The All-American Foreign-Language Press

By: Mark Fitzgerald As more newspapers of every size begin publishing their own Spanish-language papers, those that have not yet taken the plunge tend to have two questions, one practical and one philosophical.

First, they wonder if creating a second paper in a second language is the best use of their resources. After all, for most papers, the only reason for even considering publishing in Spanish is that their local Hispanic population has exploded or is about to. And since many are experiencing firsthand the long industry problem of flat or declining circulations, these publishers naturally ask themselves if they wouldn't be better off try to attract this pool of potential readers into the English-language flagship.

The second concern, though, goes right to the heart of the historical mission of American newspapers: Does publishing a paper in the native language of these newcomers reinforce their isolation, condemning them to a kind of a news barrio?

An in-depth study funded by the Ford Foundation -- mentioned in the March E&P cover story about the leap mainstream papers are making into Spanish-language publishing -- should go a long way toward allaying those publisher fears.

Far from isolating immigrants, the study concludes, ethnic media actually accelerates their assimilation into American society and democracy. Only the newest immigrants rely solely on news media in their own language, and even for them, the dependence is only a "temporary condition," according to the author of the study, Rufus Browning, a San Francisco State University political science professor. "Latino immigrants rapidly increase their use of general media the longer they have been in the United States," Browning writes.

Ethnic papers also serve to improve the coverage of their mainstream counterparts, the study says: "Competition from ethnic news media helps impel general media to recognize the diverse groups in their communities and increasingly to include them in both hiring and reporting. In this way, too, ethnic media help create a 'broader community of discussion.'"

Browning's study -- "News Ghettos, Threats to Democracy, and Other Myths about Ethnic Media: Lessons from the Bay Area News Media Survey" -- deserves far more attention than it's received since it was released last December. The extensive and rigorously conducted probe into how immigrants use both ethnic media and what the study calls "general media" contains lessons and reassurance for papers facing the challenge of publishing products for readers of Spanish, or any other immigrant group settling in their market. (A full copy of the report is available at http://pri.sfsu.edu/ethnicmedia.html.)

In focusing on the San Francisco Bay area, the study highlights an especially diverse market with a wide array of "general" and ethnic newspapers published both by ethnic groups and big chains. The study includes black-interest papers such as the Sun Reporter, the Oakland Post, and San Francisco Bay View. Survey takers fluent in Mandarin and Cantonese interviewed both new arrivals and established Asian Americans about their use of such papers as Sing Tao Daily, World Journal and The China Press. Spanish-speaking interviewers asked immigrants and ethnic Latinos about a wide variety of Spanish-language newspapers, including the San Jose Mercury News' Nuevo Mundo.

Altogether, the study surveyed 1,662 adults of Chinese, Hispanic, African and European origins about their use of ethnic and general newspapers and news broadcasts. Nearly half of those surveyed were born outside the United States, and more than half of the Chinese-origin and Latino respondents were interviewed in their native language, the study notes.

Whatever their language, the respondents had generally good news for mainstream dailies. A large majority of all three of the ethnic groups interviewed -- African Americans, Latinos and Chinese-origin residents -- read and view news in their own language. But majorities of all three groups also use mainstream media. "Immigrants who come to the U.S. with education and some English typically use some general media from the start," Browning writes.

While Latino immigrants typically come to the U.S. with less facility in English than Chinese immigrants, "Latino immigrants rapidly increase their use of general media the longer they have been in the United States," he adds. However, by a rate of 67% to just 10%, the surveyed Latinos were also far more likely to use English-language broadcast to get their news than from newspapers.