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Charts & Tables
Content Analysis
By the Project for Excellence in Journalism
The many languages and outlets of the ethnic press make it
difficult to examine content, perhaps the most critical factor
in understanding media impact on its users and on the culture
at large. What is the picture presented in the many outlets
of the ethnic press? How does it differ from the mainstream
press?
The Project decided to try to address ethnic press content
by peeling away a small sample of newspapers to translate
(where necessary) and study. We looked at five newspapers
available in New York City aimed at different ethnicities
and races. We chose two papers targeted at immigrants from
the other side of the globe - the Pakistan Post (in Urdu)
and Sing Tao (in Chinese). We also looked at two large Spanish-language
dailies - Hoy and El Diario/La Prensa. And we examined the
coverage of the African American community's "newspaper
of record," the Amsterdam News. The Independent Press
Association of New York, which monitors and analyzes the New
York ethnic press, helped the Project select the papers and
(when needed) translate them.
For each paper we captured the front-page stories on the same
dates we examined the coverage of the mainstream press. For
non-dailies we took the front pages of the nearest weeks and
for the Pakistan Post, which is a weekly but sometimes ran
as many as 20 stories on the front page, we took the stories
that ran above the fold.
We coded the headlines and the first few paragraphs of front-page
stories by looking at two main variables: the geographic focus
of each piece and the topic. "Geographic focus"
dealt with the trigger of the story - local, national (i.e.,
U.S.), international or homeland issues. "Topic"
dealt with what the story was about, along the lines of the
topic category we used to analyze the mainstream press but
with one difference. Pieces strictly about homeland topics
(homeland politics and policy) were given a special topic
category.
What did we find? For one, there were vast differences between
the papers both in geographic focus and in topic. In addition
the papers, some broadsheets and some tabloids, had very different
front pages that contained vastly different numbers of stories.
But there was one general rule in the five papers we looked
at: the closer geographically a paper's readers were to their
countries of origin, the more the paper was likely to resemble
mainstream U.S. papers in content. Those papers aimed at immigrants
from distant locations - the Pakistan Post and Sing Tao -
tended to focus more on those homelands and less on local
New York City news or U.S. national news. The two Spanish-language
papers tended to serve their readerships as a kind of alternative
to the English-language daily papers. Their front pages covered
a wider range of topics and focused largely on U.S. national
and local news, while doing stories on the many different
homelands of their readers less of the time, or on the inside
pages. The Amsterdam News, the only English-language paper
we looked at, was heavily local in its content.
Beyond this general finding, the character of each paper is
worth exploring individually.
Pakistan Post
The Post is a free weekly newspaper based in Jamaica, in
New York City's Borough of Queens, with a self-reported circulation
of 40,000.
Though its audience is primarily the Pakistani population
of the city, it reaches people in other large U.S. cities
as well. It differs from standard English-language dailies
in many ways. Point of view and voice were readily apparent
in the stories we looked at. Many stories were less straight
news accounts than analysis articles. The Post also stood
out for sheer volume. It had the most stories of any of the
papers we looked at, 212 over the time we studied it. The
Post's front page isn't just full of stories, it is crammed
with them - well over twenty on every front page studied,
compared with six or seven in most U.S. papers. For this reason
we captured only the top half of the front page for the weeks
we examined, we were still looking at roughly 13 stories for
each issue.
The Post may be based in the U.S., but its coverage reaches
far beyond U.S. borders. On the days we examined the top stories,
a full 45% had what we classified as a home region geographic
focus, stories triggered by news in Pakistan, Afghanistan
and India. This is a paper for those who want to keep up with
what's going with politics and government policy back home.
Not that the readers' new home was forgotten; almost of third
of the stories (32%) in the Post had a U.S. national focus.
Other regions of the world accounted for 18% of the stories
we looked at, while the focus in only 5% was local.
The national-news-organization flavor of the Post becomes
clearer when one looks at the topics on which it reported.
The paper has a broad news agenda, but it is dominated by
one thing, news from home. Fully 50% of the top stories in
the Post on the days we examined the paper dealt with home-region
issues.
Beyond news from the old country, there was a wide range.
Some 9% of the above-the-fold pieces in the Post dealt with
U.S. politics, with most of those focused on the presidential
campaign. Another 15% looked at domestic affairs (stories
about the U.S., but not political in nature), with about a
fifth of those about terrorism. Foreign affairs (stories about
areas outside the U.S. but not specifically focused on the
home region) made up 14% of the paper's top-of-the-front-page
coverage.
The Post is also a very serious paper, particularly when talking
about events back home. Such stories were not light-hearted
reminders of the goings-on in and around Pakistan, but weighty
pieces about the future of the nation and of its president,
Pervez Musharraf. Stories dealt with such issues as whether
Musharraf would shed his general's uniform as Pakistan tried
to move toward more traditional democracy, whether Pakistan
would rejoin the British Commonwealth, and the state of politics
in India.
The weekly also did a series of stories about Dr. Abdul Qadeer
Khan, the father of Pakistan's nuclear bomb, and allegations
that he leaked nuclear secrets to other countries. Mainstream
outlets covered that story, of course, but not with the interest
or tenacity of the Post. The paper's coverage went on for
weeks and dealt with everything from the breaking of the story
to the punishment of Khan to court action against other nuclear
scientists and the fate of some of Khan's documents, which
were missing. In total the paper did 18 stories above the
fold, during the 19 days examined, about Khan and the nuclear
secrets, or about 8% of all coverage studied.
The Post's coverage of U.S. politics included some of the
flavor found in the mainstream American press. Take this headline
from the March 11-17 paper: "U.S. presidential elections:
John Kerry enjoys 52% approval rating compared to Bush's 44%."
The piece was largely a campaign roundup, reporting that "both
sides were gaining momentum" shortly after Kerry won
the nomination.
But the paper also offered a more blunt look at politics.
Stories were less concerned with being even-handed or even
polite. A May 6-12 headline reported, "Bush, Kerry start
boring Americans." The story, which was datelined Kabul/Quetta,
spoke of the rise of a silent majority in the U.S., which
it said "believes that this could be the most boring
election in U.S. history."
There was a small amount of lifestyle and celebrity coverage
(8%), though celebrity here is defined rather loosely and
included stories like this special report from late July:
"Daughter of Pakistan Banking Council chairman ties the
knot with American youth." The paper also devoted seven
stories (3%) above the fold on the front page to sports, in
particular the World Cup of Cricket.
The biggest question, of course, is how do the Pakistan Post's
readers use the paper? As an immigrant link to the homeland,
its coverage is without peer. It discusses the intricacies
of the Pakistani political world. But if the Post is the only
source of news for its readers, they will have a very limited
view of the U.S., judging at least by the front page. National
stories beyond the presidential race are largely nonexistent.
Pieces about news around the country or about pending legislation,
the stuff immigrants may need for an understanding of their
new home, are rare.
Sing Tao
Sing Tao is a daily with a self-reported circulation of 50,000.
It is not independent, but rather a subsidiary of the Sing
Tao Daily in Hong Kong. The paper is thick with sections,
colorful and full of pictures. With sister publications on
the West Coast and in Chicago, it has 40 bureaus worldwide
and is sold on the newsstand as well as by subscription for
about $200 a year.
In total, we examined 141 front-page stories - behind only
the Pakistan Post.
Sing Tao isn't simply a newspaper for those looking to keep
up with news of China. Its reportage is more evenly spread
across the board: 34% of stories were triggered by events
on the Chinese mainland or Taiwan, 30% by events or news from
the U.S. national region, 19% by local events and 18% by events
in other regions. But the choice of stories suggests that
Sing Tao sees its mission as reporting the news about Chinese
people around the world, from Asia to Europe to South America,
to its Chinese readers in the U.S..
Among topics covered by Sing Tao, homeland issues - 35% of
the coverage - are more diverse than in the Pakistan Post.
This may be due to the stable nature of Chinese governance.
There were few pieces about the doings of the Chinese government.
Instead pieces looked at such issues as, in the January 16
edition, who is building the new subway line in Hong Kong,
or on February 2 the breakout of "Chicken Fever"
throughout China.
More interesting, though, is how the newspaper covered world
events outside of the home region. Sing Tao featured datelines
from the city, the country and the world, but the theme throughout
was the effect events had on Chinese people. The February
2 issue, for example, had a piece about four Chinese Muslims
who died on their pilgrimage to Mecca. The May 1 issue contained
the story "Fujianese Gangsters rampant in Flushing"
pegged to a fight the night before. The June 8 front page
had a piece on how three Chinese workers were killed when
a construction site collapsed in Queens. And on February 23,
the front page of the paper featured a story on two Chinese
students in Norway being found dead.
And when two Chinese students were beaten up at "the
infamously violent Lafayette High School," the story
not only made the front page the day after the attacks, March
12, ("Chinese students at Lafayette High School Beaten")
it also made the front page the next day ("Blood Clip
Gang of Lafayette High School targets Chinese students) and
a week later (Chinese Students say that Lafayette High School
is like a battle field).
Straightforward news accounts were sprinkled in - about the
U.S presidential election (2% of the stories we looked at)
or U.S. government (3%) or terrorism (7%). Nevertheless there
was a definite Sino-centric view of the news on the whole.
Even much of the foreign affairs news (21% of all topics)
generally had some link to the China or Chinese citizens.
Interestingly, one of the areas where this didn't apply was
science and technology reporting, especially pieces about
space. Sing Tao was the only ethnic paper we looked at that
fronted a story about NASA's 360-degree pictures from Mars.
But it was also the only paper that saved front-page space
for a story on how Yao Ming, the Houston Rockets' Chinese
Center, scored 41 points in a game.
Judging from the front page, the readers of Sing Tao get a
unique view of the world from their newspaper - a view focused
on the Chinese people and their successes and problems in
their home and the world at large. Beyond that, however, any
look at the broader U.S. landscape, political or otherwise,
is meager.
Hoy and El Diario/La Prensa
These two Spanish-language papers are the largest in New York
City, and they share some common traits. Both are very concerned
with local New York politics - and not just City Hall, but
also community news. Both work to keep readers up on what
the area's Latino advocacy groups are doing as well as labor
news. But the two newspapers have very different histories
and ownerships.
El Diario/La Prensa is a daily tabloid formed by the merging
of El Diario, founded in 1913, and La Prensa, founded in 1961.
The combined paper was purchased by the Canadian company CPK
Media in 2003 and is sold on newsstands throughout New York
and as far away as Philadelphia and Boston. In 2004 CPK and
the Lozano Family, owner of Los Angeles's La Opinion, joined
forces to create ImpreMedia. (The company bought La Raza in
Chicago later in the year.)
El Diario's circulation is about 50,000.
In the 26 days we examined the paper, we found 104 page-one
stories, counting headlines and teases because El Diario does
not run copy on the front page.
Hoy, another tabloid, was founded in 1998 by Times-Mirror
(before that company was purchased by Tribune) as a way to
tap into the growing Spanish-language market. It publishes
daily, except Saturdays, and has since spawned sister papers,
also named Hoy, in Chicago and Los Angeles, which have different
local content. It is available on the newsstand in the greater
New York metropolitan area and by subscription in a broader
area. After the scandal in 2004 involving inflated reader
numbers, a new audit showed Hoy's circulation to be 49,681.
In the days we looked at the paper, there were 81 stories
in all on the front page.
Over all, the two papers looked similar in content. They
were more like traditional U.S. daily newspapers than other
ethnic papers. Both ran stories that were primarily concerned
with local issues - 39% of El Diario's 41% of Hoy's. Both
papers also paid significant attention to stories with a U.S.
National geographic focus - 31% for El Diario, 30% for Hoy.
Beyond local and U.S.-based articles, there was a small difference
in the way the two papers split the geographic focus for the
remainder of the stories we examined.
El Diario's coverage had more of a Latin flavor, with 19%
of the front-page stories relating to the many home regions
of its readership. The paper did pieces that looked at politics,
sports and celebrities in and relating to countries in the
Caribbean and Central and South America. Only 11% of the stories
we looked at concerned other foreign geographic regions.
At least on the days we captured, Hoy was a bit more international.
The geographic focus for the remaining stories was evenly
split between the home regions of its readers and other regions
of the world. The paper had more front-page stories than its
competitor on the bombing of commuter trains in Spain, for
instance - some might argue that immigrants from Spain would
be a target of the Spanish-language newspaper - and was more
likely to pick up global terrorism and accident stories.
When it came to the topics covered, neither paper was very
dedicated to U.S. politics or government - 4% of stories for
El Diario and 6% for Hoy. In fact, large-scale national issues
were not given a lot of front-page play in either paper. Domestic
affairs topics lead the way for both papers (34% for El Diario
and 42% for Hoy), but those stories usually concerned local
topics - often crime. El Diario did more stories on crime
and crime trends, 12 in all, than on any other topic except
terrorism. The same was true for Hoy, where the 11 stories
on crime and crime trends headed the list of topics. Articles
related to terrorism made up 12% of the topics for each paper.
There were some interesting differences between the two papers,
however.
Perhaps because we counted the front-page teasers for El
Diario and it generally teased at least one soft-news feature
there were many more entertainment/celebrity and lifestyle
stories in its tally - 13% and 16% of the total respectively.
Jennifer Lopez made more than a few appearances in these front-page
teaser stories - including the "bitter ending to the
Bennifer saga" in January as well as the way the "Public
sets out against J. Lo and Marc" in June. In February
the paper fronted a story speculating about whether two well-known
Spanish-language news anchors had married.
Hoy's front page wasn't as interested in celebrity or lifestyle
(though J. Lo cracked its front page as well), but one thing
that stood out in its topic selection was the high number
of stories concerning immigration - 12% - which fell under
the domestic affairs rubric. The stories ranged the country,
from a local report about a Mexican man who accepted a voluntary
return home on April 15 to a piece about the postponed deportation
of a Salvadoran girl in North Carolina on April 8.
Pieces with home-region topics didn't appear in either of
these papers as much as they did in other papers we examined.
Home-region topics were the focus of only 10% of all the stories
on the front page of El Diario and only 7% of those stories
in Hoy.
Over all, both papers reflect a mix of approaches to the news.
Judging by their front pages, they aren't exactly national
or local newspapers, but they do not spend an inordinate amount
of space on stories from various home regions, either. Their
readers ultimately get something similar in tone and approach
to what they might find in New York's Daily News - though
obviously with more space devoted to issues that matter particularly
to their Spanish-language readers. On inside pages, both papers
have extensive sections devoted to Latin America, and their
food, sports, entertainment and opinion sections are more
targeted toward Latin American topics. They will be interesting
to watch in years to come; both represent the changes in ownership
that are hitting the ethnic media, about which more later.
Amsterdam News
Started in 1909, this Harlem-based weekly tabloid is widely
considered the leader among African-American newspapers across
the country. It's aimed at African-American New Yorkers and
is available on the newsstand, or by subscription for roughly
$35 a year. It reports a circulation of 30,000.
The News ran the fewest front-page stories on the days we
measured, 67 in all.
If the Pakistan Post is global in perspective, the Amsterdam
News sits at the other end of the continuum. Its coverage
is overwhelmingly based on happenings in and around New York,
with 63% of its stories having a local geographic focus. Another
34% had a national focus. A scant 3% (two stories) of the
pieces we looked were about countries black immigrants come
from, a very broad category. The two stories with a "home
region" geographic focus both concerned the problems
in Haiti in 2004. Otherwise the paper had no stories with
a geographic focus outside the U.S. But the paper considers
coverage of the Caribbean to be so important for readers that
it devotes a weekly page to news from the region.
The paper's primary focus on local issues makes for a significant
distinction between the African American press and any immigrant
press. Unlike the other publications we looked at, the Amsterdam
News was published in English for a population that is largely
U.S.-born. It is a local paper, and also naturally more of
a supplement to other news outlets than a primary source.
It's more of a local magazine than a local newspaper, as is
clear from the topics covered.
Politics and government received more coverage than anything
else (43% of stories), but that coverage wasn't about stump
speeches by President Bush or Senator Kerry. The paper paid
close attention to the Democratic primaries, with ten stories
about the fate of the contenders during the primary season
and with special attention going to the Rev. Al Sharpton.
Sharpton's name appeared in the headlines of six of the ten
stories. The paper also focused on more local politics, like
the candidacy of Adam Clayton Powell for Congress, and the
standing in the African-American community of Governor Jim
McGreevey of New Jersey.
Outside of politics, the paper focused on domestic issues
(34% of stories) with more local touch. Education and local
economic conditions figured heavily into the story count,
with education stories being focused on the New York City
Schools - everything from the opening of a new school in Harlem
to the question of social promotion of students. The labor
movement, barely covered in much of the mainstream press,
is alive and well in terms of coverage in the News. Land development
issues received coverage and, of course, local crime stories
appeared on the front page, but many of those dealt with problems
the community had with police actions. The paper also looked
at the issue of race on many different planes, from the divide
between black and white America, in January, to Bill Cosby's
controversial comments in May, to former President Ronald
Reagan's legacy among blacks in June. All those topics appear
in the mainstream press, but the coverage would have been
drastically different. Other papers, particularly the mainstream
press, did not have covered so closely tied to the communities
and concerns of African American New Yorkers.
Interestingly, the New York-based paper ran only one front-page
story on the issue of terrorism in the days we examined it.
Summary
Even considering the small scope of this study, the vastly
different approaches and kinds of content we found shows that
ethnic audiences are getting a complicated mix of news in
their press. What exactly they are getting varies from ethnicity
to ethnicity and outlet to outlet.
Different ethnicities, in effect, demand different things
from ethnic media, even within the print medium in the same
city.
Some papers, like the Pakistan Post and Sing Tao, both aimed
at audiences from far-off regions, are publishing for people
caught between two worlds, their new home and the country
of their birth or ancestors.
Others, such as El Diario/La Prensa and Hoy, are more focused
on linking the members of a specific local ethnic community
together to share information about what's happening in their
neighborhoods. And the Amsterdam News is not as much about
topics or regions that aren't covered as it about the putting
a different perspective on the news that readers are getting.
There is a common denominator, however. They are all, in
a way, about covering what has fallen through fairly considerable
- and even growing - cracks left by the mainstream press.
Each of these models serves a vital purpose for its audience.
The larger question may be the role they play in shaping the
world view - and the U.S. view-of those they reach. We'll
discuss that more in the next section.
Click
here to view footnotes for this section.
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and Economics | Alternative
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