Specialized newspapers serve central Iowa's growing Latino population
By The Associated Press
01.24.03
PERRY, Iowa — It's Friday night and Jose Ramos is on a mission to deliver hundreds of copies of his newspaper.
The El Salvador native drops off armloads of El Latino at three or four Mexican shops on this central Iowa town's main drag. He also runs into the competition — Sergio Corona, publisher of the newspaper Viento del Tropico."
"We're at war," Corona said, laughing.
Their one-man newspapers are vying with a third publication for readers in a state where the number of Hispanics — the fastest growing segment of Iowa's population — surged 152 percent from 1990 to 2000, according to census data.
Hispanics began flocking here by the thousands in the 1990s to work in Des Moines and in meatpacking plants in such towns as Marshalltown and Perry. These groups are the newspapers' target audience.
Such newspapers tend to rise in areas where large numbers of immigrants remain dependent on Spanish, said Javier Adalpe, publisher of La Estrella, a twice-weekly Spanish language newspaper in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
"By and large, the Hispanic growth in Iowa and throughout the Midwest has been Spanish dependent or Spanish preferent ... they prefer to get news and information in Spanish," said Adalpe, who spoke about covering Hispanics at a meeting of the Iowa Newspaper Association in 2002.
Language is the big difference, agreed Guillermo Bonilla, 25, who was spending a Friday night at Tienda Latina on Second Street as Ramos delivered his newspapers.
The newspapers also have more news about Hispanics' homelands, said Bonilla, wearing a gray IBP sweatshirt and khaki slacks. Bonilla left Mexico City three years ago and now works at the IBP plant in Perry.
The newspapers provide political stories about Mexican President Vicente Fox or about entertainers such as Gloria Trevi, nicknamed "Mexico's Madonna."
Bonilla said the newspapers can be found in the personnel office and the infirmary at the IBP plant, which employs about 1,200 people. A lot of people read them on their break, he said.
Perry, about an hour northwest of Des Moines, is home to 7,600 people — one-quarter of whom are Hispanic.
The newspapers also cover stories affecting the immigrant community in the United States, such as the discovery last year of the bodies of 11 migrants in a rail car in Denison in western Iowa.
"We just try to cover the news where Hispanics are related," Ramos said.
The newspapers are free, which means the publishers rely upon advertising sales for revenue. The publications are covered in ads, mostly for Hispanic businesses, such as beauty salons, car dealers, construction companies and alternative medicine shops.
Some non-Hispanic companies — such as the West Des Moines-based Hy-Vee grocery store chain, Wells Fargo and the Swift and Co. meatpacking plant in Marshalltown — place ads, too.
Paul Wittmaier, a State Farm insurance agent in Marshalltown, has run an ad in Viento del Tropico for two years. His new business had been 5 percent Hispanic. In the last year, it has jumped to about one-third Hispanic.
"It's a great piece of business, good-paying business," Wittmaier said.
Marshalltown, population 26,000, is located in Marshall County, which is home to about 3,500 Hispanics. The three counties surrounding Marshalltown, Perry and Des Moines are home to more than 25 percent of the state's Hispanic population.
IBP's Perry plant places pictures of employees of the month in the third paper, "El Enfoque,” whose publisher declined to comment.
IBP also posts help wanted ads, said Gary Mickelson, a company spokesman.
"Most of our jobs do not require the worker to be fluent in English," Mickelson said.
The newspapers also provide vital information such as how to get a driver's license and where to get health care, information typically obtained from Hispanic organizations or the state's Division of Latino Affairs.
"I think my paper serves as a bridge between these organizations and the community,” said Ramos. “The problem is, as you can see the information that they just e-mailed me, everything is in English," he said. "I said, 'How come they don't send it in Spanish?' Probably that might be the problem, they might be the leaders of those organizations, but they don't handle the language. So, that's what I do."
Arturo Vazquez, a clerk at La Cruz, a Mexican grocery in Marshalltown, about an hour northeast of Des Moines, agreed that the newspapers provide crucial links to community services, especially related to immigration.
"Many people don't know how to get information,” said Vazquez, a Mexican. “This is a good way," he said.
Martin Gutierrez, 23, a construction worker who has lived in Marshalltown for about six years, said he reads the newspapers to find out what stores are selling, what's happening in his native Mexico and to catch up on sports, mainly soccer.
At La Calera, a Mexican grocery down the street from La Cruz, Elena Montalvo said she reads about events sponsored by the Mexican Consulate in Omaha, Neb., and community happenings, such as weddings.
"Sometimes, there is family here, a lot of friends I know," said Montalvo, 26, a Mexican.
In Marshalltown and Perry, the three papers are stacked side by side on countertops or by the dozens in racks.
To set their newspapers apart, the publishers use a splash of color on the front page or a more prominent store display, prompting battles over display racks.
The publishers also vie for good printers. Ramos, who says he has a good one, won't say who his printer is or even disclose the town in which the business is located.
Humberto Hernandez, a Mexican bakery owner in Perry, claims to be a casualty of the newspaper war. He said one of the publishers offered him ads in color and for less than the regular price, but he ended up paying the regular price for an ad without color.
The publishers say the competition is normal as they try to expand their business.
But Abby Scher, director of Independent Press Association-New York, said many immigrant newspapers remain one-man shows.
"There's not any single story of evolution. But a lot of them, I'd say about 80 percent of the immigrant media ... is not part of a big company," Scher said.
Corona and Ramos talk about merging their publications, but they've rejected that idea for the time being.
Meanwhile, both say they've heard of a fourth competing newspaper being distributed in the Des Moines area and a fifth that's set to.
Corona, whose nearly 7-year-old paper has been around the longest, said he's going to wait and see how the newcomers do.
"They expect a lot of money, easy money, and that's not true," Corona said. "They're going to find out what it takes."