US: Spanish newspaper, Siglo21, goes from a weekly to a daily

Posted by Katherine Thompson on September 8, 2008 at 2:43 PM

While most US newspapers are looking at cutting costs or reducing coverage, Siglo21 is making plans to move from a weekly to a daily. The New England free paper expects to become a daily on 15 September, the first day of Hispanic Heritage Month.

The Lawrence-based newspaper - which is currently distributed on Thursdays in New England cities with large Latino populations - will now be distributed six days a week.

Lou Ureneck, chairman of Boston University's journalism department said of the expansion, "I am not surprised that the non-English press in the US is a bright spot. . . . That dimension of the media has been growing rapidly for obvious reasons. The Hispanic population of the US is rising very rapidly, and we see changes in all sorts of ways, and now we are seeing it in the press. It's a terrific development."

Publishers are rapidly tapping into the Hispanic market. Latinos are the largest minority in the country, and media and advertisers view them as an undertapped audience.

Source: Boston.com via IFRA Executive News Service