Ethnic supplements promote wider knowledge

By HARIM MARTINEZ / Guest Columnist

When surveying the vast array of news media outlets it seems there is little in the world not covered. However, most positive news stories are focused on the ethnic majority's culture. When the network news covers communities of color, it tends to emphasize crime stories or colorful ethnic festivals.

Through no fault of their own, English-language media outlets, are seeing a high turnover rate as reporters often fail to acquire deep knowledge of their beat when minorities are concerned. With such a limited understanding of ethnic populations, "most reporting is done from a here-and-now perspective," observes Don Heider, a professor at the University of Texas, on the relationship between the media news and communities of color.

Independent presses have a number of positives that traditional news outlets lack. Among them is providing a voice to underrepresented members of the community. Community building is also an under-appreciated byproduct. Reports that are historically aware of the community help crystallize group identity and give readers a long-range view of how change happens.

The long view sustains people's sense of the possible when governments or other institutions fail to acknowledge their concerns. It is especially seen in the African-American and Asian-American press, which regularly run articles on social history.

Ethnic news can cement and remake a group consciousness and identity for immigrants in a new country. They provide ways of interpreting American life and the struggles of minorities adjusting to new ways of living. By covering the news of the entire home country or region, the papers often dissolve distinctions that had been active back home, creating a broader sense of solidarity.

The ethnic press gives consistent attention to issues that are of passing interest to mainstream outlets.

Topics such as labor problems are aggressively covered while only given token coverage in the mainstream press. What may be seen as a small event to national media may in fact cause whole communities to be in turmoil.

It is often overlooked that mainstream media is run by corporations that must always be looking at their bottom line. This type of setup makes it difficult for reporters to question the hand that feeds them.

Independent media has no such conflict and is generally allowed to report items that may not be covered in other venues.

When mainstream outlets turn a deaf ear to voices that must be heard, it is the independent ethnic press that takes the lead. It is they that are free to explore the ignored and the unseen.

--Harim Matinez is the editor in chief of Asian Pacific Review, a supplement of The Collegian.