The Case for Ethnic Media: Mother Tongues and Migration

As Florida’s population continues to rise—scheduled to reach 26 million by 2030—and some cities and counties already exist as minority-majority communities, it’s no surprise that the means of communication in those communities is becoming more and more important. Not just for those living in the communities, but anyone hoping to work with, influence, support, learn from or communicate with them.
 
More than 27 percent of Floridians speak a language other than English. And it’s more than just Spanish.

In Hallandale Beach, 25 percent of the cities 40,000 residents speak a language other than English or Spanish at home. It’s projected that 6.2 million Floridians will speak a language other than English at home by 2030.
 
From Russian papers with no online presence, Haitian weeklies stacked in corner stores and pirate radio stations, there’s a huge presence of ethnic media and the diverse voices they carry in the state of Florida.
 
Florida is home to the US’s second highest Russian population with 260,000 people. Sunny Isles, which has a weekly Russian newspaper called Express Courier, has seen many Russians arrive over the past 20 years and it has experienced an increase in recent years due to conflict in the region. 
 
Little Haiti, aka “Lemon City”, has a large population of Haitian exiles as well as other Caribbean immigrants. Haitian-Creole is spoken widely in the area.
 
Florida’s largest language increases have come from Middle-Eastern languages like Pashto, and Asian languages have seen a 47 percent increase from 2005-2015.
 
Two main ethnic groups, Latino and African American, make up almost half of the ethnic press in the US. Florida also contains a large number of Spanish media, including well established daily newspapers such as El Nuevo Herald (with a circulation of 48,079) and Diario Las Americas weekly.
 
The African American newspapers include the likes of The South Florida Times and The Miami Times (with a circulation of 80,000).  
 
MIREMS sources comprise of upwards of 250 ethnic media editions or broadcasts published or produced every week.
 
 
Written by Caora McKenna