Publishers Slow to Produce Latino Magazines
After the groundbreaking launch in 1998 of people en Espanol, the Spanish-language spinoff of Time Inc.’s People that publishes original content, many advertisers were hopeful that the monthly’s success would encourage other publishers to follow suit, reports Media Week.
Yet despite the fact that Hispanics now number 35.5 million, or 12 percent of the U.S. population, according to the 2000 Census, publishers have done relatively little in directly servicing this rapidly growing demographic. Advertisers in search of Hispanic readers are not much better off than they were four years ago.
A handful of independently published English-language titles target Hispanics, including the 225,400-circulation Latina and the 150,000-circ Latina Style.
The few magazines published in Spanish are primarily from big companies, including G+J USA’s 13-year-old Ser Padres, a 500,000 controlled-circulation bimonthly spinoff of Parents; the 600,000 controlled-circulation annual Parenting bebe, a three-year-old byproduct of Time Inc.’s Parenting; and the 30-year-old Reader’s Digest Selecciones.
One major obstacle for publishers is the diversity of the Hispanic market. “The problem in the U.S. is it’s not one Spanish voice,” says George Green, president of Hearst Magazines International. U.S. Hispanics come from a host of different cultural backgrounds, including Mexico, Cuba, Puerto Rico and South America.
Coalition Calls for Philly Editors’ Resignations
Calling the Philadelphia Daily News “racially divisive,” a new coalition of mostly African-American community leaders and civic groups called on Daily News Editor Zack Stalberg to resign and said it will protest outside the newspaper on Sept. 9, the Daily News reports.
The new group, calling itself the Coalition for Fair News Coverage, said in a statement it also wants Managing Editor Ellen Foley to quit and is considering a boycott of the Daily News.
Among the coalition’s leaders are A. Bruce Crawley, chairman of the African-American Chamber of Commerce and a longtime adviser to Mayor John Street, and attorney Charles Bowser, who ran for mayor in 1979. Clergy, business and labor leaders also are involved with the drive.
A statement issued by the coalition said the newspaper’s controversial Aug. 22 cover story – “Fugitives Among Us,” about 41 still-at-large murder suspects, all either African American, Hispanic or Asian – was the last straw. Crawley noted that the Aug. 20 front page showed the white, middle-class family of the new 1950s drama “American Dreams” with the headline: “Just Like Us.”
The newspaper issued an apology for the way the Aug. 22 fugitives story was handled and presented.
“Black Journalists: Who Shapes the Image of a Race?”
“It may seem like harmless backbiting,” writes Alysia Tate, editor and publisher of the Chicago Reporter, speaking of the competing groups vying to be recognized as the Chicago Association of Black Journalists. “All organizations have internal problems, challenges and concerns. But as a former board member of the Chicago Association of Black Journalists–the group in question–I feel obligated to state what may not seem obvious to many: This is a big deal,” she writes in the Chicago Tribune.
“If the events of the last few months are any indication, perhaps the most damaging effect of racism remains alive and well. We black people continue to turn on each other, in divisive and dangerous ways. . . . CABJ is just one example. Anyone who has been part of a black organization–be it a social club, church or professional group–likely has a similar story.”
Photog’s Exhibit: Bay Area Muslims After 9/11
A photographer for nearly two decades, Rick Rocamora has toted his camera and endless rolls of film to places such as El Salvador, Nicaragua, the Philippines and South Africa, reports the San Francisco Chronicle.
But although each mission and photo exhibition has brought both reward and humility to this Oakland resident, there was only one event that he truly felt obligated to capture on film.
Since Sept. 16, Rocamora has put himself in the heart of Muslim communities throughout the Bay Area.
Now, nearly one year and more than 50 rolls of film later, Rocamora’s work is featured in an exhibition called “Freedom and Fear: Bay Area Muslims After September 11, 2001” at San Francisco’s City Hall.
Editor Wonders Whether U.K. Still Needs Black Press
The death of Val McCalla, founder of the Voice, has turned the spotlight on the black press in Britain, reports the Guardian newspaper.
“As the mainstream media become more inclusive in their coverage, it has been less necessary for the black press to take the role of race watchdog,” writes Steven Pope, editor of the Voice from 1988 to 1991. “Much to the embarrassment of many black journalists, it was the Daily Mail, not the Voice, that was first to take up the case of Stephen Lawrence,” a black teenager who was stabbed to death in London in April 1993. Three men have been acquitted of the murder.
“Racism is now less blatant, and with the doors to many major organisations opening to ethnic minorities, the campaigning role of the black press is no longer as important. It seems that today’s black readership increasingly want to read about personalities rather than what many see as “depressing” reports of racism.
“The only other black-oriented publication of any size is the monthly women’s title, Pride. Its editorial and design are professional but it has struggled for years to secure corporate advertising.”
Palestinian-American Writer a Rare Voice
Ray Hanania, a Palestinian-American who recently began a weekly column for the Arlington Heights, Ill., Daily Herald, offers a more three-dimensional view of the Mideast than the pro-Israel columns that dominate America’s op-ed pages, reports Editor & Publisher.
When the Arlington Heights paper started Hanania’s feature, it also launched a Mideast column by Chaya Gil, a vice president of the America Jewish Committee’s Chicago chapter.
Daily Herald Assistant Managing Editor Jim Slusher found Hanania and Gil after the paper decided its op-ed pages needed more diverse Mideast commentary. “When columnists — such as Mona Charen and Charles Krauthammer — write about the Mideast, almost none of them write from the Arab point of view,” Slusher told E&P Online.
Meanwhile, E&P reports that Hanania, who was dropped last week as Jackie Mason‘s opening stand-up act at Chicago’s Zanies club, says he has received at least 50 invitations from around the country to perform and has also received thousands of e-mails — with about 90 percent supporting Hanania and criticizing the actions of Mason, the famous Jewish comedian.
Schedule Changed, Veteran K.C. Broadcaster Retires
One of Kansas City’s longest-serving broadcast reporters and a pioneer for local journalists of color is retiring from KCTV, Channel 5. Geri Gosa worked 29 years as a general assignment reporter for the station. Earlier this year, news director Regent Ducas had moved Gosa from weekdays to a Wednesday-through-Sunday routine. That, in part, prompted her decision, reports the Kansas City Star.
Anita Parran, president of the Kansas City Association of Black Journalists, wrote general manager Kirk Black earlier this year after Ducas’ decision to assign Gosa and former weeknight anchor Dee Griffin to less prestigious weekend positions.
Parran said Black had replied, citing unspecified “business reasons” for moving Griffin and Gosa.
Has Singleton Come to Care About Journalism?
For much of his career, William Dean Singleton has bought, stripped down and sometimes closed newspapers with a Darwinian fervor, giving him a reputation as the industry’s leading skinflint, and earning him the loathing of some journalists at newspapers that died under or after his ownership, writes Felicity Barringer in the New York Times.
The question, she says, is whether he has changed. Time is an issue for Singleton, who at the age of 51 has multiple sclerosis, a degenerative nerve disease.
“He’s come to care more about journalism,” said John Morton, a longtime industry analyst.
“He has come to realize that success is measured by circulation, and you’re not going to get circulation by putting out a lousy product.”
Will Singleton keep around Gregory Moore, the black journalist he picked to lead the Denver Post, long enough to remake the paper? Singleton calls Moore his “soulmate and partner,” which seems a good omen for Moore’s future longevity.
Still, Singleton has never been known for patience. Moore spoke last week of his plans to improve The Post’s national and regional coverage and its photography and investigative work. At the end, Moore was asked to name his biggest worry.
“Not having enough time to do everything I want,” he said.
O.J.’s Back
O.J. Simpson has done a sit-down interview for an installment of “E! True Hollywood Story” about him and the murders that made him infamous, reports the New York Post.
O.J. talks about being branded a murderer, his father’s rumored homosexuality, the drowning death of his two-year-old daughter in 1979 and his future, according to the network.
The rare interview was conducted in late July at O.J.’s home in Florida.
