In a world where digital resources have virtually taken over, newspapers are still finding ways to captivate the attention of their respective audiences. In New York City, there are countless newspapers in circulation at any given time that are catered towards many different types of people. These newspapers are targeted towards various audiences, ethnicities, and interests, including national issues, specific neighborhoods, nightlife, real estate, hobbies, and ethnic groups.
According to the United States Census, as of 2013 there were approximately 8,405,837 people living in New York City, which does not even include the thousands of tourists who visit New York each day. 48% of people speak a language other than English at home. In a city with millions of people, our news and entertainment has to be just as diverse as we are.
As the Baruch College NYC Data website shows, there are over 80 ethnic and foreign language newspapers in circulation in New York City. Two examples of these papers include the NY Carib News and the Italian Tribune. There are also a handful of mainstream newspapers that are circulated daily in New York City, one of which is the New York Times, I will explore which topics each paper covers, point out the differences and similarities with their reporting and what they can learn from each other.
The New York Times is a daily newspaper that was established in 1851 by the New York Times Company. According to their mission, he New York Times strives to “enhance society by creating, collecting, and distributing high-quality news and information.” It is one of the most recognized and well known newspapers in circulation today. Some of the topics covered in the New York Times include New York news, national and international news, politics, technology, health, opinions/op-eds, business, editorials, sports, the arts, science, styles, home and more.
The international section of the New York Times features content from all over the world and has sections for each continent where it discusses the top issues of each region. The national news section covers issues all over the country and the New York metro news section covers issues that relate to the New York and tri-state areas. Since it covers an assortment of topics, the New York Times has a wide audience and can appeal to a variety of people.
The New York Carib News is a weekly national newspaper that has been around for over 32 years. It strives to bring African Americans and people from the Caribbean together while telling their story and sharing information in an accurate and reliable way. They share information about the Caribbean and African American communities, national and political issues, and issues that affect the African diaspora.
Some of the topics that the NY Carib News covers are youth and education, politics, religion, opinion, health, business, lifestyle, dining, travel, arts, and more. Since the newspaper is dedicated towards African Americans and West Indians, a majority of their stories are directly related to their audience. Some examples are how they cover current events of countries in Africa and the West Indies, and current events going on in New York City that directly affect them.
The Italian Tribune has been one of the nation’s largest Italian American weekly newspapers since 1931. The majority of their readers are in the northeast, but the paper gets mailed to subscribers across the nation. The Italian Tribune serves as a link to the Italian American community and the heritage of their ancestors. Their stories are primarily written for the Italian American community, and include news and events that relate to their targeted audience. The Italian Tribune covers various topics such as Italian politicians and entertainers, Italian history and attractions, featured stories on historical Italian Americans, and typical categories such as leisure, travel and food.
In terms of content, I think that all three newspapers do a great job at catering towards their target audiences. Their readership has stayed strong and continued to increase because they remain consistent, relatable to their audiences, and cover a wide variety of topics that their audience cares about.
I noticed a few differences with the content within each paper, including differences in the leisure categories. The New York Times has separate sections for its leisure categories – art, style, home, and travel. As I analyzed the Arts section of their website, the bold and bright pictures, video, and events section stands out. The style section features interviews, historical stories, international fashion sections, and eye catching slideshows of the latest international fashion shows and trends. The printed version of these sections always feature captivating photographs with intriguing text. The New York Carib News has an interesting art and entertainment section where they cover local events and art stories, as well as international events as well. The art and entertainment section on their website is scarce, but the printed version of their newspaper features arts and entertainment articles each week. The Italian Tribune’s online leisure section features stories primarily on fashion and Italian history.
I found that while each leisure sections all covered international fashions and trends, all of them were extremely different. Since both the Carib News and the Italian Tribune newspapers are both subscription based and for-profit, I noticed that they didn’t have very much content posted on their websites. They both covered fashion shows and international fashion brands which I thought was interesting because it may not fit their target audience’s interests.
All three papers have websites and a presence on social media. But the Italian Tribune and the NY Carib News do not have websites and social media accounts that are very active, which I think is devastating for the newspapers. They can certainly learn from the New York Times, since the New York Time uses their website and social media channels as a way to promote their articles, engage with their audience, increase their readership worldwide, and gain revenue from advertising while maintaining their subscriptions. The ethnic newspapers can do the same thing, share more content on their site and promote their subscriptions while doing so.
The New York Times website features a clear and clean layout that is easy to read and easy to navigate. The Italian Tribune’s website has a clean and clear layout as well, with an eye-catching sidebar with vivid pictures. But the website is incomplete and outdated in some areas. The NY Carib News website resembles a blog and is overcrowd, so it can certainly learn from the other two papers in terms of homepage design as well.
The New York Times, the Italian Tribune, and the NY Carib News are all great newspapers who are well respected among their target audiences. The New York Times, which is the mainstream newspaper out of the three, does a great job at covering all interests and attracting a wide variety of people. Their web presence helps them to promote their newspaper and stay afloat in this digital age and certainly helps their papers get recognized worldwide. The New York Carib News is well respected among African Americans and West Indians both in the US and the Caribbean and serves as the bridge between the two. They have a social media presence which they use to promote their stories, but their website is a little distracting, which they could improve. The Italian Tribune serves as the voice of the Italian American community and shares topics are target towards their community. Their website has a great layout but is lacking in content and a social media presence. If the two ethic papers want to survive in this digital age, they should find other ways to captivate their audience and attract new readers.
“30 Years of New York Carib News, Looking to the Future.” NY Carib News. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Oct. 2014.
Carib News. (n.d.). Home. NY Carib News- The Voice of the Caribbean. Retrieved September 14, 2014, from http://www.nycaribnews.com
Ethnic and Foreign Language Newspapers. (n.d.). NYCdata. Retrieved September 14, 2014, from http://www.baruch.cuny.edu/nycdata/population-geography/foreign-ethnicnewspapers.htm
Italian Tribune. (n.d.). Home. The Italian Tribune. Retrieved September 14, 2014, from http://www.italiantribune.com
New York Times. (n.d.). Home. The New York Times. Retrieved September 14, 2014, from http://www.nytimes.com/
New York Post. (2005, October 12). Newspapers: The Future. Washington Post. Retrieved September 14, 2014, from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2005/10/11/DI2005101101387.html
“United States Census Bureau.” New York (city) QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Oct. 2014.
“Who We Are.” The New York Times Company. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Oct. 2014.
2 comments
Hello Tiffany,
I think you wrote an awesome essay, which pointed out very important facts. As you said in your essay, “New York is a diverse city” where people from every part of the world can be found and which is the reason why it is also known as “The Capital of the World”. Newspaper is a business, therefore they each have their own audience to target with information, ads, and opportunities of their audience’s interest and of course in the language they feel more comfortable reading and/or understand better. Mainstream and ethnic newspapers are basically divided into similar sections, but it is interesting seeing that the information in these sections is relevantly important to the specific ethnic group they have as their audience. Ethnic newspapers for instance, mostly contain news, politics, immigration and social information related to their audience. Most of the ethnic groups even when moving to live in this country, they still feel interested in knowing about their country of birth and nothing better than a newspaper which can be read anywhere at anytime. These newspapers’ companies really need to know their large audience’s needs and expectations to survive in this business.
Hey Tiffany,
This was so informative and well written. I liked how you chose to compare newspapers from two very prominent but different ethnic groups. Also I agree with your observations on The NY Carib News.
Simone Burton