4.4 Chapter 22 expansion of mass media in spanish in the united  (Page 4/7)

The Spanish language is not the only one that is in that situation, as I see every day in my daughter’s school patio, where the Korean, the Togolese, the Armenian, and Spanish will die unless the gods intervene. Consequently, it is easy to deduce that the average writings in Spanish basically serve the first generation of immigrants and in a smaller degree, the second. From that comes the necessity to reach the English-speakers of the 43.5 million Hispanics with English or bilingual publications. For example, of the 207 publications with more than 11 million copies of global circulation that form the National Association of Hispanic Publications, 127 are published in Spanish (58%), 68 are bilingual (31%), and 25 (11%) are written in English ( 2004 Convention Average Kit , p. 46). The numbers used in marketing research indicate that the dominant language of 63% of the Hispanics born outside the U.S. is Spanish, as opposed to the 14% that prefer English, and 23% that use both languages. This shows that the second generation communicates in English between themselves, as well as in Spanglish , as it is easily noticed in the streets or in any school patio.

Specialists in marketing research divide the population more or less in those categories (Spanish, English, Bilingual) for they calculate that the spending power of the Latinos at the moment half a billion dollars per annum and that will pass into the trillions by 2010. Advertisers strive to reach as many people as possible, taking into account the diverse linguistic abilities from tens of millions of Hispanics.

La opinión, fidelity and symbiosis

In order to understand La Opinión, founded in 1926, it is necessary to speak of La Prensa of San Antonio, Texas (1913). Both are creations of the Mexican Ignacio Eugenio Lozano, exile of the Revolution at the beginning of the 20 ^th century in his country, and both newspapers represent the founder’s personality, historical reality, and the necessities of a time and community to which they serve or served at concrete moments.

Lozano conceived and published his weekly magazine-cum-newspaper in 1913. It was clear that his newspaper, done "by Mexicans, for Mexico and the Mexicans,”   was the connection between the new town and the one the readers left behind. In fact, those who did La Prensa conceived it as "the voice of Mexico from outside," as "the official organ of the great Mexican family in the United States,” and as "the bond of union between that colony and its native country.” 

Before moving ahead, I must say that I owe this information to Jose C. Valadés, history of La Prensa from 1913 to 1937, that was published February 13, 1938, with the title of “One Man, One Newspaper.” The cultural supplement of La Opinión , La Communidad , was published weekly between September 6, 1982, and January 2, 1983. I have taken advantage of diverse things published and heard in the newspaper for the 23 years that I have in the company, especially interviews with or with memories of those who made both newspapers.