CHANGING TIMES

November 2002
		How will the growth of minority communities influence the way media outlets operate? Sandy Close, the executive director of New California Media, an non-profit association representing more than 400 ethnic media organizations, answers your questions.

Forum Introduction Do non-English language newspapers translate the stories of English newspapers? How do Spanish-language newspapers identify their audience (as Latino or Hispanic)? How do ethnic media assist, or impede, the assimilation of immigrants into the greater "American culture"?   Online NewsHour Special Report: California's Changing Audience Other Media Reports: MediaWatch Merging Media Browse the NewsHour's coverage of the media	Emily Birr, Oregon asks: Do you ever hear criticisms of ethnic media, that they make these communities too insular, discouraging integration into the wider community? How do ethnic media assist or impede the assimilation of immigrants into the greater "American culture" - or has the idea of "American culture" become obsolete as we've known it? Are there studies showing whether or not ethnic media enables people to learn English? Sandy Close responds: Dear Ms. Birr, The ethnic media is enormously hungry to break out of its isolation which is why so many news organizations in California have begun collaborating as a network called New California Media. For instance, the Spanish language editor at NCM's founding lunch asked the Vietnamese language editor what it felt like to be Vietnamese in a Spanish-speaking city -- and offered to print his reply. The Chinese language newspapers Sing Tao and World Journal have partnered with black reporters through NCM to expand and improve their coverage of black communities in the Bay Area, and vice versa. The word one hears everywhere among ethnic media colleagues is "isolated" -- people want to break out of their isolation and play a larger role in the civic realm. Thus the seven biggest ethnic dailies in California collaborated with New California Media to simultaneously publish an NCM/Annenberg twelve-language poll on the impact of Sept. 11 on ethnic California. They wanted their audiences to feel their voices were more visible in the public realm and expose them to the experiences of other ethnic communities through this poll. Most people in the ethnic media business actually believe the media helps integrate their communities into America rather than impeding that process. For example, the Vietnamese publishers have told me about how the papers provide information that help recent immigrants navigate in America, from how to drive to how to pay their taxes. And, there's the Korean radio station who reported that they got inundated by calls after 9/11 from people wanting to donate blood, but weren't confident enough of their English skills to call the Red Cross directly. My sense is that it's the mainstream media that's becoming increasingly isolated and remote. To assume, for example, that it can track public opinion through English language polls in a state like California -- where close to 40 percent of residents speak languages other than English -- suggests an isolation that is greater than that of ethnic media we work with.