• by Ray Schultz , February 15, 2023

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."

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.