Milano | CNYCA: Feet in Two Worlds: Building Collaboration

Building Collaboration with the Ethnic Press

by Andrew White, Director, Center for New York City Affairs

Any journalist working the local beats in New York City spends a great deal of time reporting on immigrant communities. After all, nearly two-thirds of the city’s population is made up of immigrants and the children of immigrants. Half of the city speaks a language other than English at home.

But covering immigrant communities for the mainstream press is one thing; covering the city from an immigrant perspective is something else altogether. The trick is to find a way to bring immigrant voices to a much larger public, both immigrant and native-born, to reveal the true breadth of the city.

The immigrant and ethnic press is vast in New York. The Independent Press Association, which I helped found, has organized an ethnic and community press project providing technical assistance and advocating for the interests of these publications. The project has published three editions of its guide to the city’s ethnic press, identifying 300 magazines and newspapers publishing in 42 languages in 2004.

The ethnic press is growing quickly across the nation as well, and millions of Americans depend on it for their news and information. A June 2005 nationwide poll found that 29 million ethnic American adults use ethnic media on a regular basis, and that most of them trust and prefer ethnic news resources to mainstream English-language press outlets.

Our IPA New York project was inspired by the huge diversity of perspectives found in ethnic papers on city issues, such as politics, government, the economy, the arts and the relationship of New York City to the world. As we read articles from ethnic publications we found radically different takes on the mayoralty, the police, the impact and meaning of 9/11 and many other topics. In a city with so many non-English speakers, it seemed silly to assume that the city’s English-language media reflected a full range of perspectives.

The so-called “conventional wisdom” on critical issues has long been defined by that mainstream English-language media, yet we quickly learned that non-English speakers weren’t the least bit concerned with that, they had long since constructed their own conventions. We set out to stir up all of this and infuse new voices throughout the news media. Over time, IPA translations from the ethnic press have led to new coverage and dozens of articles published in English language papers—as well as to articles and editorials in other languages, in other ethnic papers, reaching entirely different audiences.

For two years I worked with a cadre of about 20 reporters and editors from ethnic publications to strengthen the coverage of city issues and politics in their papers. I brought my expertise on city government and issues, and they brought the on-the-ground knowledge and reporting of topics that mattered to their readers. Participants in this IPA fellowship cadre generated articles on labor abuses, domestic violence, the 2004 elections and more. The collaboration opened up new universes of sources for all of us.

When John Rudolph proposed a radio documentary reported by ethnic press reporters, several in the group leapt at the opportunity. “Feet In Two Worlds” is the first result, and we hope this will lead to many more.

We had no shortage of possible participants among the reporters of the ethnic press, thanks largely to the time spent organizing and building collaborations around the Independent Press Association, and more than a year’s worth of outreach for research and reporting projects of the Center for New York City Affairs.

The ground was laid well in New York. But we learned basic lessons that will apply in any city:

Take enough time to find and identify strong reporters for a radio project:

You can’t skimp. In the two years before “Feet In Two Worlds”, we had worked with several reporters on written projects. We set up seminars on pressing urban issues, invited reporters from nearly every ethnic paper in the city and shared with those who attended valuable insight on coverage of such things as the city budget, local lobbying, social services, housing, city elections and other topics they would want to or need to write about. We helped several reporters and editors with sourcing stories and finding the policy perspectives that fleshed out and backed up their narratives.

When the radio project was coming along, we brought in several candidates for a series of interviews, and encouraged them to talk about possible stories and to think about new approaches that would work for radio. In the end, the fact that we knew many of the reporters, were aware of the high quality of their work and had seen the results of their reporting made all of the difference.

Consider the reporters’ self interest:

Learning to do radio can be a big and valuable step in the career of a young reporter from the ethnic press, especially in a town where immigrants have become a huge percentage of the population. WNYC Radio was willing from the outset to make it clear that the participants in the project would not only have the chance to produce a piece for New York public radio with millions of potential listeners—they may well have the opportunity to do further projects in the years to come.

Accept the ludicrous work schedules of the immigrant press:

You may think journalists always have crazy work schedules and long hours. But reporters for many immigrant and ethnic papers, including dailies and weeklies, are often also editors. Sometimes, they are publishers, too. Recognize the reality that many of these publications are severely short-staffed, and prepare yourself to work with reporters on weekends and other off- off-hours.

As North America becomes ever more diverse, reliance on exclusively English-language reporters is increasingly limiting the public’s understanding of their country and communities. In the end, the investment of time and resources has proven tremendously worthwhile, as New Yorkers come to learn more about the whole city. A bridge into the ethnic press is critical … and it is beginning to change our urban perspectives.