Ethnic Media Growth Is Just Impressive

Ethnic media play an important role in democracy. They have the ability to provide a more insightful view when it comes to ethnic news.

The section on ethnic media is full of examples of the unifying, directing and watching dog role of ethnic media for ethnic groups; but, its rapid growth really caught my attention. As the immigrant population increases, so does ethnic media. That makes total sense.

The news industry, especially newspapers, has been steadily shrinking for the last several years. According to the state of the media 2011 by the Project for Excellence in Journalism (PEJ), 1,000 to 1,500 more newsroom jobs will have been lost—meaning newspaper newsrooms are 30% smaller than in 2000. However, the readings on ethnic media reveal ethnic media growth is skyrocketing as it reaches impressive numbers in New York or expands to states that are not traditionally familiar with minority media.

Journalists are appealing to creative and diverse forms of journalism to survive in a changing, uncertain industry. The fact that ethnic media are growing as media in general is contracting makes me think that ethnic media could be or is the way for many journalists to build a career.

Ethnic media are not only increasing in quantity but also in variety. They are extending to multiple platforms as later generations start to consume their products. Some of them provide news in their languages of origin and English. Also, they are serving populations that were not even in the media landscape in recent years such as African groups.

Ethnic media also have a unique model right now. While mainstream media are predominantly owned by private corporations, ethnic media are still owned by independents or are family businesses. This might be a factor why ethnic media is still effective fulfilling a community role and feeding democracy in contrast with mainstream media. In 2010, mainstream media were effective generating more debate but highly ineffective expanding it, according to the state of the media annual report by PEJ.