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Geo-ethnic storytelling

An examination of ethnic media content in contemporary immigrant communities

City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Hayeon Song

University of Southern California, USA

This article investigates the content of ethnic media to better understand their roles in contemporary immigrant communities under the forces of globalization, population diversity, and new communication technologies. Drawing upon communication infrastructure theory (CIT), we argue that globalization is always experienced in the local context. We thus investigate the extent to which the ethnic press tells geo-ethnic stories, which are culturally relevant and locally vital information to immigrants in the host society. We analyzed 51 ethnic newspapers in the Asian and Latino neighborhoods of Los Angeles. The findings showed that these print media outlets in new immigrant communities were very diverse, ranging from small mom-and-pop businesses, to medium-and large-sized enterprises. In terms of the nature of news stories, we found that the news coverage in the ethnic press included a large amount of news related to the home country, in contrast to a relatively small number of geoethnic stories that are essential to community building.

Key Words: communication infrastructure theory (CIT) • ethnic media • geoethnic storytelling • globalization • new immigrants

Journalism, Vol. 7, No. 3, 362-388 (2006)
DOI: 10.1177/1464884906065518


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