The logo for the Latino Media Consortium. Logo from the Latino Media Consortium.
This story first appeared in our newsletter, The Front Page, which examines systems of power and inequity in media.
“There has never been a time when Latino media wasn’t in crisis,” write the founding members of the Latino Media Consortium.
Over 64 million Latinos live in the U.S. They’re served by just 558 media organizations by one estimate — though it’s difficult to say with any certainty, since the disappearance of Latino news outlets often flies under the radar during analyses of the nation’s local news landscape.
“Is it any wonder then, why Latinos are so misunderstood, disenfranchised, and hard to reach?” the consortium’s authors wonder.
The consortium, announced by founders Amanda Zamora and Lucy Flores, is made up of nine Latino media operators: El Tecolote, Conecta Arizona, Enlace Latino NC, Pulso, LatinaMediaCo, Palabra (NAHJ), Luz Media, Agencia Media, and the Latino Newsletter. The group announced its launch last week to foster a digital-first Latino media ecosystem that ensures widespread access to community-driven stories that don’t frame Latino communities as monolithic.
“We have to do this together, this is the only option — that is the only way in which this is going to work if we come together and collectively, you know, move towards something equitable that this community deserves,” co-founder Lucy Flores told The Objective.
The consortium’s founding also signals a broader trend toward journalistic cooperation, rather than competition — take the founding of the recent Movement Media Alliance, for example. For the Latino Media Consortium, a priority is uniting around more equitable fund redistribution: Newsrooms, particularly those serving BIPOC communities, are striving toward sustainability in a funding landscape where investments in BIPOC media are dwarfed by those in big tech.
Consortium members are aiming to raise $100 million over five years to “fund over 100+ Latino media operators with transformational grants of direct operating funds,” with 10% of the money reserved for sustainability solutions for consortium members.
While the Press Forward initiative has united philanthropic foundations to invest at least $500 million into the local news landscape — and its initial round focused on undercovered communities — the consortium is an example of communities organizing to meet their own needs: “We are asking now, on behalf of the nation’s 64 million Latinos, for equitable investment in an imperative that’s necessary in order to preserve a free and functioning democracy.”
James Salanga is the co-director of The Objective and the podcast producer for The Sick Times.
This piece was edited by Gabe Schneider.