Miami, Apr 11 (EFE).- The demographic weight of Latinos in the United States causes a growing importance of the Spanish-language media that serve a group that already influences the entire country, according to executives of the main Hispanic companies in diffusion.
The director of CNN en Español, Cynthia Hudson, told EFE on Tuesday that the importance of Latinos in the US causes Spanish to “continue to grow” in importance in the media, although this process is carried out “living with English”.
Hudson participated today in Miami (Florida) in a forum on the influence of journalism in Spanish in the US that included executives from Univision, Telemundo, El Nuevo Herald of Miami and La Opinión of Los Angeles.
The event was organized by the Press Association of the Spanish city of Cádiz (APC) with the support of the Inter-American Press Association (SIP) and puts the culmination of the IX International Congress of the Spanish Language held in March in Cádiz.
Hudson participated in the first panel, moderated by ACP Vice President Mabel Caballero, entitled “Has journalism in Spanish achieved acceptance and recognition by the US public and press? of the conference “Journalism with Ñ.
As he said, “the issue of Hispanic journalism is of interest in the United States and to those who are not part of the Latino culture.”
THE SPANISH GAINS WEIGHT
He argued that, in fact, “CNN in Spanish is becoming more and more important” in the company as a whole, which is why bilingual journalists are increasing in coverage.
This demographic process, in his opinion, will mean that in the future the US media “will have to appeal to the Latino population, whether in Spanish or English.”
The president of Univisión News, Leopoldo Gómez, stated that he views the Hispanic media “with optimism for the future.”
Gómez argued that the growing importance of Latinos in the US not only consolidates the Spanish-language media, but that, in his opinion, there is still “a long way to go regarding the Hispanic presence in English-language media.”
He recognized that this growing weight is accompanied by a Hispanic audience for media such as Univision that, however, “is increasingly bilingual.”
The editorial director of La Opinión in Los Angeles, Armando Varela, maintained that although journalism in Spanish is undoubtedly gaining weight in the US, it is a niche that is not equally recognized by all of society.
The panel was closed by the journalist from El Nuevo Herald from Miami, Sonia Osorio, who highlighted that her newspaper makes a daily effort to inform the Latino population, but also to offer news that “contributes to preserving ties with their countries.”
DIGITAL CHANGES
The second panel, “Adaptation of traditional US Spanish-language media to digital changes. Will they come out stronger or will they lose strength?”, was moderated by Ricardo Trotti, executive director of the IAPA.
The director of Diario Las Américas in Miami, Ileana Labastida, pointed out that her newspaper has done its homework in the digital field and that although the paper continues, once a week, being a reference, it received more than 255,000 visits in one week. .
The editorial director of Americano Media in Miami, Manuel Aguilera, said that his medium is positively fulfilled in the digital field but that it is complicated having to respond to a “very fragmented” Latino market.
Marta Planells, a journalist for Noticias Telemundo, highlighted that the network has made the leap to the digital world, after clarifying that the trend they find is an increasingly bilingual audience.
Rafael Cores, Vice President of Digital Content at Impremedia, closed the panel by pointing out that it is important that the media have an increasing presence on social networks.
The forum follows the one organized by the Cádiz Press Association in the Moroccan cities of Tangier and Tetuán, in addition to the parallel to the IX International Congress of the Spanish Language in March in Cádiz.
