National Hispanic American Heritage Month runs from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15, recognizing the generations of Hispanic Americans who have positively influenced and enriched the United States. This month, we spoke to leaders at five news organizations that serve Hispanic, Latinx and Spanish-speaking audiences to find out how they connect with their readers, what fuels their passion for journalism and how they stay competitive in the digital and print news market.
Cicero Independiente
What is one product or innovation that you’re particularly proud of?
We’re definitely proud that all of our content is available in both English and Spanish but this year we’re very proud of our intergenerational, bilingual reporting fellowship. This is a 10-week program where residents get paid to investigate a local issue all while learning reporting skills. What makes our program special is that we’re working with monolingual Spanish speakers, many of whom have never had an opportunity like this here or in their home countries, and young people together. It has been amazing to witness the co-learning that happens when we’re able to create these spaces.
How does your news organization stay connected to its readers?
We like to be present in the community. This means showing up to local meetings and spaces both in person and virtually and spending time inviting people to connect simply to build relationships. We follow up a lot with people who message us online and when we can we also use our print editions as outreach tools to get to know people who live here.
What’s the one thing that mainstream media often get wrong about your community?
I think it’s really a disservice all around that mainstream media don’t invest in understanding the needs of and the people who live and work in communities of color. Readers/people from outside of communities like mine miss out on the rich complexity of our lives and a more thorough understanding of the issues we face and the solutions we’re advancing. It also limits opportunities for people from within to engage in reporting that’s about them.
How has your approach to journalism changed throughout the years?
I myself am fairly new to journalism and so there’s a lot that I’m learning, including how investigative reporting can be used to equip readers with skills and knowledge to get involved civically. As a team, we’ve learned a lot about the kind of journalism our community is actually interested in and how to best deliver it. One change that we’ve made, for example, is the content that we share in our newsletter. As a news organization, it’s important to us that we be flexible and adapt to the changing needs of the people we serve.
– Irene Romulo, development and community engagement coordinator
Enlace Latino
What is one product or innovation that you’re particularly proud of?
We’re so proud of our El Jornalero newsletter for farmworkers in North Carolina. It is the first newsletter to deliver critical information to the state’s primarily Spanish-speaking domestic and guest farmworker population, and it just won an [Institute for Nonprofit News] Community Champion Award for filling the gap for a community that isn’t served elsewhere.
How does your news organization stay connected to its readers?
We stay connected to our readers through all of our participatory channels: WhatsApp, email, and Messenger. We respond to audience inquiries daily. Our hyperlocal coverage also allows us to stay connected to our readers through the stories we produce. Our podcast, for example, is a platform through which community members tell their stories themselves.
What’s the one thing that mainstream media often get wrong about your community?
That we’re defined by the numbers around immigration and other big issues that disproportionately affect us. There’s a lack of dimensionality when it comes to coverage of Latinx, especially in a state like North Carolina that has historically been understood through the black/white binary. There’s a lot more to us: our language, our food, and elements of the many different countries we come from (not just Mexico).
How has your approach to journalism changed throughout the years?
It’s become even more community-centered. We’re making a greater effort to listen closely and let our coverage be driven by informational needs defined by the community itself.
– Lupita Ruiz-Tolento, development director
AL DÍA News
What is one product or innovation that you’re particularly proud of?
There are a few projects that come to mind, but this year in particular I am proud of a musical-style short film we produced and three TV specials with other local news partners in an effort to get our message across to a bigger audience and a more diverse audience.
How does your news organization stay connected to its readers?
We stay connected with our readers year-round through newsletters, social social engagement and most importantly in-person through our event programming.
What’s the one thing that mainstream media often get wrong about your community?
The content they think our community cares about and the way we are portrayed.
How has your approach to journalism changed throughout the years?
The last three years have taught us that it is fair game for everyone, we all have the same tools to get our message across. Multimedia journalism should be our approach.
–Martin Alfaro, director of business development
Latino News Network
What is one product or innovation that you’re particularly proud of?
I am most proud of the Latino News Network adopting solutions journalism in its investigative reporting. LNN is taking a collaborative approach to prioritize communities through solutions-focused reporting rather than problem-focused.
LNN was chosen as one of 10 newsrooms in the country to participate in the Solutions Journalism Network’s Advancing Democracy initiative. Collaboration is integral to the health of news and the health of democracy. The experience was transformative.
How does your news organization stay connected to its readers?
Our newsroom sees communities as more than just an audience. They are collaborators. We connect with our audience through surveys asking them to give us feedback on our reporting.
The questionnaires are shared in our stories, social media, newsletters, and in-person/virtual community conversations. Their participation helps shape our stories from pitches to the finished story.
What’s the one thing that mainstream media often get wrong about your community?
The most common mistake mainstream media make in regards to the Hispanic-Latino communities is that they’re a monolith.
Because of the lack of representation of Hispanic-Latinos in newsrooms — especially in management positions with resources and influences shaping the workplace culture — stories often have a negative narrative, are one-dimensional, and position the community as the “other.”
In reality, Hispanic-Latinos are the majority, and emerging majority in most markets across the country, primarily driven by U.S. births rather than foreign-born Latinos crossing the border — as categorized in mainstream media.
How has your approach to journalism changed throughout the years?
I have broken away from the falsehood that newsrooms are objective when in truth they’re biased based on the homogeneous leadership that subjectively authors what it is to be objective. I subscribe to transparency in sharing with the public the newsgathering process, and being inclusive of them from ideation to completion.
Journalists are often criticized for being elitist, a top-down approach in covering and presenting news, speaking down to audiences. I take a bottom-up approach in journalism, listening to the interests and needs of audiences versus telling them what I think is most important for them to know.
–Hugo Balta, owner
El Tímpano
What is one product or innovation that you’re particularly proud of?
Back when I first started El Tímpano in 2017, before launching anything — a website, a team, even a concrete mission — we began by spending nearly a year building relationships with the communities we wanted to cover and serve, and listening to learn from them what they want to see in local, Spanish-language media. At the time, other journalists and founders thought it was absurd and impractical to spend so much time simply listening and conducting work that is more akin to community organizing than reporting. But that investment in relationships and in listening has been key to our success, and it’s been incredible to see that in the five years since then, the idea of conducting an information needs assessment, or of starting a new news outlet or beat through a process of listening, has caught on across the industry.
How does your news organization stay connected to its readers?
By listening! From that initial process, we developed a text-messaging platform as our primary way to distribute news and information and engage with our audience. It’s not the only way we connect with our audience, but it is the most consistent way we stay connected, and that engagement is the foundation of our journalism.
What’s the one thing that mainstream media often get wrong about your community?
The idea that immigration is the most important issue for immigrant communities. When we asked Latino immigrants what issues are most important to them, health always came up first, and then housing, and jobs. While immigration policy impacts the lives of immigrants in numerous, complex ways, it is not necessarily the top issue of concern. One of El Tímpano’s goals is to produce journalism that reflects and serves immigrant communities in all of their areas of concern, from health and housing to labor and environmental justice.
–Madeleine Bair, founding director
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