In my final week of blogging on the site MyLatinoNews.com, the editors decide not to update their stories. No problem however, because this week I don’t want to talk about a particular story, site layout, or even their sponsorship. I want to talk a little bit about MLN’s mission and where it fits into the greater U.S. Latino community.

MLN’s mission as described in their “about us” section is making sure “Latinos have a place on the web where they can read and get informed on the issues affecting the Latino community.” It’s become clear to me over the course of this blogging project that MLN does not truly meet its goal. While it does provide a series of articles full of information to read on the web, it does not provide the most “relevant up to date information” for its audience.

There is also the sense of extreme “intellectual ghettoization,” as ethnic minority media author Stephen Higgins puts it. The news selected for the site continually covers only a small scope of issues affecting this community and the accumulation of them on one site makes it evident that the site itself has a particular agenda to push. Because they fail to give readers what they need, they fail to increase their readership. It also does not help that they do a very poor job of marketing themselves to this audience, especially considering they’re sponsored by the only Latino-owned marketing consulting firm, Targeted Communications. How ironic that you can neither target nor communicate with your supposed audience with a name like that.

In the end, MLN was pretty much a let down. I chose it because it seemed that they were dedicated to their mission and further solidifying the Latino identity in the U.S., but in both aspects they fell below standards. For that, MLN grew increasingly more boring week after week and it was harder and harder to pick something to talk about. However, if there is one good thing that came out of this venture, it is the knowledge of what not to do in trying to create, attract and retain a readership base. In showing me what was so blatanly wrong, I now have a better idea as to what is needed to have an effective news outlet on the web.

After really thinking this questions through, I realize it’s because as a news source MLN just doesn’t cut it. While I knew from the start they didn’t produce their own content (which is fine), I didn’t think about how their selection biases may play out over time. Then when looking into their sponsor, it was even more obvious that there would be a definitive bias against certain types of news.

So, what does this mean for me as a reader of MLN?

Well, it’s not that I don’t generally agree with MLN perspective in most situations, but knowing how blatantly skewed the information they present is I am even more likely to question it than if the other side of the story were represented equally. I assume this may be a product of years of consuming “objective” news, or at least news that attempted to show both sides of a story.

Yet, I also think it’s something greater than that—something central to the function of “news” itself, which is that news is supposed to provide otherwise unknown information to the public. If news outlets would make this their main priority, news would be able to inform the public and allow for an educated polity to make the vital decisions necessary in society.

If I can pin-point the first instance, I would reference the first time we would have a minority news publication representative visit our class — Nancy from The Jewish Voice & Herald. Having told us she was primarily funded by the Jewish Federation of Rhode Island, the rest of the Q&A that day centered around censorship issues and public critiques of the paper and its affiliation with the Federation.

Our second visit by a minority news representative, again, raised questions of sponsorship and censorship. When the editor of The Providence American recounted a story about a hip hop insert being pulled because one of his bigger sponsors threatened to withdraw their funding, the class would never again forget the question of sponsorship when analyzing any news source.

In the case of MyLatinoNews.com, there is also one main source of funding. It is obvious from the first time one views the website that there are hardly any ads and of the three or two there are, they seem to be repeated over and over. Once one looks into where the financial backing is coming from that is when everything makes sense. The “ads” on the site are actually extra publicity for the sponsor’s other ventures (The Mario Solis-Marich Radio Show, MLN.tv, and  the opinions blog Nuestra Voice).

The sponsor listed for MLN is a Latino-owned/centered political and communications consulting firm based in Los Angeles, CA. According to its site, Targeted Communications is the only Latino owned and operated consulting firm offering a call center approved by the Democratic National Committee. It also operates three kinds of media outlets, MLN and the three mentioned earlier. Other services by Targeted Communications include: polling, surveys, and public outreach.

When taking the sponsor for MLN into consideration, it is easy to see how much influence it really has on the news source. Considering it’s not a traditional news source that makes its own news, but rather filters news for others, selection of content is the number one way the sponsor sways the site.  Its ties with the Democratic Party make suggest that readers would not see anything negative concerning the party, and, if one does a quick search for content like that, you will find absolutely nothing of the sort. There is also nothing remotely promoting the Republican party or what are known as traditional Republican issues. In fact, the opposite can be seen. MLN’s heavy concentration on the issue of immigration—something most Republican leaders oppose—may be related more to its sponsorship than the real concern it holds for ALL Latinos in this country.

To conclude, sponsorship effects on news production vary from source to source. But, in the case of MLN, the sponsor goals really make or break the content.

The article is entitled “New England’s 7th Spanish-language Paper Begins Publishing,” and tells the story of the newly-launched “El Tiempo de Boston” (note: sorry no link. it doesn’t seem to have a website yet).    The original story was taken by MLN from none other than the largest cirulating paper in the Boston area, The Boston Globe. That makes this story quite interesting for a number of reasons:

- El Tiempo’s story was deemed newsworthy by an established newspaper in the area

- a minority news outlet deemed the story about a new minority news outlet newsworthy

- the story is now available to other publications through Boston’s AP (i.e. Charleston Daily Mail of West Virginia)

How the story came to be is not the only interesting thing here. There’s a plenitude of issues relevant to our minority news class that arise in the story itself:

- what does the birth of another minority news outlet mean to the area? (in reference to both minority and mainstream media)

- why did the creators feel the need to create it?

- who will the publication cater to? Or seek to cater to? (and how: ads? stories? circulation?)

-how will they survive in such a competitive market and in such harsh economic times?

If you’ve gotten this far in the post, then you’ll see there are more questions than answers here. In order to begin rectifying that, let us first tackle the fundamental question at stake here: why would the media be interested in covering itself?

From personal experience I can say print media does not typically encourage stories where the primary actor is another media outlet. But at the same time, I know that if something were to set off the “story alarm” in my head, my editors would be open to hearing about it. Below are a few things, which would set off any journalist’s alarm:

• if the story’s premise points to a greater trend (like last week’s Latino In America story)
• if there are big players at stake (such as the Times acquisition of the Globe)
• if something is without precedent (much like the Singapore case in “Community Media”)
• if something quickly becomes part of the popular culture (the dozens of stories covering Kanye’s VMA scene)
• minority news only: if another media outlet deems something newsworthy and it’s relevant to your audience (the MLN story above)

As for answers to the questions raised in the article itself, one thing is certain those who created the newspaper felt their community needed more exposure as well as diversity within that exposure. The article mentions that the owner seeks to cater to the Latino community of Boston and thus far has run articles concerning Latinos in the area both directly and indirectly. But, the most interesting part of his selection of stories as opposed to those run in other Spanish papers is that his paper actually covers crime stories, something not typically seen in other minority media overall. So far, the paper plans to depend on ad sales alone to keep it running and they hope to keep it free with a circulation of 20,000. What the Boston community’s, and specifically its Latino community, response is to this new media addition is not yet visible.

It’s one thing to have a story on the cover of a magazine or above the fold in a newspaper, but what about making it the head story in four different pages on a site? Is repetition of what one can presume to be an objective story make it bias?

The MLN story in question comes from La Frontera Times and is entitled “Secretary Ken Salazar: Immigration Reform Waits Until “Certainty” of Passage.” As the title suggests, the story tells of the hold on immigration reform until the “right window” of opportunity comes up. The article itself is written in traditional objective jounalistic writing—taking no sides, only stating information.

However, MLN has managed to take this story and put it all over their site. It is the top story on immigration, politics, Latino community and the home page. With so much repetition it can only be assumed that those running the site want this to be read, furthermore, that they want people to care about this issue. This kind of bold move on their part really clarifies their biases on the topic, and the inherent bias in their selection process. Though some may argue this selection bias to be characteristic of small sites like MLN, this is a theme which could reside in larger, “mainstream” media as well. Again, this brings up questions of what and who makes stories “newsworthy.”

This kind of media-generated news should really be in a category all to itself.

First of all, it would be interesting to note what kind of things the media is interested in talking about when it comes to looking inwardly.

Secondly, what kind of repurcussions does coverage have on the media outlet central to the story?

Lastly, would those who typically consume the original media outlet’s news be likely to consume what is being said by other media outlets?

Strangely, these three inquiries could also be applied to this blog. If one can argue a blog is a kind of news outlet—whether producing news on a single individual, several individuals, institutions/organizations—then one can also argue this blog alone is a good example of media covering media.

Until this day, the story is featured on MLN’s home page and listed under “entertainment.” While the story itself is unusual in content for MLN, it is not surprising considering how it’s been adopted by every media outlet in the US. This raises the question: what makes something “news?”

In this case, the “balloon hoax,” as it has come to be called, seems to be the perfect headline both in its initial form and its latest developments.

From the very beginning it exhibited classic “front page” elements like a child in danger, an anxious semi-famous family, unexplainable circumstances, and undeniable suspense. As the story developed, it became clear the story was full of unanswered questions, possible judicial action, and an infinite list of conspirators.

While those elements may have made it possible for the story to get such widespread media coverage, what made it newsworthy for MLN?

Was it perhaps its geographical origin?

Fort Collins is located in Colorado’s Larimer Country, which in the 2000 US Census showed Hispanics as the largest minority population in the area and estimates say that number will grow by 2010.

Was it the multiracial aspect of it?

Falcon Heene is what some would consider a Hapa, born to a white father, Richard, and an asian mother, Mayumi.

Or perhaps it was the simple fact that, despite efforts to do otherwise, MLN and other minority publications like it will be liable to following the leads of established media outlets when the story catches the attention of such a big audience.

The entire article is highly critical of the Orchestra’s strategy to appeal to the local Latino community, stating that “L.A.’s cultural elite shouldn’t mistake the Dudamel phenomenon for a solid strategy to reverse its historic negligence toward the city’s Latinos” and going as far as advising similar orchestra’s to “start looking in their own backyards” for recruits.

The reason why MLN decided to focus on this piece of news is obvious – LA has a high Latino populations, Dudamel is a popular Latin American, and the hire was a direct strategy to engage Latinos. It is less obvious, however, why columnist Gregory Rodriguez  took such a kind approach towards Dudamel in the midst of such a negative response to what he thinks are the Orchestra’s survival tactics. In fact, writing so positively about Dudamel slightly diminishes Rodriguez’s argument against the hire. So, why then did he end up tip-toeing around the conductor’s feelings?

Rodriguez’s true opinion on Dudamel emerges when he writes “not that Dudamel doesn’t have possibilities… he came from low income surroundings in the Venezuelan provinces.” He also points out how seamlessly Dudamel can interact with the local elite and how his background convinced the orchestra to launch a music program increasing art exposure in LA’s low-income communities.

Does the article show readers the true nature of the relationship between US Latinos and their Latin American counterparts? If so, can it be said to be a positive or negative one? Perhaps the relationship between the three groups—American elites, Latinos, and Latin Americans—can best be explained through the development of this article and how it was deemed newsworthy by multiple news outlets.

Sections continue to serve as an effective means of organizing news by subject so readers have a clearer indication of what their about to read. Sections tend to vary from news source to news source, and they typically give the reader some insight as to what kind of content the source is trying to focus on.

In the case of My Latino News, readers will see they boast 6 content sections for their site: Entertainment, Immigration, Latin American News, Latino Community, Politics and Top Story. One can learn a lot about MLN simply by thinking more thoroughly about why these five sections would be important to its reader base, or at least the audience they are trying to cater to.

Top Story serves as a kind of “front page” to the site. This is where one would click to find out what MLN thinks is the most important story for Latinos in the U.S. While the section itself may be of little insight, the kinds of article that are deemed worthy to take this spot on the site are a whole different story. Just as well, the kinds of stories that would not end up here are something to take into consideration.

The Politics, Entertainment and Latino Community sections look to be fairly standard sections one would be able to find in other sites or publications. However, it is very particular how Immigration—something most would consider a political issue—gets its own section on MLN. One theory is that the makers of MLN found this  political issue of particular interest to Latinos. Another theory is that they are at least trying to make it appear as if immigration is of interest to Latinos. In any case, MLN has chosen to give it considerable attention for use the sight.

The last section, Latin American News, is interesting in an entirely different way from the others. This is not the only section to have subsections within it, seeing as Latino Community is split up into various subsections like health, policies, education, etc. This is however the only section to expose Latinos as belonging to smaller, tighter communities than that of the all-encompassing Latino label. This news section assumes that a reader may have interest for news on particular Latin American countries, not just Latin American as a whole, but clearly defined states. Besides the fact that the subsections divide the Latino community into individual actors interested in their own states of origin, they also reduce possible places of origin for Latinos in this country to Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Cuba, Mexico and Puerto Rico. With the exception of the US territory of Puerto Rico where people are free to migrate in and out of this country at will and Mexico, which has the highest rates of immigrants into this country, the other four countries listed as subsections are quite odd. What was MLN’s reasoning for giving them their own subsections, if they are not the Latin American countries with the highest migration rates?

Strange indeed.

I) Must be readily accessible to me and those in my class. This includes regular updates in English.

II) Must attempt to cater to the entire U.S. Latino population

III) Must be owned by a minority or a company that is predominantly owned or run by those of the same community it targets

The result? mylatinonews.com

The website tries to cater to the ever-growing population by “finding the most up to date news and information relevant to the Latino community” and organizing it into five different sections: Entertainment, Politics, Immigration, Latino Community, and Latin American News. The site is one of three media outlets produced by Targeted Communications, a Latino-owned political consulting and media development firm based in Los Angeles, CA.