Hundreds of foreign-language newspapers have flourished — and died—with immigrant enclaves in the U.S. The languages were different, but their fates were mostly the same: immigrants assimilate, the paper falls.
Today’s Spanish papers are springing up as more Latinos immigrate, but the new magazine-style newspaper Fusión is following the Latinos who are dispersing into the U.S. mainstream, said Brian Monroe, an advertising director for Meriden-based Record-Journal Publishing Co.
Fusión is an English-language publication aimed at Latinos – often the children of immigrants or those who came to the U.S. at a young age – who primarily speak English but feel strong ties to the Latino community. The first issue hit newsstands on April 13 in 34 Connecticut towns strung between Hartford and New Haven, and Monroe said the paper carves a new niche for itself.
“We are the only English-language paper for Latinos in the state,” he said.
Fusión is the reincarnation of Tiempo, a Spanish-language paper that got its start in 1992, Monroe said. Tiempo was one of the first Spanish-language papers in the area, serving five communities.
But new Spanish papers have popped up, crowding the market. And while Connecticut still has strong clusters of Spanish-speaking Latinos to read those papers, a whole other demographic was being overlooked, Monroe said: Namely, the more affluent, suburban Latinos in their 20s and 30s who primarily speak English.
After conducting its own market research, the Record-Journal staff decided to make the switch in January. With a bilingual Tiempo staff already in place, the transition didn’t require any major personnel overhaul.
Big Picture
Fusión’s content is a mix of local news featuring Latinos, but a large chunk of the paper is devoted to national news, Monroe said – updates on J-Lo or commentary on Geraldo Rivera, for example.
Delizabeth Duran, Fusión’s managing editor, said she is an example of their target audience. Born in the Dominican Republic, she was raised in the U.S. from a young age and considers English her primary language.
But Latino music, food and culture are still a strong part of her life. “We may speak English,” she wrote in the first issue of Fusión, “but generally our blood bubbles with Latin.”
Orlando Rodriguez, manager of the Connecticut State Data Center at the University of Connecticut, said UConn doesn’t have ready access to hard numbers on how many Latinos like Duran live in the state.
But 2000 Census data shows the Hartford-area Latinos keep a tenacious hold on their Hispanic identity.
For the Census question on race, many Latino respondents in other cities mark, “white,” while Latinos in the Hartford area put “other.”
It shows that for Hartford-area Latinos, being Latino comes first, Rodriguez said.
Still, it’s no surprise that English has a stronger grip on that population. Rodriguez himself could qualify as a Fusión target reader. A native of Cuba, Rodriguez was raised in the U.S. He sees Spanish take a back seat — or no seat at all — in new generations of Latinos.
“It’s tough to keep the language when everything around you is English.”
