• The Boston Globe, Friday, March 6, 2009 9:45 AM

As the economy slumps, the ethnic media is getting cut off at the knees. For instance, Ming Pao Daily in New York is slated to shut down entirely, while Hoy New York abandoned print at the end of last year. At the venerable Ebony and Jet in Chicago, all employees must reapply for the jobs that remain.

With the loss comes some serious harm. Ethnic media do a great deal of unrecognized work for journalism and they cultivate democracy in ways that the mainstream seems to have abandoned. Univision, for instance, has led bipartisan citizenship and voter registration drives during the past two presidential elections.

The ethnic media follow some of the important and contentious issues, such as immigration, which grab the attention of the mainstream only sporadically. Ethnic media outlets also steer the mainstream away from short-sighted and shallow reporting on the ways in which race and ethnicity operate in the U.S. With their ability to tap into the communities they serve, the ethnic media contribute context, history, and perspectives found nowhere else.

Read the whole story at The Boston Globe »