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February 1, 2005
NAHJ Establishes Prized Partnership as Parity Project is Launched at Three Pulitzer Papers in California
by Kevin Olivas, Parity Project Director
Santa Maria (Calif.) High School student Gabriel Zacarias crystallized why the NAHJ Parity Project is needed in his town. “Our school was one of only three nationally to receive an inspiration award from the American College Board. But there was no coverage in the paper.” Zacarias made this statement during a Parity Project town hall co-hosted by the Santa Maria Times on Jan. 25, 2005.
That paper was the final stop among three daily publications in California where the Parity Project has been launched.
The first of these launchings was in Napa, part of Northern California’s “wine country,” where about 80 people crammed into the Copia community center for the Parity Project town hall with the Napa Valley Register on Jan. 18, 2005. The publisher of that 18,000 daily circulation paper had expected only about 20 people to show up.
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| Napa Valley Register Managing Editor Bill Kisliuk and NAHJ Parity Project Director Kevin Olivas speak to about 80 people at Parity Project Town Hall in Napa, Calif. on Jan. 18, 2005. |
Relations between Hispanics, who make up about 25% of the area’s population, and the paper have been tense in the past. A few years ago, the Register had put out a weekly Spanish-language publication, but ceased its production, because the publisher felt it was no longer financially viable. Several at the town hall say they were upset about that, pointing to that newspaper as the only regular source of news in Spanish in that area.
Several others in the audience took issue with editorial letters published in the Register that they felt took an anti-immigrant and anti-Latino stance, without offering other opinions.
Managing Editor Bill Kisliuk wrote in an editorial following the town hall that the larger than expected turnout was a positive sign for the future. “The Register covers many controversial issues that draw out passionate differences of opinion on complex issues. The more we cover issues pertaining to the Spanish-speaking community – and we are committed to doing so – the more these passions will surface,” he wrote.
Kisliuk went on to write, “It is my hope that when people see an issue that separates them from their neighbor, readers understand - as vintner Amelia Ceja said – that Napans have more in common than whatever it is that separates us.”
Currently, there are two full-time Latino journalists among the Napa Valley Register’s editorial staff of 25.
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| The Hanford Sentinel building in Hanford, Calif., about 30 miles south of Fresno, played host to an NAHJ Parity Project Town Hall on Jan. 20, 2005. |
Two days later, on Jan. 20, 2005, about 16 people representing educators, Latino activists and public officals attended a town hall with the Hanford Sentinel, a 14,000 circulation paper in the heart of central California’s San Joaquin Valley. That region is one of the leading areas in the U.S. where produce is grown and harvested. Latinos account for about 43% of the area’s population.
Kings County Assistant Sheriff Randy Montejano was there. He said, “The only coverage of Latinos I see in some parts of our area are about gangs, crime and immigration. But we have Latino kids here who are doing some great things. They are involved in sports, in civic activities and in making this area a better place to live. I would like to see the Sentinel cover those kids and the positive things that they are doing.”
“The Parity Project and our Latino readers are an important part of our community,” Sentinel publisher Randy Rickman told the audience. “This is an important program.”
The Sentinel also publishes a weekly Spanish-language newspaper, “Las Noticias del Valle.” There is only one staffer on that publication, who also spends much of her time writing stories for the English-language Sentinel as well. She is the only Hispanic on the paper’s editorial staff.
The following week about 70 people crowded into the Parity Project town hall for the Santa Maria Times. “This is a historic night for Santa Maria,” activist Margarita Olimpio said during the town hall. “I applaud the paper for doing this, but the Times needs to have more coverage on the large numbers of people taking English as a Second Language classes.” Times Editor Tom Bolton and several on his editorial staff say they want to do more to improve coverage of Latinos. Santa Maria’s population is about 60% Latino. Many of them are recent immigrants from Mexico, Guatemala and other parts of Latin America who work in the area’s agriculture industry.
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| About 70 people pack into a hotel ballroom for the NAHJ Parity Project Town Hall with the Santa Maria Times on Jan. 25, 2005. |
The paper has a daily circulation of about 19,000. Santa Maria is currently making national headlines as the area where the child molestation trial of Michael Jackson is being held. There is one full-time Latino journalist on the Times’ editorial staff. This paper also publishes a Spanish-language weekly, “El Seminario.”
Immediately after these launchings, Lee Enterprises, Inc. announced that it was purchasing Pulitzer Newspapers. The Napa Valley Register, the Hanford Sentinel and the Santa Maria Times are included in that transaction.
Despite the sale of these papers to Lee, there is no indication that their partnership with NAHJ’s Parity Project will be dis-continued. Lee Vice President of News David Stoeffler told NAHJ that he spoke with publishers of these three newspapers. “Randy Rickman (publisher of the Hanford Sentinel) made it a point to tell me that his paper had just become involved in the NAHJ Parity Project. That was impressive to me and demonstrates how valuable this program is.”
There is currently one Lee paper already involved in the Parity Project – the North County Times of north San Diego County, Calif. New Associate Parity Project Director Rosa Maria Santana attended two of these launches. She will be working with these publications to help them to identify and hire more Latino journalists while also helping them to establish stronger ties with Latino leaders and groups in these regions.
These papers will form community advisory committees that will meet on an on-going basis to discuss coverage of Latinos and ways to improve that coverage.
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