New America Media: Gold Mine of Ethnic Media

One of the easiest ways news organizations can start building bridges with communities of difference is to highlight angles especially relevant to those communities within its regular news coverage. Where can you find these angles? Ethnic media—which is probably much more popular across the U.S. than you might suspect.

Ethnic media may be the sleeping giant of 21st century news—and a natural partner for mainstream news organizations seeking to strengthen connections with communities of difference.

You might be surprised to learn that ethnic media regularly reaches a quarter of the American population. A 2005 poll by Bendixen & Associates found that:

“A staggering 29 million adults (45 percent of the 64 million ethnic adults studied), or a full 13 percent of the entire adult population of the United States, prefer ethnic media to mainstream television, radio or newspapers.

“In addition ...ethnic media reaches another 22 million ethnic adults on a regular basis. These adults prefer mainstream media, but they also access ethnic television, radio, newspapers or websites on a regular basis. Therefore, our study indicates that the overwhelming majority (80 percent) of the ethnic populations studied (64 million adults) is reached by ethnic media on a regular basis. The 51 million Americans reached by ethnic media represent about a quarter of the entire U.S. adult population.”

If you want to keep an eye on current news from ethnic media, as well as identify which ethnic media outlets may be most relevant to your local communities (even though those media outlets might not be local themselves) is New America Media. Founded by the nonprofit Pacific News Service in 1996, NAM is a “national collaboration and advocate of 2000 ethnic news organizations.”

The NAM site features current news from member ethnic media outlets—categorized by ethnicity, special beats, and more. It includes not just traditional media, but also blogs, Web sites, and multimedia.

If you add NAM to your regular “radar screen,” you might find intriguing angles that mainstream news outlets might miss, such as:

• In China, there’s a growing controversy over Kung Fu Panda: Protesters are trying to scuttle the film’s Chinese release because it is “taking advantage of Kung Fu and the panda—both are Chinese national treasures and Chinese see it as a distortion of their culture.” Also, because DreamWorks was founded by Steven Spielberg, who withdrew as an adviser to the Beijing Olympics to protest China’s role in Sudan.

• Hispanic baseball fans have become crucial to the survival of Major League Baseball: According to HispanicBusiness.com, “More than half of all fans who watched Los Angeles Dodgers games at Chavez Ravine in 2007 were Hispanic. That represents nearly two million baseball lovers.”

• Could another Darfur be unfolding in Ethiopia? Ethiopian immigrants in Minnesota are monitoring the situation, mainly via cell phone.

When you pick up on a story or angle found in ethnic media, be sure to credit and link to the ethnic news source. That’s the first step toward building partnerships and respect with ethnic media—and their loyal audiences.