The Washington, D.C., area is also served by media outlets that cater specifically to a range of ethnicities, including but not limited to African, African-American, Ethiopian, Vietnamese, and Hispanic. These publications, generally available both in print and online forms, merit a look separate from the general interest print publications discussed above. These publications tend to be self-funded (privately owned) and support a very small staff of writers. Washington Afro, The Muslim Link, and Asian Fortune are among the mostly widely read ethnic publications serving the metro area, although they are technically based outside of the District. Much of the coverage in these types of outlets focuses on national and international themes of immigration, politics and entertainment. Community events and concerns are often expressed in the editorial section. Ethnic media outlets sometimes target specific neighborhoods that are home to large portions of the communities they serve; for example, Latino media tend to focus their news coverage on areas such as Columbia Heights, Mount Pleasant and Adams Morgan, in Northwest Washington.1 As Alexandra Moe, Director of New America Media in D.C., observed to us, “Sometimes what the ethnic media excels at is the hyperlocal story.”
This role of the ethnic media fills a need even within legacy media outlets. El Tiempo Latino, founded in March 1991, was bought in 2004 by the Washington Post Company and serves the D.C. Hispanic community. Over 50,000 copies are printed and distributed every Friday averaging over 100,000 weekly readers.2 Its online property sees over 12,000 readers per week and continues to grow. According to Alberto Avendano, Director of Business Development of El Tiempo Latino, the paper is considered the “the Hispanic newspaper of record” for the area.
With its staff of 19 full-time employees, four of whom are full-time journalists, the paper covers a wide range of news with an emphasis on Latin America. About 85 percent of all news articles are considered local stories as they are written from a local angle and often include a local source. According to Avendano, the paper’s goal is to “ensure that the Latino community in the D.C. region is portrayed in a fair and comprehensive manner.” El Tiempo views its role as adding dimension to the portrayal of Latinos while providing information angles that are most relevant to the Spanish language community.3
For Dereje Desta of Zethiopia, the goal is the same. A former journalist in Ethiopia, Desta moved to the U.S. and launched the paper in July 2002. As the publisher, writer and editor of Zethopia, Desta recognized the need for a tailored Ethiopian newspaper for his community. Now Desta has been described as the “go-to person” in the Ethiopian immigrant community, and his paper is distributed for free with 10,000 copies in circulation every month.4 It can be found in local Ethiopian churches, grocery stores, barber shops, restaurants, and other locations.
"Sometimes what the ethnic media excels at is the hyperlocal story.” – Alexandra Moe, New America Media
Desta and his company rely on advertising revenue as well as relationships with government agencies. For example, Desta pointed to a half-page ad in the latest Zethiopia from the U.S. Census Bureau encouraging Ethiopians in their own native language to complete the Census.5 Over 60 percent of his readers are immigrants with a growing contingent of younger readers signing online to read the publication.
The bilingual print newspaper and online outlet covers both national and international news relevant to its Ethiopian readers. Stories are sourced from the Internet and often rewritten with a local angle and/or translated into Ethiopian. The decision to keep the publication bilingual was two-fold. First, Desta noted that the majority of his readers are immigrants and prefer their native language. Second, incorporating English into the paper was to the benefit of the younger readers. As a result, Zethiopia features ads in both languages that are specific to the Ethiopian community. The paper continues to expand, but as Desta highlighted, its sustainability requires synergy between industries and communities.
Bringing together many of the ethnic media that serve D.C. is New America Media, a national association of ethnic media outlets with an office in D.C. (not affiliated with the New America Foundation). New America Media’s Washington office holds workshops to bring together reporters from ethnic media outlets with experts on topics that are salient to their communities, such as immigration or financial reform. The organization also collaborates with journalism schools: In D.C., students in Assistant Professor Angie Chuang’s class at American University’s School of Communication have written profiles of local ethnic media outlets that were published on New America Media’s website.6 In partnership, New America Media and American University have begun to sponsor an annual awards ceremony recognizing accomplishments in the ethnic media.
Established in October 1964, the Washington Informer continues to serve the D.C. metro area’s African American community. Published weekly (on Thursdays), the publication now reaches over 50,000 weekly readers with its newspaper print edition and averages over 25,000 unique visitors to its Web site per week.7 The site’s weekly e-mail newsletter has 7,500 subscribers and potentially over 300,000 viewers turn on to watch the Washington Informer TV Show.8 The printed paper can be found in distribution locations such as Metro stations, libraries, churches and other locations. Under publisher Denise Rolark Barnes, the paper won the 2008 Chrysler Financial/National Newspaper Publishers Association Foundation Entrepreneurial Award, which honors black-owned newspapers across the country for their community service and entrepreneurship.9 The family-owned paper The Informer also sponsors the city’s annual spelling bee.
According to their site, The Informer provides “up-lifting” content to its audiences. This commitment is rooted in the publication’s belief “that by publishing uplifting news and useful information, we can support the community as it finds positive and constructive ways to help itself.”10 As a part of this, the paper does not cover crime related stories.
In addition to ethnic-centric media, the D.C. area also hosts a handful of publications for other under-represented communities. Metro Weekly, founded in 1994,serves the underrepresented LGBT community and is available via print and online. The print edition is published every Thursday and is distributed for free. Its online property garners over 1 million page views per month.11 Like other niche publications of its kind, Metro Weekly also covers news and events geared specifically towards the DC LGBT community. For example, Metro Weekly online features the “Poliglot” section noted as a “queer spin on politics.”
The storied Washington Blade closed suddenly in the fall of 2009. The weekly newspaper, described by The Washington Post as “pioneering,” was founded in the 1969 and covered the gay rights movement when such activism was still very rare. By the Post’s own admission, The Washington Blade covered even routine stories about the LGBT community that The Post and other mainstream media neglected. The paper was forced to close when its parent company, Window Media, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy.12 An outpouring of support from local advertisers and the community at large allowed the former Blade staff to reincarnate the paper--the same week that it closed--as the DC Agenda, owned by Brown Naff Pitts Omnimedia, comprised of the paper’s publisher, editor, sales executive and other former staff members. In April 2010, the DC Agenda was granted the assets of the former Blade in bankruptcy court and reassumed its former moniker.13 The current iteration of The Washington Blade can be found in print and online. The publication covers local politics and events relevant to the LGBT community. This may include political races, entertainment events and health or crime stories. The printed version features numerous ads from local and national businesses. The full-printed version is also accessible from the Blade website using Scribd.
[1] As observed by Ariel Valdez (Public Media Corps fellow) at New America’s event “Digital District: Local News and Online Media Access in Washington,” 28 July 2010, Washington, DC. http://mediapolicy.newamerica.net/events/2010/digital_district.
[2] Alberto Avendano, Personal Communication, 20 July 2010.
[3] Ibid
[4] Angie Chuang, Personal Communication, 7 July 2010.
[5] Dereje Desta, In-person Interview, 20 July 2010.
[6] See “Communities Around the District,” http://dccommunityreporting.americanobserver.net/, Accessed 22 July 2010.
[7] "About Us”, Washington Informer, http://www.washingtoninformer.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=cate..., Accessed 21 July 2010.
[8] Ibid
[9] Joseph Young, “Washington Informer Takes Top Honor,” New America Media, 24 March 2008, http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=38ad86..., Accessed 23 July 2010.
[10] Ibid
[11] 2010 Washington Market Book, Washington Post Media, p. 29, http://www.washingtonpostads.com/adsite/_res/files/managed/2010%20Market..., Accessed 23 July 2010,.
[12] Paul Schwartzman, “Gay weekly Washington Blade closes,” The Washington Post, 17 Nov. 2009, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/16/AR200911..., Accessed 22 July 2010.
[13] Amanda Hess, “The Washington Blade is now the DC Agenda,” 18 Nov. 2009, “The Sexist,” Washington City Paper.com, http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/sexist/2009/11/18/the-washingto..., Accessed 22 July 2010; Also see http://www.washingtonblade.com/contact-us/about/, Accessed 22 July 2010.
