Spanish Newspaper Network Created

By: Mark Fitzgerald As Tribune Co. prepares to expand its Spanish-language daily Hoy into new cities, the biggest newspapers in the top four Hispanic markets are combining to create the first national network of big-circulation Spanish-language papers.

The still unnamed network brings together four papers with quite different ownerships: the 125,862-circulation daily La Opinion in Los Angeles, managed and 50% owned by the Lozano family; Knight Ridder's 90,264-circulation Miami daily, El Nuevo Herald; the 52,601-circulation New York City daily el diaro/La Prensa, bought this summer by a private investment group headed by Clarity Partners LP; and PrensAmerica's Chicago weekly La Raza, which has a combined free and paid circulation of 190,000.

Publishers in the new network are quick to say that it is not a reaction to Hoy, which the Tribune Co. launched from its Newsday property several years ago. In just four years, Hoy became the second-largest Spanish-language daily, with a circulation of 91,156.

Tribune launched a Chicago edition earlier this month and is widely expected to start up an edition in Los Angeles, where it publishes the Los Angeles Times.

Interestingly, Tribune owns 50% of La Opinion, which it acquired when it bought the old Times Mirror Co.

La Opinion President and COO Monica Lozano declined to talk about the relationship with Tribune: "We're following our own business strategy, and we always have... (Tribune) has followed a national strategy that is an Hoy-based model, and we're doing what's best for our company."

Hispanic print has lagged Spanish-language television in developing an easy national buy, said PrensAmerica CEO Robert J. Armband. "I look at this as the last frontier of consolidation of the Hispanic market," he said.

Closer to home, Armband is crying foul about the Hoy practice of putting its circulation -- "91,156 ejemplares diarios" -- on the front page of its Chicago edition, along with the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) logo. Armband said it's misleading to put that number on a Chicago paper that has a press run of 60,000: "It's like a premeditated attempt to let advertisers think they have 91,000 circulation."

Tribune spokesperson Christine Hennessey said the number reflects the total circulation of the publication, which now has three editions: New York, New Jersey and Chicago. "The Chicago edition will be reported as part of Hoy's ONDM (Outside Newspaper Designated Market) in subsequent publisher's statements," she said.

ABC spokesperson Marybeth Meils said the audit group was "aware" of the situation, "and, as with any member, we're looking into it." Printing the circulation number is permitted, she noted, on any "qualifying edition" that has a consistent look across cities.