America's Oldest Latino Newspaper Laying Off Staff, in Danger of Shutting Down
The country's oldest Spanish-language newspaper, El Diario/La Prensa, is in danger of closing down.
According to the Huffington Post, the New York paper has been declining since it was purchased by the Argentinean conservative daily news company, La Nación.
The move was supposed to help the paper make a smooth and successful transition to digital media.
However, the results were not as predicted. Despite a multi-million dollar investment, employees complained that the new foreign managers created a pessimistic work environment and pushed a focus on national news coverage.
Since the La Nacion takeover, about 75 percent of the paper's editorial staff were let go, with another round of layoffs to be announced this Friday.
Employee Oscar Hernandez spoke with the Huffington Post about the staff's dissatisfaction, and the general uncertainty about the paper's future. He said the paper's former CEO, Francisco Seghezzo, told the staff that the print edition would likely be ending its run.
"You're killing the very substance of information that's been such a part of the community for so many years," said Hernandez. "Is this the downfall of a newspaper, or is it the downfall of a community?"
This year's new CEO, Gabriel Dantur, denied that the print edition would be ending, although he admitted they may reduce pages to cut costs. He said the company was searching for new strategies in advertising, and ways to boost revenue.
"The goal is to assure El Diario's sustainability," Dantur said to HuffPost. "We're aware these are difficult times. But a business that isn't self-sustaining, unless it's a charity, can't be independent."
La Prensa started production in 1913, becoming one of the most successful Spanish-language papers in the city. In the sixties, it merged with rival newspaper El Diario to give it its current moniker.
The rise of the Internet and digital media proved a challenge to the paper's survival, as it did to many print media companies. While the paper still garners local interest, many Latino New Yorkers worry that it will soon be forgotten.
The paper's already become irrelevant to a lot of people," said Angelo Falcón, the director of the National Institute of Latino Policy, to HuffPost. "There is no paper or mechanism that has replaced El Diario and the role that it played historically. It's a big loss."
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