More than 3.5 million immigrants live in New York City, one of the most, if not the most, diverse urban metropolis in the United States if not the world. However, 1.8 million of that group have little or no knowledge of English. Ever wonder how and where they get information to survive in the Big Apple? To become participants and contributors to, as well as citizens in, this urban oasis?
New York City, a Mecca of information, has a diverse ethnic media community with more than 350 publications that include 26 newspapers published daily in languages other than English. New York Community Media Alliance stands at the center as a pillar of support for these publications. “Our effort is to not only to generate and promote and encourage debates on issues that are critical to this community, beneficial to community, to build capacity, to better report those issues,” said Jehangir Khataak, communications manager at NYMA.
NYMCA helped WORD journalists to cover the http://www.thenewhampshireprimary.com/2008 New Hampshire primaries. The WORD’s Jonathan Mena and Kisha Allison worked side-by-side with professionals reporting on the primaries for their ethnic communities in New York City. That experience with NYCMA, plus funds from a FORD Foundation grant for a multimedia journalism course and some financial support from Hunter, caused them to be selected by http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/ to report on and cover the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver. They were joined by WORD staffer Jacqueline Fernandez.
According to Khattak, when immigrants come to the United States, most go through three stages: Immigration, assimilation and integration. During that process, immigrants depend heavily on ethnic news media that offer information in their languages because immigrants normally do not understand the government services and systems due to the language barrier.
New York Community Media Alliance was originally founded as IPA- New York in April, 2000; in March, 2007, it was reestablished as New York Community Media Alliance. NYCMA, a non-profit organization, and is a project by the Fund for the City of New York and promotes social justice through media reform.
NYCMA focuses on editorial and marketing sides for approximately 40 members. It also publishes Voices that Must Be Heard, Ethnic and Community Press Fellowship, Independent Press Institute, Ippies Awards, Many Voices, One City and Ad services. “New York’s ethnic and community media sector is doing some fantastic works which remain under-shelved,” said Khattak. “Nobody knows what exactly is being published.”
Therefore, Voices that Must Be Heard, a weekly online compendium of stories produced by NYCMA, provides information to both ethnic reporters and minorities. Professional translators monitor ethnic news publications every week. Selected stories highlighting important community issues and providing perspectives on those issues are translated into English and published. According to its website, Voices that Must Be heard reaches more than 4,200 readers including main stream media journalists, advocacy groups, city and state agencies and students.
Therefore, it benefits not only ethnic communities and reporters but it also opens a door for mainstream media and other public to be informed about crucial issues of the city’s ethnic and immigrant communities. “Why the New York Times would be interested in how many cabbies from Bangladesh lost jobs or how many business have close down from Haitian community?” asked Khattak rhetorically. “Ethnic media is taking the role bringing [issues] into the lime light, issues that have been ignored.”
Khattak started his career in a small English language newspaper in Pakistan in 1986 and covered the Afghanistan war for two years. In 1999 when he moved to the United States, he briefly worked at CNN in 1999. “American mainstream media is inward looking not addressing international issues the way we expected,” said Khattak. “Every time we visit news organizations, the first thing we ask is how many pages do you give for international news coverage?”
Khattak said that there are particular areas such as education, defamation, language barriers or regents exams that need more stories and debates. “[Ethnic] communities don’t have enough information and sensitivity on education,” said Khattak. Thus, particularly recognizing the importance of education, NYCMA operates an Ethnic and Community Press Fellowship that offers intensive 10-month-traning program to ethnic journalists about how to cover education in New York City. Moreover, through the Independent Press Institute, NYCMA organizes news briefings and seminars to help reporters strengthen their investigative reporting skills and offer crucial resources for in-depth investigations.
“We appreciate and recognize ethnic journalistic works through Ippies,” said Khattak. According to its website, the Ippies Awards are the only ones in New York City that recognize reporting done not only in English but also in other languages. Moreover, through Many Voices, One City, an ethnic and community press directory, NYCMA connects city officials, interest groups or advertising agencies with ethnic news organizations. In addition to Many Voices, One City, NYCMA offers Ad Service that helps advertisers gain easy access to ethnic news organizations.
“Our marketing side is a window for corporations to reach any community they want,” said Khattak. According to Khattak, despite the economic crisis, ethnic news media have been growing over the course of years. However, the ethnic news media are also facing serious issues, such as, according to Khattak, the small scale of its industry is its biggest challenge. You are too small and you are dealing with too big media,” said Khattak.
For more information, visit http://www.indypressny.org. Internships are available for college students who have strong communication and writing skills. Mail or email your resume and sample writings in advance. Announcements are made via NYCMA website or craigslist.com.