media
There’s a radio show on a station in Progresso, Honduras where the sad message goes out daily. Do not go there. Do not let your dream become your nightmare.
But if you try to travel to the U.S., then know this is what you will face.
Hundreds of miles away in Tapachula, Mexico – a town on the border with Guatemala, there’s a small clinic that is a miracle. It’s financed by human spirit but because the spirit is so lacking the clinic barely supplies more than a bed for the Central American immigrants who have lost arms and legs trying to cross into Mexico on the way to el Norte.
Here is a blog from a reporter at Radio Arte that reminds me of these two places I visited not that long ago, that talks about the human wave snared daily in these traps, and about the power of a story from far away that feels close to those who have roots or legacies or even emotional bonds with those in Honduras or elsewhere. This is the power of the ethnic media.
Steve
Jose Luis Hernandez, 23, made his first attempt to cross the U.S.-Mexico border at age 18 because he felt there was a lack of economic opportunities in Honduras. The attempt was unsuccessful, but Jose Luis was undeterred. Determined to help support his parents and siblings in Honduras, Jose Luis tried again.
“I overheard doctors in the hospital saying, “God must really want him here. He’s lucky the train didn’t kill him,” Jose Luis says remembering his ordeal. Jose Luis, however, was not the only lucky one. In his hometown in Honduras, with a population of slightly over 2,000 people, there are 69 others who shared his fate.
After days, with no food or water, of making the journey “train hopping” to the U.S., Jose Luis’ American dream became a nightmare. Weakened, he fell from a train which severed his leg, and arm. The pain was so excruciating he tried to use his other arm to pull at the leg which had been caught by the train– his hand was almost entirely crushed. He had made it to a small town in Mexico.
In the beginning, Jose Luis wished he had died. Not only had he lost his limbs but he felt, instead of helping his family, he would be a burden.
Nostalgic Jose Luis says, “All I could do was cry like a little boy… The doctors would sedate me to calm me down”.
He spent two years in a hospital in Mexico rehabilitating himself. The hospital donated the prosthetic on which Jose Luis now walks, and he is grateful to the man who helped him the moment of the accident, but Jose Luis doesn’t stop at just gratitude.
“My mission is now to let others know that it is not necessary to immigrate to reach your goals.” Jose Luis works to warn others of the dangers of crossing borders undocumented. Sharing his story with young people, he hopes to motivate them to reach for their dreams, and search for opportunities in their homeland. Radio Progreso, in Honduras, helps Jose Luis spread his message.
When questioned about his future, Jose Luis is not shy in saying that he likes to sing, and he wants to continue to share his story in the hopes of helping others, but there is another dream that he wants to fulfill. Jose Luis requires specialized reconstructive surgeries for his hand, which can only be done in the United States, and a new prosthetic as his has become worn from use and age.
Jose Luis ends by saying, “I had everything, and I could of done a lot of things, but I did not do them, and now I regret it.”
*****If you know of an institution or individual that may be able to help Jose Luis Hernandez, here in the U.S., please visit WRTE.ORG, and post the information to Radio Arte’s Facebook or Twitter. You can also leave your comments and/or information on this blog. Part of this story is available on www.vocalo.org/explore in Spanish audio format.
http://tinyurl.com/yeswae7
December 7, 2009 at 3:07 pm · Filed under latino news media, our neighborhoods
Say you’ve just come to Chicago.
You don’t know where to shop. You don’t know how to go here and there. Or even how and where to take the bus. And where to find people’s addresses. You wonder about the weather.
You wonder about the schools, the police, the weather, and the weather, and the food and the people, too.
So why isn’t there is a website or blog that helps you, if you are newly arrived here from Oaxaca or Buenos Aires or Monterrey or Merida or Guatemala City.
That just one of the suggestions that came up at a recent meeting of the Chicago Association of Hispanic Journalists. It was the beginning of an effort by the group to create a website that will link Chicago’s Latino press and community and which will make their spot on the Internet a door, a link, a way to connect.
So, will there be a space for poets and musicians, a digital room for people without papers and for people who help those without people, for people who are disabled and for those who see the need and try to help all of those who suffer disabilities in the Latino community and on and on?
Will it become a vast room of Latino blogs, opening up doors and vistas for people who can talk about their old and new lives? Will it become a website that takes us to places we should visit?
The possibilities are endless. This is how a community’s voice grows. Thanks to Tony Olivo and Teresa Puente and the all the others with the Chicago Association of Hispanic Journalists.
Stephen
November 19, 2009 at 5:01 pm · Filed under Ethnic Media in Chicago, latino news media
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Who speaks for Chicago’s Latinos and what are they saying?
And who is telling their story?
That’s what we talked about the other day at our gathering of Chicago’s Latino press and community organizations.
We met at the National Museum of Mexican Art and there was very good news on top of the talk. The folks at Radio Arte (WRTE 90.5fm) announced a new partnership with Vocalo – 89.5 fm, public radio for and by the people. This a deal that will boast Radio Arte’s presence across the Chicago area.
We talked about the need for community organizations to decide how they are going to tell their message. Don’t just try to get your story in the mainstream news media, said Tania Unzueta of Radio Arte. Think of the Latino news media and the independent new media.
But don’t give up on the mainstream news media. Let them know what your story is and let them know you want them to cover it. That was the message of Teresa Puente, an assistant professor of journalism at Columbia College and who writes a blog – chicanisima for Chicago Now.
Fabiola Pomareda, a reporter at La Raza, suggested holding the news media — Latino and mainstream – accountable by studying what they cover and how they cover stories. Armed with the results, community organizations can then go to the news outlets, she said, and ask them to do a better job or a job that tells all that matters to the community.
Gerardo Cardenas, the editorial director for Contratiempo and the head of communications for AARP of Illinois wondered if it is correct to say that the the Latino community is too polite and too poised to speak up and tell the news media what it wants to see covered and what stories it needs to hear about.
And Tony Martinez, who is pictured above and who is news director for Telemundo Chicago – WSNS – agreed heartily.
“We have to be more demanding,” he said.
Si, se puede.
Stephen
November 2, 2009 at 8:28 am · Filed under Reporting on ethnic communities, latino news media
Have you noticed the growing number Latino oriented ads on television and in the newspapers and magazine? Well there’s a good reason and its great news for the Latino news media. This story from adweek explains:
The Hispanic Market Is Set to Soar
The 2010 Census will radically alter the demographic map and the rules of engagement between Hispanic and general-market shops
Nov 2, 2009
- Noreen O’Leary
Hispanic Americans continue to grow in number at a rate four times that of the general population, with the 2010 Census expected to show their total rising to nearly 50 million, from 38 million in 2000. And second-generation Hispanics are fast becoming the driver of the group’s growth, with 88 percent of Hispanic children born in America, versus 61 percent of adults.
As a result, agencies that market to this segment are finding themselves in a strong position, armed with the skills and techniques to take on general assignments from big-name clients. Meanwhile, in a tight business environment, general agencies are starting to compete for work previously reserved for specialist shops.
Is an already competitive agency landscape set to become even more so?
“In the 2010 Census, we’ll see confirmation of a shift from Hispanic consumers who are first generation, where Spanish is the dominant language, to second-generation, bilingual, bicultural consumers. It totally transforms how we market,” says Cynthia McFarlane, chair of Publicis Groupe’s Conill, a Latino agency. “These are consumers who are as influenced by American culture as the country of origin of their families. There is a new American culture forming, and these consumers are having a tremendous impact on mainstream America.”
McDonald’s, which sees higher brand loyalty among its Hispanic consumers, has added offerings like breakfast burritos to its national menu. In further evidence of the growing bilingual voice of Hispanic consumers, McDonald’s runs ads with Spanish taglines in general-market media, and earlier this year used “Spanglish” in general-market advertising for the Quarter Pounder.
“We know the general market has become increasingly multicultural, with Hispanic music, Hispanic tastes, the Hispanic palate influencing a lot of general-market initiatives,” says Cristina Vilella, director of marketing at McDonald’s USA. “We lead with Hispanic insights but make sure they appeal to the general market.”
That blurring of distinctions within the Hispanic marketplace hints at the changes ahead for agencies and media firms. Hispanics now have about $863 billion in discretionary annual income, more than any other minority group in the country. (As of the third quarter, Americans overall had disposable income of $10.8 trillion.) Agencies argue that spending power is still underestimated and that upcoming Census findings — expected to be released beginning in early 2011 — will deliver a wake-up call to marketers.
“It will be a huge eye-opener when we see the growing affluence of the Hispanic marketplace, not just in buying power but also in household wealth,” says Conill’s McFarlane.
“We have 15 percent of the market but only 5 percent of the marketing dollars,” says Ingrid Otero-Smart, CEO of Interpublic Group’s Casanova Pendrill. “You’re going to see more general-market agencies pursue Hispanic accounts. They didn’t care when our budgets were $10 million or less, but now that we are dealing with more robust budgets and theirs are being cut, it’s a different story.”
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
