Jackson’s potential for multicultural media

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

By Sabra Ayres

We tried something new this week. You’ll see that our cover story on local theatrical talent Raul Juarez has been translated into Spanish. I personally think it’s a long time coming for a publication in Jackson to start targeting our growing Spanish-speaking community.

I’m encouraging my newsroom at the Planet to keep their eyes and ears open for Latino angles or stories that would be of interest to that section of our community. After all, Spanish-speaking locals now make up an estimated 17 percent of the population, according to the Latino Resource Center. That’s a significant increase from 6.5 percent as calculated in the 2000 Census.

I’m actually surprised there isn’t a Spanish-only publication here already. But perhaps it’s only a mater of time.

We at the Planet certainly aren’t the first publication to look at innovative ways to catch Latino readership. Major cites like Miami, Chicago and Los Angeles, to name a few, already have their own Spanish-language newspapers. Broadcast stations like Telemundo and Univision have become news staples for many, large Hispanic communities.

According to the latest stats from the Project for Excellence in Journalism’s annual State of the New Media survey, it might not be a bad idea for a town even the size of Jackson to look at starting up a Spanish weekly. Unlike the circulations of almost every other daily newspaper in the United States, Spanish-language newspapers are growing, albeit slightly. Still, in this day and age of newspaper decline, stable growth is better than no growth.

The State of the Media report showed Spanish-language newspapers overall circulation in 2006 increasing to 17.8 million from 17.6 million, a modest jump, but one that points to the steady increase in Spanish language readership. The most interesting part of that growth figure was the fact that a large push came from print weeklies, often in newer Latino communities, according to the study.

Growing Hispanic communities, such as ours here in Teton County, assimilate alongside established resources, but they also thrive when they create their own.
Is it time for Jackson to join the ranks and get an ethnic publication of its own, one that could address issues that matter to all people - education, healthcare, the arts - from a Hispanic point of view?

How cool and cosmopolitan that would be for our county of nearly 20,000 people nestled against the Teton Range and Wyoming’s vast wilderness.

But even though it seems that we English speakers can point to the potential, there may not be the interest in the Hispanic community … yet. At least that’s the struggles that our cover story interview point out. Despite more and more native Spanish-speakers moving to the valley, Juarez told us there is still not as much enthusiasm for performing arts in their community. It’s something he is working to change, he told us.
It would benefit both the white and the Hispanic communities if he succeeds. Maybe one day we’ll read about his latest production in some kind of future La Opinion de Jackson.
PERMALINK:
Jackson’s potential for multicultural media | Planet JH News Article: Editorial

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