Spanish-language Publisher ImpreMedia Partners With BBC Online Site

By: E&P Staff ImpreMedia, the biggest publisher of Spanish-language newspapers in the United States, Tuesday kicked off a content initiative with BBC's Spanish-language Web site with an online discussion about the impact of Spanish on American culture.

The round table discussion will be broadcast via Internet on the Web sites of ImpreMedia's Los Angeles daily newspaper, La Opinion and the BBC site.

Among the topics discussed were the use of Spanish in everyday American life; the quality of Spanish spoken in the U.S.; and the future of Spanish-language media in the nation.

Speaking at the round table were Jorge Mettey, former vice president of Univisi?n, Los Angeles; Gustavo Arellano, a columnist the Orange County Weekly; Alberto Vourvoulias, executive editor of El Diario La Prensa in New York; and Mariano Zaro, a professor of Spanish at the Whittier College and Pasadena City College.

Representing La Opinion were Pilar Marrero, political columnist; Emilio Castellanos, senior Web coordinator; Hugo Quintana, assistant managing editor; and executive editor Pedro Rojas. The BBC was represented by Jose Baig, executive producer of the network's "Hablas espa?ol?" project; Carlos Villalobos, business development executive; and Alberto Souviron, editor of BBCMundo.com.

The BBC's Villalobos said working with ImpreMedia "will surely help benefit directly those millions of Hispanics seeking news and information from reliable sources."