The Dallas area is losing its Spanish language weekly Al Dia—at least in Spanish.
The print product published by The Dallas Morning
News will continue, but there will no longer be original content written in Spanish, according to a statement by the Dallas News Guild.
The staff was informed on Feb. 6 that the
team was would be disbanded effective March 1, the News Guild reported.
Al Dia’s five full-time staff members will be reassigned and expected to produce content in
English, NiemanLab writes.
The Dallas Morning News has defended the decision.
The Dallas Morning News and Al
Dia “remain committed to reaching the growing Hispanic audience in North Texas," said Grant Mose, CEO and publisher of The Dallas Morning News, in an email, according to
NiemanLab.
Mose added, “We will continue to publish Al Dia every Wednesday in print and aldiadallas.com will continue to publish daily stories in
Spanish."
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But the News Guild took a harsh view of the development.
“The company made these changes sound like a good thing,” the News Guild said. “It justified
its decision by relying on stats produced by a consulting firm claiming the number of people speaking primarily Spanish in Texas is dropping.”
The product will now
feature translations into Spanish of the Dallas Morning News written in English.
This is not the only recent development of its type. Last
December, El Sentinel, a free Spanish-language newspaper published by the Orlando Sentinel and South Florida Sun Sentinel, was scheduled for closing.
Founded in 2001, El
Sentinel suffered declining advertising revenues,
“Over the last few years, the major national retail pre-print advertisers that supported El Sentinel
have shifted weekly sale advertising away from pre-prints to other mediums due to changing consumer habits, rising printing costs and supply chain issues,” said Dave Karabag, vice president of
advertising for both publications.