Parity Partners Connect with Latino Communities

by NAHJ Staff

After expressing their frustration to the editors of their local newspaper, some Latinos in Corpus Christi, Texas, came to a crossroads: they were either going to work more closely with the Corpus Christi Caller-Times to strengthen ties with the paper or they were going to quit and walk away.

Many stayed to work with the paper.

“The coverage has been better, but sometimes we make mistakes. And, I say ‘we’ because I feel like a part of the Caller-Times because they are listening,” said Nancy Vera, who meets regularly with the Caller-Times editors. “It’s improved a lot.”

The paper improved its coverage forming a Latino community advisory committee that includes long-time critics. The Caller-Times invited each member of the advisory committee to write an opinion piece on any subject. Most committee members took the opportunity.

“It’s been a tremendous asset for our newspaper and a learning experience for our young newsroom,” said Shane Fitzgerald, managing editor of the Caller-Times. The Texas-based newspaper is one of 19 media companies in the Project.

Since NAHJ launched the Parity Project in April 2003, many partnering companies have formed closer working relationships with leaders in the Latino community by forming advisory committees. The committees are made up of volunteers representing a diverse cross-section of the Latino community that meet periodically with the editors or staff members of partnering media companies.

Many companies that have formed advisory committees have made dramatic and immediate improvements in their coverage of the Latino community.

• Members of Tampa’s Hispanic the advisory committee have praised the Tampa Tribune’s improved coverage. One member called the Parity Project the best thing to happen to the city's Hispanic community. The project launched in February 2005, and this past October, the paper began publishing Centro, its new bilingual weekly publication. In addition, the Tribune published a Spanish-language hurricane preparedness guide and ran a story about translation services for 911 calls in Spanish a day after the article appeared in English.

• In Colorado, the Rocky Mountain News decided to examine the issue of education within the Latino community after the paper’s Hispanic advisory committee identified the topic as the most important issue facing the community. The paper received permission from the city’s school superintendent to send a reporter and photographer to North High School for a year to detail issues confronting students. Hispanics make up close to 90 percent of the school’s student enrollment. Tina Greigo, a columnist for the Mountain News, chronicled several issues confronting students, including truancy. In addition, the paper published a week-long series called “Early Exit” that examined data provided by the Denver school system on graduation rates. The paper found that only one third of all students, and 27 percent of Hispanic students, entering the eighth grade in 1999 ended up graduating from high school. Griego will spend the 2005-2006 school year chronicling educational programs that have been effective in combating truancy.

• In Florida, Nelson Merchan-Cely, president of Hispanics in Action, Inc., said that his local newspaper, The Port St. Lucie News, recently started publishing a section called, “Que Pasa in the Treasure Coast?” As a result, Hispanic groups have received more attention from the paper.