Research Articles Base: Media Essay

PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING

Public Service Broadcasting “The broadcast media is important as a milestone in the struggle for free, independent and pluralistic print in all regions of the world”. Broadcasting has been part of everyday life in all of us. It is there to keep the people informed and yet as the media men and everyone who is involved in the broadcasting field dealt with danger as they try to decipher issues to keep the society aware.  The Broadcasting The best practice in an informed society requires transparency around the media broadcasting institutions. The constitution, function, appointment procedures and allocation processes for companies in the broadcasting field are the important foun (  , 2005). The broadcasting or news media is primary concerned for the human development, since they intentionally touched people’s lives. Communication is the lifeblood of economic markets; it facilitates trade, transmits ideas, and diffuses innovations, thus promoting growth. Information can improve the delivery of public services, forewarn against natural disasters, spread education and knowledge, and reduce preventable health risks. News helps inform the general public, donor agencies, and the international development community about severe challenges facing low‐income states and the urgent humanitarian crisis arising from natural and man‐made disasters ( and , 2008). The global flow of information across national borders is also essential for international understanding and peace; lack of information and awareness about other communities, cultures and viewpoints can fuel social intolerance, erode trust, and lead towards conflict ( and , 2008).  The Evolution The public service broadcasting stems from the radio to television to different communicating devices that have the ability to contain market mechanisms and fulfill certain goals. The objectives applied to public broadcasting have its broad expectations to inform, educate, and entertain. The role and importance of public broadcasting requires a public organization at the service of citizens, culture and democracy (, 2005). The media or the broadcasting field used the opportunity to create a noise among creative people in advertising agencies, and get the best minds in the industry to work on a public service television spot that will get the people informed and persuade. As a responsible news broadcaster, it is better to prompt or create educational information towards the viewers and let him exercise what he learned (, 2005).    The Challenge The information broadcast by public broadcasting must be treated with a concern for in-depth explanation and examination to enlighten citizens on the issues at hand and, in so doing, enrich democratic life. It is often this ability to act as a reference in the area of information that brings the public to recognize the importance and role of public broadcasting, and identify with it (, 2000). More than any other broadcasting programs that of the public broadcaster must be national in content. It means that public broadcasters must first promote the expression of ideas, opinions and values current in the society where they operate. In this regard, it is of foremost importance to give priority to national programs. The challenge of the years to come, for public broadcasting, is to evolve and to adapt to the digital era the principles underlying its existence. Thus, the vast majority of public broadcasters already have a foothold in the world of specialty channels and Internet. What they need to do is to use these new technologies to improve and complement their public-service mission (, 2000). The Global World Public broadcasting has been used to many political nature and agenda. It is clear that the media has influenced the society and the danger among the broadcaster or reporters are always on behind. In a global perspective, public broadcasting has been a marginal; enterprise, it has tended to be a dominant factor and component of the media landscapes in many other nations (, 1995). The important contribution is that reporting conveys diplomatic signals between nations and shapes domestic perceptions about foreign countries. Countries with both widespread media access and an independent free press have been found to experience lower corruption, greater administrative efficiency, higher political stability and more effective rule of law, as well as better developmental outcomes, such as lower infant mortality rates and greater literacy ( and , 2008). Because of the status of public broadcasting, because it is financed by the public and intended to be at its service, expectations in the area of information are high and so are the requirements. Public broadcasters must provide information enabling listeners to form the fairest possible idea of events; if not objective, the information should at least be unbiased. Such information will allow the different viewpoints to be expressed and foster an enlightened understanding of current events (, 2000). References: Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING

Public Service Broadcasting “The broadcast media is important as a milestone in the struggle for free, independent and pluralistic print ...

Ethnic Media in the U.S.

Ethnic Media in the U.S. (The Growth of Ethnic Chinese Media) The past decade has seen an inspiring growth in the number of national and local radio stations, newspapers, magazines, web portals, public and cable television networks catering to the nation’s various ethnic communities. The America, being the melting pot of all ethnicities saw rapid growth of ethnic media which ethnic communities use primarily to re-connect with its ethnic roots. Ethnic media functions as a community-building institution, reporting news that is relevant to the ethnic community while at the same time offering a way for the community to exchange information and pass on tradition. It also offers the minority communities to voice its concerns with the larger public. Ethnic media also educates people about what is important in their communities and act as bridge in the smooth incorporation of the minority community to larger civic affairs. The Importance of Ethnic Media             Of all the sectors of the news media, the ethnic and alternative media in America are still in many ways the most fluid, popular, and reaches wider coverage. There are not one ethnic media but more than a dozen in the United States. Some sectors of ethnic media are big business. Others are more political and less commercial. The ethnic media are growing rapidly in the United States. This can be particularly said of the ethnic newspapers, the media for which there are most data. Yet evidence suggests that the trend is also true for radio and television (2004). On July 1, 2004, 98 percent of all U.S. residents, or 289.2 million people, belonged to 1 of the 5 single racial groups, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Population Estimates Program. People who were White and no other race made up the largest group and numbered 236.1 million in 2004, the single-race Black population was 37.5 million and the single-race Asian population was 12.3 million. The single-race American Indian and Alaska Native population accounted for 2.8 million people in the United States. Asians who were one race or in combination with other races numbered 14.0 million in 2004. Single race Asians represented 4.2 percent of all Americans. In 2004, 42 percent of people living in Hawaii were Asian, compared with 4 percent of all people living in the United States; California was a distant second with 12 percent. The next three states with the highest percentages were New Jersey (7 percent), New York (6 percent), and Washington (6 percent). The latest census also reveals that of the 513,000 Asian Americans living in New York City, almost half of them are Chinese, outnumbering Koreans and Asian Indians. Chinese American is the fastest growing segment of the US population (50%growth rate). Many Chinese Americans who live in the suburbs are successful businessmen from Hong Kong, Taiwan, and second or third generation successful professionals (2004). At the same time, verifying from the same census study, other demographic groups increased. The Asian Pacific islander population for example grew in real numbers and as a percentage of the whole. Asians, as a single race living in California numbered to 4,256,198, or 12. 1% of the total state population. In Los Angeles, the Asian population as a whole numbered to 376, 480 or 10. 1 percent of the total city population. San Francisco boasts a large number of Asian populations. Thirty three percent of the whole city population is Asian, or about 240, 675 (2004). Seattle also houses a large number of Asian populations. There are about 92, 568 Asians residing in it. They make up 16.6 percent of the total population. There is also a significant number of Asians in the Chicago area; they numbered around 125, 930 or approximately 4.6 % of the Chicago population (2004). The US Census Bureau grouped the Asian ethnicity as whole, including Chinese, Filipino, Vietnamese and other smaller Asian communities in the states and cities mentioned. Beyond simple ethnicity, and perhaps more to the point, there has been a large rise in the non English speaking population. Between 1990 and 2000, the number of people not speaking English at home grew from 31.8 million to 47 million, a staggering roughly 50 percent increase in a decade alone. Spanish speakers lead the growth, perhaps because of proximity of Mexico and the mainland US. Growing from 17.3 million in 1990 to 28.1 million in 2000, an increase in 62 percent. Chinese was second in growth, climbing from 1.3 million in 1990 to 2 million in 2000, still an increase in 54 percent (U  2000). Together with radio, and to a lesser extent television, community newspapers serve as valuable guides for recent immigrants, introducing them to a new culture and way of life. In most cases, the publishers approach their mission to inform, educate, and entertain with great passion and enthusiasm. Studies also showed that people who read ethnic newspapers as well as mainstream newspapers were better informed of community as well as news of their homeland. They are therefore better informed of local and international events than people who just read mainstream newspapers,             For many groups in the United States, the media is perceived as credible and is heavily relied upon for health information ( 1999). For immigrants the ethnic media is an important institution in immigrant communities because it caters to immigrants as cultural brokers for their communities by translating mainstream knowledge and practices (1987). The ethnic media can play a valuable role in disseminating health information to immigrant communities. For a variety of reasons the Asian Press is difficult to measure as a group, and the word Asian is more complicated, than let’s say Hispanic minority. Not only does Asian not speak of a single culture or nationality, it also does not define a single particular language. Even within Asian nationalities, there are language differences that make it difficult to group media. China alone has seven distinctly different dialect groups. That said, hat said, it is clear that some Asian language newspapers have large readerships. The World Journal, a Chinese-language daily based in New York, reports it has 250,000 in paid circulation. The Korea Times, in Los Angeles says it has more than 43,000 ( 2004).   Types of Ethnic Media in the US             Though no concrete figures exist for ethnic media nationwide, it’s becoming increasingly clear that the startling growth of print and television journalism in regions like California and New York is by no means anomalous. From Arab American newspaper competition in rural Michigan to Hindi pop tunes anchoring Radio Asia in Tampa, Florida, ethnic media has become a major player aboveground as well, seen most noticeably with NBC’s recent acquisition of the national, 24-hour Telemundo network. Ethnic media in the US can be accessed from all three medium of media, visual, broadcast and print. Internet is said to be the new medium and there is an increasing growth of ethnic media using Internet as its medium.  A study released by New Media America, an association of more than 700 ethnic media in the United States reveals the striking impact of ethnic media in the United States. Forty-five percent of all African American, Hispanic, Asian American, Native American and Arab American adults prefer ethnic television, radio or newspapers to their mainstream counterparts. These “primary consumers” also indicated that they access ethnic media frequently. This means that a staggering 29 million adults (45 percent of the 64 million ethnic adults studied), or a full 13 percent of the entire adult population of the United States, prefer ethnic media to mainstream television, radio or newspapers. More than half of all Hispanic adults are primary consumers of ethnic media. Approximately two-fifths of African Americans and Arab Americans and a fourth of Asian Americans and Native Americans prefer ethnic media to mainstream media (2005).             Similar study revealed that Asian American newspapers reach a substantial percentage of the nine million Asian American adults in the United States. More than half of all Chinese and Vietnamese adults read an ethnic newspaper on a regular basis. Nearly half of all Korean adults also read a Korean newspaper frequently. The reach of Filipino newspapers is smaller but still significant – one-fifth of the adults in this group read a Filipino newspaper a few times a month or more. The poll also indicates that Korean and Chinese television stations are rapidly increasing in popularity – a quarter of those interviewed reported watching Korean and Chinese-language television more often than English-language television. Access to the Internet is very high (67 percent) among all Asian Americans and half of them prefer ethnic websites to mainstream websites. Asian Indian adults access the Internet more often than other Asians (2005). Ethnic Media (Advertising Potential) In light of this startling growth, it should come as no surprise that mainstream players are getting into the act and trying to tap into these enclaves of prospective consumers. The recent acquisition of the Telemundo network by NBC for .98 billion had many initially scratching their heads–why had NBC seemingly overpaid for the underachieving network, a distant runner-up to Univision in Latino households nationwide? But if the growing Telemundo–which currently draws between 15 to 20 percent of Latino viewers–allows NBC access to the rising Latino population, in a few years that total may seem like a bargain. For companies like Viacom or NBC, it is beginning to make more business sense to acquire proven niche companies like BET (Black Entertainment Television) or Telemundo at high costs rather than going through the trouble of starting from scratch. (Why Advertise in Ethnic Media?) With Ethnic media’s wide access to ethnic communities in the US, it also plays a vital role in reaching and motivating vitally important ethnic consumer groups. Advertising that appears in ethnic media makes an emotional connection with consumers, which is critical to building sales and developing long-term relationships. In California, where the Latino, African-American and Asian-American communities combined make up about half of the state’s population, these groups prefer to get their news and information from ethnic media outlets. What’s more, nearly 65 percent of the ethnic Californians surveyed agreed that they are “more likely to buy a product or service advertised” in an ethnic-oriented publication or program. Latinos exhibited the strongest “advertising loyalty” characteristics followed closely by Asian-Americans. It is also advantageous for firms to advertise in ethnic media. Its chief advantage is cost efficiency since it reaches the people who the advertisement is addressed at a very reasonable price compared to mainstream media. Buying power among Asians and Latinos, California’s two largest minority groups, grew particularly strong. According to a study by the Selig Center at the University of Georgia, Asian buying power grew by 108 percent to billion. Latino buying power grew by 102 percent to 7.6 billion (2003). Banks, for example, are one of the major advertisers in ethnic media. They know that in order to gain customers from different ethnic groups they have to build relationships with communities,. So banks like Bank of American or Wells Fargo will advertise in a variety of languages through ethnic media. Telecommunication services like AT&T and MCI, and financial services like Schwab, know they will pay little to reach a loyal and substantial customer base, that’s why they are one of the More and more companies are now realizing that advertising in ethnic media is cost effective and reaches a wider range of consumers especially in the ethnic community. The Growth of Ethnic Advertising Agencies             Seeing the overwhelming growth of the potential buying power of ethnic communities, particularly the Asian communities in the US, big and small companies feel the need to tap these growing resources. The only problem is, most firms have only limited idea how to reach and communicate with these groups. Who could understand better the culture of a certain ethnicity, than a fellow ethnic itself? Taking advantage of this knowledge and first hand experience and information, a number of businessmen and creative people belonging to the minority group ventured into advertising agencies, helping big firms in the US make contact with the growing ethnic market. Among the many advertising agencies that cater to ethnic population are Admerasia and Allied Media Corp. Admerasia is owned by , a Chinese immigrant who arrived in the United States in 1975. Admerasia according to Ng helps clients market to Asian communities in the U.S. and elsewhere. Most of his clients belong to business segments such as automobiles, telecommunications and financial services. Because large companies are eager to built relationship and tap the consumer buying power of the Asian market, Ng has put up a consortium of advertisers and marketers. Admerasia is billing its clients more than million a year for ads placed. Its clients include E-trade, Fannie Mae Foundation, McDonalds and Citibank.   Ng, added that there are still many big companies that don’t yet recognize the huge buying power of the Asian-American population in the U.S. but those who have recognized it already are willing to commit significant resources to win them over (2005). Allied Media Corp. are more diverse than Admerasia because it offers its services to many different growing ethnic market segment. Its targeted ethnic markets are Arab-American, Russian, South Asian, Middle East, Polish and Portuguese language ethnic markets in the U.S. True to its multicultural diversity, the company is managed by a diverse team with multi lingual capabilities. Allied Media Corp. have been in business for almost two decades and it developed partnership with on behalf of various Fortune 500 companies creating successful multi cultural campaigns. Its clients includes AT&T, British Airways and General Motors. And what’s best is that, Allied Media Corp. work with in its clients budget level, whether it be a small regional campaign or a global effort of advertising (2005). Chinese Media in the US Mass media are perceived to be powerful shapers of culture and communication in society. National majority media and ethnic minority media are both influential on achieving such reconstructed ideology. Thus, the new form of media business not only differs from the old, but also should be examined for its role of Chinese ethnic minority media. The ethnic press,  are once viewed solely as a special-interest voice and forum for minority groups, has become a fast-growing media market because it is one of the few places helping to document and report on cultural changes in America and its impact to Chinese community. The World Journal is a Chinese-language daily newspaper with 90,000 readers in New York State and 360,000 readers nationally. Founded in 1976, it is the largest Chinese-language newspaper in North America and is part of the 50-year-old United Daily News Group of Taiwan. One of the few U.S. daily newspapers distributed nationally, The World Journal is published in New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Houston, Vancouver and Toronto. Staff members in each city contribute local articles to the newspaper, which focuses on China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia. It has been a steady growth pattern, rather than sudden, said Ms. Lee, who said staying relevant to a younger generation has been a key to growth. Census data rank Chinese speakers second to Spanish speakers in America’s non-English-speaking population; the former grew from 1.3 million in 1990 to 2 million in 2000. The overseas Chinese press is known for its enormous size. Some 30 million Chinese are living outside China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao and constitute one of the largest ethnic groups in dozens of countries. Serving them are a large number of Chinese-language newspapers and magazines, which could be traced well back to the early 19th century, when the first overseas Chinese newspaper San Francisco News was founded in 1854 and the first overseas Chinese daily was founded in 1856. At the beginning of this decade, there were 64 daily Chinese-language newspapers published outside China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao. If the weeklies, biweeklies and magazines were included, the total number would reach 300. Among many other things, the ethnic Chinese publications cover local Chinese communities, report news from the “mother country” and advocate Chinese values, tradition and culture, and by doing so they have greatly contributed to increasing the cohesiveness of the Chinese community. A study of the Chinatown in New York City, for instance, shows that, Chinese immigrants in the New York City are living in a rather comprehensive Chinese media environment, complete with diverse and familiar sources of print and electronic materials. Chinese media inform immigrants about events that have taken place within and outside their community and about available social service. These media also offer an easy source by which older immigrants can maintain a stabilizing continuity in their cultural and entertainment life and younger immigrants maintain contact with their roots. Chinese Media Setbacks Political suppression was one of the main reasons for the significant set back of Chinese ethnic media. Even in the United States where freedom of the press is defended as a pillar of American democracy, publications by Chinese immigrants were also harassed for their support of the People’s Republic of China during the Cold War. Chinese press has also been suffering from a decline in the use of the Chinese language. To maintain a sizable audience, the Chinese press depends very much on the Chinese education of second and third generations of Chinese immigrants, yet this has become increasingly more difficult. Although the overseas Chinese education saw fast development following World War II, it has been suffering continued setbacks since the 1950s. On the one hand, as more and more Chinese immigrants began to be assimilated into the local culture, the second and third generations of Chinese immigrants often could not use the Chinese language effectively to consume the Chinese-language media. On the other hand, the assimilation policy adopted in many countries towards their Chinese population had a direct impact on the education of overseas Chinese. In some Southeast Asian countries, governments imposed restrictions on Chinese schools. Market competition with the mainstream media causes another problem for the Chinese-language press since it is much more difficult for ethnic media to survive financially. The early overseas Chinese media often faced more financial strains than other media because the potential size of its readership was always limited; and the distribution usually more difficult, with many potential consumers living in faraway and isolated places. As a result, the development of Chinese-language press has been fluctuating all the time, with a fast rate of coming and going. For example, of the 10 Chinese dailies published in the United States in the 1980s, more than half of them are gone today. In the early days of Chinese-language press, a newspaper was often started as a mission rather than a viable financial operation. In most cases, the Chinese-language media were financed by Chinese businessmen through individual or collective investment. Such investment was usually aimed at providing a community service rather than generating profits. The Internet and the Chinese Ethnic Media Although the Internet is still neophyte and computer media are not yet in a position to replace the traditional media, there are already signs that computer-mediated mass communication is bringing about a new turn for the conventional Chinese-language press by solving or easing some of its problems. The global nature of computer-mediated communication has drastically changed the way information is disseminated, making it hard to identify and terminate the source of origin. A government will find it more difficult to keep its people from publicizing and receiving information. In other words, although the Internet does not necessarily lead to change in government attitude towards the Chinese publications, it reduces the effects of restrictions imposed on them. The Internet has also expanded the role of the traditional mass media by blending their news function with entertainment and education. And this development is significant in helping the Chinese immigrants and their children to maintain their cultural roots. Conclusion Despite the large number of Chinese immigrants in various parts of the world, the ethnic Chinese press has been on the decline due to political restrictions, financial strains and the decline of Chinese education overseas. Although the new waves of immigration from China and other Chinese-speaking regions over the last two decades helped to boost the development of ethnic Chinese press overseas for the time being, there is no guarantee that the new immigrants and their children will not follow the steps of earlier immigrants in being culturally assimilated. The development of the Internet is thus bringing a new leaf to the life of overseas Chinese language press by effectively easing its problems. Moreover, the Internet is also helping to expand the functions of the traditional media by offering more diversified and specialized communication among overseas Chinese. Considering the role the ethnic press plays in the formation and consolidation of ethnic communities, the impact of the Internet goes far beyond the fields of publication. It has long been established that minority language newspapers helped minority people to keep their ethnic identity (1984) because they function to pass on knowledge, values and norms from one generation to another or from the members of a society to newcomers. In this way they serve to increase social cohesion by widening the base of common experience (1974). It is in this sense that the ethnic press is said to be a force in adjusting the balance between the maintenance of native ways and adoption of new ways of life by immigrants, who are pulled in two directions. Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

Ethnic Media in the U.S.

Ethnic Media in the U.S. (The Growth of Ethnic Chinese Media) The past decade has seen an inspiring growth in the number of national and...

Ethnic Media in the U.S. (The Growth of Ethnic Chinese Media)

Ethnic Media in the U.S. (The Growth of Ethnic Chinese Media) The past decade has seen an inspiring growth in the number of national and local radio stations, newspapers, magazines, web portals, public and cable television networks catering to the nation’s various ethnic communities. The America, being the melting pot of all ethnicities saw rapid growth of ethnic media which ethnic communities use primarily to re-connect with its ethnic roots. Types of Ethnic Media in the US             Though no concrete figures exist for ethnic media nationwide, it’s becoming increasingly clear that the startling growth of print and television journalism in regions like California and New York is by no means anomalous. From Arab American newspaper competition in rural Michigan to Hindi pop tunes anchoring Radio Asia in Tampa, Florida, ethnic media has become a major player aboveground as well, seen most noticeably with NBC’s recent acquisition of the national, 24-hour Telemundo network. Ethnic media in the US can be accessed from all three medium of media, visual, broadcast and print. Internet is said to be the new medium and there is an increasing growth of ethnic media using Internet as its medium.  A study released by New Media America, an association of more than 700 ethnic media in the United States reveals the striking impact of ethnic media in the United States. Forty-five percent of all African American, Hispanic, Asian American, Native American and Arab American adults prefer ethnic television, radio or newspapers to their mainstream counterparts. These “primary consumers” also indicated that they access ethnic media frequently. This means that a staggering 29 million adults (45 percent of the 64 million ethnic adults studied), or a full 13 percent of the entire adult population of the United States, prefer ethnic media to mainstream television, radio or newspapers. More than half of all Hispanic adults are primary consumers of ethnic media. Approximately two-fifths of African Americans and Arab Americans and a fourth of Asian Americans and Native Americans prefer ethnic media to mainstream media (2005).             Similar study revealed that Asian American newspapers reach a substantial percentage of the nine million Asian American adults in the United States. More than half of all Chinese and Vietnamese adults read an ethnic newspaper on a regular basis. Nearly half of all Korean adults also read a Korean newspaper frequently. The reach of Filipino newspapers is smaller but still significant – one-fifth of the adults in this group read a Filipino newspaper a few times a month or more. The poll also indicates that Korean and Chinese television stations are rapidly increasing in popularity – a quarter of those interviewed reported watching Korean and Chinese-language television more often than English-language television. Access to the Internet is very high (67 percent) among all Asian Americans and half of them prefer ethnic websites to mainstream websites. Asian Indian adults access the Internet more often than other Asians (2005). The Importance of Ethnic Media             Of all the sectors of the news media, the ethnic and alternative media in America are still in many ways the most fluid, popular, and reaches wider coverage. There are not one ethnic media but more than a dozen in the United States. Some sectors of ethnic media are big business. Others are more political and less commercial. The ethnic media are growing rapidly in the United States. This can be particularly said of the ethnic newspapers, the media for which there are most data. Yet evidence suggests that the trend is also true for radio and television (2004).             Looking simply at the demographic shifts over the past years, it would stand to reason that the nation’s ethnic media would definitely grow. Between the 1980 and 2000 censuses, which are the latest, the number of people identifying themselves as “white” fell from 83 percent to just over 75 percent of the US population (2000). The estimated number of U.S. residents who say they are Asian or Asian in combination 13.5 million with one or more other races. This group comprises 5 percent of the total population. California has both the largest population (4.6 million) and the largest numerical increase (367,100) of people of this group since April 2000; Hawaii is the state where Asians make up the highest proportion of the total population (58 percent) (May2005).  The latest census also reveals that of the 513,000 Asian Americans living in New York city, almost half of them are Chinese, outnumbering Koreans and Asian Indians. Chinese American is the fastest growing segment of the US population (50%growth rate). Many Chinese Americans who live in the suburbs are successful businessmen from Hong Kong, Taiwan, and second or third generation successful professionals (2004). At the same time, verifying from the same census study, other demographic groups increased. The Asian Pacific islander population for example grew in real numbers and as a percentage of the whole.             Beyond simple ethnicity, and perhaps more to the point, there has been a large rise in the non English speaking population. Between 1990 and 2000, the number of people not speaking English at home grew from 31.8 million to 47 million, a staggering roughly 50 percent increase in a decade alone. Spanish speakers lead the growth, perhaps because of proximity of Mexico and the mainland US. Growing from 17.3 million in 1990 to 28.1 million in 2000, an increase in 62 percent. Chinese was second in growth, climbing from 1.3 million in 1990 to 2 million in 2000, still an increase in 54 percent ( 2000).             Together with radio, and to a lesser extent television, community newspapers serve as valuable guides for recent immigrants, introducing them to a new culture and way of life. In most cases, the publishers approach their mission to inform, educate, and entertain with great passion and enthusiasm. Studies also showed that people who read ethnic newspapers as well as mainstream newspapers were better informed of community as well as news of their homeland. They are therefore better informed of local and international events than people who just read mainstream newspapers,             For many groups in the United States, the media is perceived as credible and is heavily relied upon for health information (Brodie et al 1999). For immigrants the ethnic media is an important institution in immigrant communities because it caters to immigrants as cultural brokers for their communities by translating mainstream knowledge and practices (1980; 1987;  1992; 1995). The ethnic media can play a valuable role in disseminating health information to immigrant communities. For a variety of reasons the Asian Press is difficult to measure as a group, and the word Asian is more complicated, than let’s say Hispanic minority. Not only does Asian not speak of a single culture or nationality, it also does not define a single particular language. Even within Asian nationalities, there are language differences that make it difficult to group media. China alone has seven distinctly different dialect groups. That said, hat said, it is clear that some Asian language newspapers have large readerships. The World Journal, a Chinese-language daily based in New York, reports it has 250,000 in paid circulation. The Korea Times, in Los Angeles says it has more than 43,000 ( 2004).   Ethnic Media (Advertising Potential) In light of this startling growth, it should come as no surprise that mainstream players are getting into the act and trying to tap into these enclaves of prospective consumers. The recent acquisition of the Telemundo network by NBC for .98 billion had many initially scratching their heads–why had NBC seemingly overpaid for the underachieving network, a distant runner-up to Univision in Latino households nationwide? But if the growing Telemundo–which currently draws between 15 to 20 percent of Latino viewers–allows NBC access to the rising Latino population, in a few years that total may seem like a bargain. For companies like Viacom or NBC, it is beginning to make more business sense to acquire proven niche companies like BET (Black Entertainment Television) or Telemundo at high costs rather than going through the trouble of starting from scratch. (Why Advertise in Ethnic Media?) With Ethnic media’s wide access to ethnic communities in the US, it also plays a vital role in reaching and motivating vitally important ethnic consumer groups. Advertising that appears in ethnic media makes an emotional connection with consumers, which is critical to building sales and developing long-term relationships. In California, where the Latino, African-American and Asian-American communities combined make up about half of the state’s population, these groups prefer to get their news and information from ethnic media outlets. What’s more, nearly 65 percent of the ethnic Californians surveyed agreed that they are “more likely to buy a product or service advertised” in an ethnic-oriented publication or program. Latinos exhibited the strongest “advertising loyalty” characteristics followed closely by Asian-Americans. It is also advantageous for firms to advertise in ethnic media. Its chief advantage is cost efficiency since it reaches the people who the advertisement is addressed at a very reasonable price compared to mainstream media.             Chinese Media in the US Mass media are perceived to be powerful shapers of culture and communication in society. National majority media and ethnic minority media are both influential on achieving such reconstructed ideology. Thus, the new form of media business not only differs from the old, but also should be examined for its role of Chinese ethnic minority media. The ethnic press,  are once viewed solely as a special-interest voice and forum for minority groups, has become a fast-growing media market because it is one of the few places helping to document and report on cultural changes in America and its impact to Chinese community. The World Journal is a Chinese-language daily newspaper with 90,000 readers in New York State and 360,000 readers nationally. Founded in 1976, it is the largest Chinese-language newspaper in North America and is part of the 50-year-old United Daily News Group of Taiwan. One of the few U.S. daily newspapers distributed nationally, The World Journal is published in New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Houston, Vancouver and Toronto. Staff members in each city contribute local articles to the newspaper, which focuses on China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia.It has been a steady growth pattern, rather than sudden, said Ms. Lee, who said staying relevant to a younger generation has been a key to growth. Census data rank Chinese speakers second to Spanish speakers in America’s non-English-speaking population; the former grew from 1.3 million in 1990 to 2 million in 2000. The overseas Chinese press is known for its enormous size. Some 30 million Chinese are living outside China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao and constitute one of the largest ethnic groups in dozens of countries. Serving them are a large number of Chinese-language newspapers and magazines, which could be traced well back to the early 19th century, when the first overseas Chinese newspaper San Francisco News was founded in 1854 and the first overseas Chinese daily was founded in 1856. At the beginning of this decade, there were 64 daily Chinese-language newspapers published outside China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao. If the weeklies, biweeklies and magazines were included, the total number would reach 300. Among many other things, the ethnic Chinese publications cover local Chinese communities, report news from the “mother country” and advocate Chinese values, tradition and culture, and by doing so they have greatly contributed to increasing the cohesiveness of the Chinese community. A study of the Chinatown in New York City, for instance, shows that, Chinese immigrants in the New York City are living in a rather comprehensive Chinese media environment, complete with diverse and familiar sources of print and electronic materials. Chinese media inform immigrants about events that have taken place within and outside their community and about available social service. These media also offer an easy source by which older immigrants can maintain a stabilizing continuity in their cultural and entertainment life and younger immigrants maintain contact with their roots. Chinese Media Setbacks Political suppression was one of the main reasons for the significant set back of Chinese ethnic media. Even in the United States where freedom of the press is defended as a pillar of American democracy, publications by Chinese immigrants were also harassed for their support of the People’s Republic of China during the Cold War. Chinese press has also been suffering from a decline in the use of the Chinese language. To maintain a sizable audience, the Chinese press depends very much on the Chinese education of second and third generations of Chinese immigrants, yet this has become increasingly more difficult. Although the overseas Chinese education saw fast development following World War II, it has been suffering continued setbacks since the 1950s. On the one hand, as more and more Chinese immigrants began to be assimilated into the local culture, the second and third generations of Chinese immigrants often could not use the Chinese language effectively to consume the Chinese-language media. On the other hand, the assimilation policy adopted in many countries towards their Chinese population had a direct impact on the education of overseas Chinese. In some Southeast Asian countries, governments imposed restrictions on Chinese schools. Market competition with the mainstream media causes another problem for the Chinese-language press since it is much more difficult for ethnic media to survive financially. The early overseas Chinese media often faced more financial strains than other media because the potential size of its readership was always limited; and the distribution usually more difficult, with many potential consumers living in faraway and isolated places. As a result, the development of Chinese-language press has been fluctuating all the time, with a fast rate of coming and going. For example, of the 10 Chinese dailies published in the United States in the 1980s, more than half of them are gone today. In the early days of Chinese-language press, a newspaper was often started as a mission rather than a viable financial operation. In most cases, the Chinese-language media were financed by Chinese businessmen through individual or collective investment.Such investment was usually aimed at providing a community service rather than generating profits. The Internet and the Chinese Ethnic Media Although the Internet is still neophyte and computer media are not yet in a position to replace the traditional media, there are already signs that computer-mediated mass communication is bringing about a new turn for the conventional Chinese-language press by solving or easing some of its problems. The global nature of computer-mediated communication has drastically changed the way information is disseminated, making it hard to identify and terminate the source of origin. A government will find it more difficult to keep its people from publicizing and receiving information. In other words, although the Internet does not necessarily lead to change in government attitude towards the Chinese publications, it reduces the effects of restrictions imposed on them. The Internet has also expanded the role of the traditional mass media by blending their news function with entertainment and education. And this development is significant in helping the Chinese immigrants and their children to maintain their cultural roots. Conclusion Despite the large number of Chinese immigrants in various parts of the world, the ethnic Chinese press has been on the decline due to political restrictions, financial strains and the decline of Chinese education overseas. Although the new waves of immigration from China and other Chinese-speaking regions over the last two decades helped to boost the development of ethnic Chinese press overseas for the time being, there is no guarantee that the new immigrants and their children will not follow the steps of earlier immigrants in being culturally assimilated. The development of the Internet is thus bringing a new leaf to the life of overseas Chinese language press by effectively easing its problems. Moreover, the Internet is also helping to expand the functions of the traditional media by offering more diversified and specialized communication among overseas Chinese. Considering the role the ethnic press plays in the formation and consolidation of ethnic communities, the impact of the Internet goes far beyond the fields of publication. It has long been established that minority language newspapers helped minority people to keep their ethnic identity (Werner, 1984) because they function to pass on knowledge, values and norms from one generation to another or from the members of a society to newcomers. In this way they serve to increase social cohesion by widening the base of common experience (1974). It is in this sense that the ethnic press is said to be a force in adjusting the balance between the maintenance of native ways and adoption of new ways of life by immigrants, who are pulled in two directions. Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

Ethnic Media in the U.S. (The Growth of Ethnic Chinese Media)

Ethnic Media in the U.S. (The Growth of Ethnic Chinese Media) The past decade has seen an inspiring growth in the number of national and...

Ethnic Media in the U.S.

Ethnic Media in the U.S. (The Growth of Ethnic Chinese Media) The past decade has seen an inspiring growth in the number of national and local radio stations, newspapers, magazines, web portals, public and cable television networks catering to the nation’s various ethnic communities. The America, being the melting pot of all ethnicities saw rapid growth of ethnic media which ethnic communities use primarily to re-connect with its ethnic roots. Ethnic media functions as a community-building institution, reporting news that is relevant to the ethnic community while at the same time offering a way for the community to exchange information and pass on tradition. It also offers the minority communities to voice its concerns with the larger public. Ethnic media also educates people about what is important in their communities and act as bridge in the smooth incorporation of the minority community to larger civic affairs. The Importance of Ethnic Media             Of all the sectors of the news media, the ethnic and alternative media in America are still in many ways the most fluid, popular, and reaches wider coverage. There are not one ethnic media but more than a dozen in the United States. Some sectors of ethnic media are big business. Others are more political and less commercial. The ethnic media are growing rapidly in the United States. This can be particularly said of the ethnic newspapers, the media for which there are most data. Yet evidence suggests that the trend is also true for radio and television (2004). On July 1, 2004, 98 percent of all U.S. residents, or 289.2 million people, belonged to 1 of the 5 single racial groups, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Population Estimates Program. People who were White and no other race made up the largest group and numbered 236.1 million in 2004, the single-race Black population was 37.5 million and the single-race Asian population was 12.3 million. The single-race American Indian and Alaska Native population accounted for 2.8 million people in the United States. Asians who were one race or in combination with other races numbered 14.0 million in 2004. Single race Asians represented 4.2 percent of all Americans. In 2004, 42 percent of people living in Hawaii were Asian, compared with 4 percent of all people living in the United States; California was a distant second with 12 percent. The next three states with the highest percentages were New Jersey (7 percent), New York (6 percent), and Washington (6 percent). The latest census also reveals that of the 513,000 Asian Americans living in New York city, almost half of them are Chinese, outnumbering Koreans and Asian Indians. Chinese American is the fastest growing segment of the US population (50%growth rate). Many Chinese Americans who live in the suburbs are successful businessmen from Hong Kong, Taiwan, and second or third generation successful professionals (2004). At the same time, verifying from the same census study, other demographic groups increased. The Asian Pacific islander population for example grew in real numbers and as a percentage of the whole. Asians, as a single race living in California numbered to 4,256,198, or 12. 1% of the total state population. In Los Angeles, the Asian population as a whole numbered to 376, 480 or 10. 1 percent of the total city population. San Francisco boasts a large number of Asian population. Thirty three percent of the whole city population is Asian, or about 240, 675 (2004). Seattle also houses a large number of Asian populations. There are about 92, 568 Asians residing in it. They make up 16.6 percent of the total population. There is also a significant number of Asians in the Chicago area; they numbered around 125, 930 or approximately 4.6 % of the Chicago population (2004). The US Census Bureau grouped the Asian ethnicity as whole, including Chinese, Filipino, Vietnamese and other smaller Asian communities in the states and cities mentioned. Beyond simple ethnicity, and perhaps more to the point, there has been a large rise in the non English speaking population. Between 1990 and 2000, the number of people not speaking English at home grew from 31.8 million to 47 million, a staggering roughly 50 percent increase in a decade alone. Spanish speakers lead the growth, perhaps because of proximity of Mexico and the mainland US. Growing from 17.3 million in 1990 to 28.1 million in 2000, an increase in 62 percent. Chinese was second in growth, climbing from 1.3 million in 1990 to 2 million in 2000, still an increase in 54 percent (2000). Together with radio, and to a lesser extent television, community newspapers serve as valuable guides for recent immigrants, introducing them to a new culture and way of life. In most cases, the publishers approach their mission to inform, educate, and entertain with great passion and enthusiasm. Studies also showed that people who read ethnic newspapers as well as mainstream newspapers were better informed of community as well as news of their homeland. They are therefore better informed of local and international events than people who just read mainstream newspapers,             For many groups in the United States, the media is perceived as credible and is heavily relied upon for health information (Brodie et al 1999). For immigrants the ethnic media is an important institution in immigrant communities because it caters to immigrants as cultural brokers for their communities by translating mainstream knowledge and practices (1980; 1987;  1992;  1995). The ethnic media can play a valuable role in disseminating health information to immigrant communities. For a variety of reasons the Asian Press is difficult to measure as a group, and the word Asian is more complicated, than let’s say Hispanic minority. Not only does Asian not speak of a single culture or nationality, it also does not define a single particular language. Even within Asian nationalities, there are language differences that make it difficult to group media. China alone has seven distinctly different dialect groups. That said, hat said, it is clear that some Asian language newspapers have large readerships. The World Journal, a Chinese-language daily based in New York, reports it has 250,000 in paid circulation. The Korea Times, in Los Angeles says it has more than 43,000 ( 2004).   Types of Ethnic Media in the US             Though no concrete figures exist for ethnic media nationwide, it’s becoming increasingly clear that the startling growth of print and television journalism in regions like California and New York is by no means anomalous. From Arab American newspaper competition in rural Michigan to Hindi pop tunes anchoring Radio Asia in Tampa, Florida, ethnic media has become a major player aboveground as well, seen most noticeably with NBC’s recent acquisition of the national, 24-hour Telemundo network. Ethnic media in the US can be accessed from all three medium of media, visual, broadcast and print. Internet is said to be the new medium and there is an increasing growth of ethnic media using Internet as its medium.  A study released by New Media America, an association of more than 700 ethnic media in the United States reveals the striking impact of ethnic media in the United States. Forty-five percent of all African American, Hispanic, Asian American, Native American and Arab American adults prefer ethnic television, radio or newspapers to their mainstream counterparts. These “primary consumers” also indicated that they access ethnic media frequently. This means that a staggering 29 million adults (45 percent of the 64 million ethnic adults studied), or a full 13 percent of the entire adult population of the United States, prefer ethnic media to mainstream television, radio or newspapers. More than half of all Hispanic adults are primary consumers of ethnic media. Approximately two-fifths of African Americans and Arab Americans and a fourth of Asian Americans and Native Americans prefer ethnic media to mainstream media (2005).             Similar study revealed that Asian American newspapers reach a substantial percentage of the nine million Asian American adults in the United States. More than half of all Chinese and Vietnamese adults read an ethnic newspaper on a regular basis. Nearly half of all Korean adults also read a Korean newspaper frequently. The reach of Filipino newspapers is smaller but still significant – one-fifth of the adults in this group read a Filipino newspaper a few times a month or more. The poll also indicates that Korean and Chinese television stations are rapidly increasing in popularity – a quarter of those interviewed reported watching Korean and Chinese-language television more often than English-language television. Access to the Internet is very high (67 percent) among all Asian Americans and half of them prefer ethnic websites to mainstream websites. Asian Indian adults access the Internet more often than other Asians (2005). Ethnic Media (Advertising Potential) In light of this startling growth, it should come as no surprise that mainstream players are getting into the act and trying to tap into these enclaves of prospective consumers. The recent acquisition of the Telemundo network by NBC for .98 billion had many initially scratching their heads–why had NBC seemingly overpaid for the underachieving network, a distant runner-up to Univision in Latino households nationwide? But if the growing Telemundo–which currently draws between 15 to 20 percent of Latino viewers–allows NBC access to the rising Latino population, in a few years that total may seem like a bargain. For companies like Viacom or NBC, it is beginning to make more business sense to acquire proven niche companies like BET (Black Entertainment Television) or Telemundo at high costs rather than going through the trouble of starting from scratch. (Why Advertise in Ethnic Media?) With Ethnic media’s wide access to ethnic communities in the US, it also plays a vital role in reaching and motivating vitally important ethnic consumer groups. Advertising that appears in ethnic media makes an emotional connection with consumers, which is critical to building sales and developing long-term relationships. In California, where the Latino, African-American and Asian-American communities combined make up about half of the state’s population, these groups prefer to get their news and information from ethnic media outlets. What’s more, nearly 65 percent of the ethnic Californians surveyed agreed that they are “more likely to buy a product or service advertised” in an ethnic-oriented publication or program. Latinos exhibited the strongest “advertising loyalty” characteristics followed closely by Asian-Americans. It is also advantageous for firms to advertise in ethnic media. Its chief advantage is cost efficiency since it reaches the people who the advertisement is addressed at a very reasonable price compared to mainstream media. Buying power among Asians and Latinos, California’s two largest minority groups, grew particularly strong. According to a study by the , Asian buying power grew by 108 percent to billion. Latino buying power grew by 102 percent to 7.6 billion (2003). Banks, for example, are one of the major advertisers in ethnic media. They know that in order to gain customers from different ethnic groups they have to build relationships with communities,. So banks like Bank of American or Wells Fargo will advertise in a variety of languages through ethnic media. Telecommunication services like AT&T and MCI, and financial services like Schwab, know they will pay little to reach a loyal and substantial customer base, that’s why they are one of the More and more companies are now realizing that advertising in ethnic media is cost effective and reaches a wider range of consumers especially in the ethnic community. Chinese Media in the US Mass media are perceived to be powerful shapers of culture and communication in society. National majority media and ethnic minority media are both influential on achieving such reconstructed ideology. Thus, the new form of media business not only differs from the old, but also should be examined for its role of Chinese ethnic minority media. The ethnic press,  are once viewed solely as a special-interest voice and forum for minority groups, has become a fast-growing media market because it is one of the few places helping to document and report on cultural changes in America and its impact to Chinese community. The World Journal is a Chinese-language daily newspaper with 90,000 readers in New York State and 360,000 readers nationally. Founded in 1976, it is the largest Chinese-language newspaper in North America and is part of the 50-year-old United Daily News Group of Taiwan. One of the few U.S. daily newspapers distributed nationally, The World Journal is published in New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Houston, Vancouver and Toronto. Staff members in each city contribute local articles to the newspaper, which focuses on China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia.It has been a steady growth pattern, rather than sudden, said Ms. Lee, who said staying relevant to a younger generation has been a key to growth. Census data rank Chinese speakers second to Spanish speakers in America’s non-English-speaking population; the former grew from 1.3 million in 1990 to 2 million in 2000. The overseas Chinese press is known for its enormous size. Some 30 million Chinese are living outside China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao and constitute one of the largest ethnic groups in dozens of countries. Serving them are a large number of Chinese-language newspapers and magazines, which could be traced well back to the early 19th century, when the first overseas Chinese newspaper San Francisco News was founded in 1854 and the first overseas Chinese daily was founded in 1856. At the beginning of this decade, there were 64 daily Chinese-language newspapers published outside China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao. If the weeklies, biweeklies and magazines were included, the total number would reach 300. Among many other things, the ethnic Chinese publications cover local Chinese communities, report news from the “mother country” and advocate Chinese values, tradition and culture, and by doing so they have greatly contributed to increasing the cohesiveness of the Chinese community. A study of the Chinatown in New York City, for instance, shows that, Chinese immigrants in the New York City are living in a rather comprehensive Chinese media environment, complete with diverse and familiar sources of print and electronic materials. Chinese media inform immigrants about events that have taken place within and outside their community and about available social service. These media also offer an easy source by which older immigrants can maintain a stabilizing continuity in their cultural and entertainment life and younger immigrants maintain contact with their roots. Chinese Media Setbacks Political suppression was one of the main reasons for the significant set back of Chinese ethnic media. Even in the United States where freedom of the press is defended as a pillar of American democracy, publications by Chinese immigrants were also harassed for their support of the People’s Republic of China during the Cold War. Chinese press has also been suffering from a decline in the use of the Chinese language. To maintain a sizable audience, the Chinese press depends very much on the Chinese education of second and third generations of Chinese immigrants, yet this has become increasingly more difficult. Although the overseas Chinese education saw fast development following World War II, it has been suffering continued setbacks since the 1950s. On the one hand, as more and more Chinese immigrants began to be assimilated into the local culture, the second and third generations of Chinese immigrants often could not use the Chinese language effectively to consume the Chinese-language media. On the other hand, the assimilation policy adopted in many countries towards their Chinese population had a direct impact on the education of overseas Chinese. In some Southeast Asian countries, governments imposed restrictions on Chinese schools. Market competition with the mainstream media causes another problem for the Chinese-language press since it is much more difficult for ethnic media to survive financially. The early overseas Chinese media often faced more financial strains than other media because the potential size of its readership was always limited; and the distribution usually more difficult, with many potential consumers living in faraway and isolated places. As a result, the development of Chinese-language press has been fluctuating all the time, with a fast rate of coming and going. For example, of the 10 Chinese dailies published in the United States in the 1980s, more than half of them are gone today. In the early days of Chinese-language press, a newspaper was often started as a mission rather than a viable financial operation. In most cases, the Chinese-language media were financed by Chinese businessmen through individual or collective investment.Such investment was usually aimed at providing a community service rather than generating profits. The Internet and the Chinese Ethnic Media Although the Internet is still neophyte and computer media are not yet in a position to replace the traditional media, there are already signs that computer-mediated mass communication is bringing about a new turn for the conventional Chinese-language press by solving or easing some of its problems. The global nature of computer-mediated communication has drastically changed the way information is disseminated, making it hard to identify and terminate the source of origin. A government will find it more difficult to keep its people from publicizing and receiving information. In other words, although the Internet does not necessarily lead to change in government attitude towards the Chinese publications, it reduces the effects of restrictions imposed on them. The Internet has also expanded the role of the traditional mass media by blending their news function with entertainment and education. And this development is significant in helping the Chinese immigrants and their children to maintain their cultural roots. Conclusion Despite the large number of Chinese immigrants in various parts of the world, the ethnic Chinese press has been on the decline due to political restrictions, financial strains and the decline of Chinese education overseas. Although the new waves of immigration from China and other Chinese-speaking regions over the last two decades helped to boost the development of ethnic Chinese press overseas for the time being, there is no guarantee that the new immigrants and their children will not follow the steps of earlier immigrants in being culturally assimilated. The development of the Internet is thus bringing a new leaf to the life of overseas Chinese language press by effectively easing its problems. Moreover, the Internet is also helping to expand the functions of the traditional media by offering more diversified and specialized communication among overseas Chinese. Considering the role the ethnic press plays in the formation and consolidation of ethnic communities, the impact of the Internet goes far beyond the fields of publication. It has long been established that minority language newspapers helped minority people to keep their ethnic identity (1984) because they function to pass on knowledge, values and norms from one generation to another or from the members of a society to newcomers. In this way they serve to increase social cohesion by widening the base of common experience (1974). It is in this sense that the ethnic press is said to be a force in adjusting the balance between the maintenance of native ways and adoption of new ways of life by immigrants, who are pulled in two directions. Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

Ethnic Media in the U.S.

Ethnic Media in the U.S. (The Growth of Ethnic Chinese Media) The past decade has seen an inspiring growth in the number of national and...

Ethnic Media in the U.S.

Ethnic Media in the U.S. (The Growth of Ethnic Chinese Media) The past decade has seen an inspiring growth in the number of national and local radio stations, newspapers, magazines, web portals, public and cable television networks catering to the nation’s various ethnic communities. The America, being the melting pot of all ethnicities saw rapid growth of ethnic media which ethnic communities use primarily to re-connect with its ethnic roots. Ethnic media functions as a community-building institution, reporting news that is relevant to the ethnic community while at the same time offering a way for the community to exchange information and pass on tradition. It also offers the minority communities to voice its concerns with the larger public. Ethnic media also educates people about what is important in their communities and act as bridge in the smooth incorporation of the minority community to larger civic affairs. The Importance of Ethnic Media             Of all the sectors of the news media, the ethnic and alternative media in America are still in many ways the most fluid, popular, and reaches wider coverage. There are not one ethnic media but more than a dozen in the United States. Some sectors of ethnic media are big business. Others are more political and less commercial. The ethnic media are growing rapidly in the United States. This can be particularly said of the ethnic newspapers, the media for which there are most data. Yet evidence suggests that the trend is also true for radio and television (2004). On July 1, 2004, 98 percent of all U.S. residents, or 289.2 million people, belonged to 1 of the 5 single racial groups, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Population Estimates Program. People who were White and no other race made up the largest group and numbered 236.1 million in 2004, the single-race Black population was 37.5 million and the single-race Asian population was 12.3 million. The single-race American Indian and Alaska Native population accounted for 2.8 million people in the United States. Asians who were one race or in combination with other races numbered 14.0 million in 2004. Single race Asians represented 4.2 percent of all Americans. In 2004, 42 percent of people living in Hawaii were Asian, compared with 4 percent of all people living in the United States; California was a distant second with 12 percent. The next three states with the highest percentages were New Jersey (7 percent), New York (6 percent), and Washington (6 percent). The latest census also reveals that of the 513,000 Asian Americans living in New York City, almost half of them are Chinese, outnumbering Koreans and Asian Indians. Chinese American is the fastest growing segment of the US population (50%growth rate). Many Chinese Americans who live in the suburbs are successful businessmen from Hong Kong, Taiwan, and second or third generation successful professionals (2004). At the same time, verifying from the same census study, other demographic groups increased. The Asian Pacific islander population for example grew in real numbers and as a percentage of the whole. Asians, as a single race living in California numbered to 4,256,198, or 12. 1% of the total state population. In Los Angeles, the Asian population as a whole numbered to 376, 480 or 10. 1 percent of the total city population. San Francisco boasts a large number of Asian populations. Thirty three percent of the whole city population is Asian, or about 240, 675 ( 2004). Seattle also houses a large number of Asian populations. There are about 92, 568 Asians residing in it. They make up 16.6 percent of the total population. There is also a significant number of Asians in the Chicago area; they numbered around 125, 930 or approximately 4.6 % of the Chicago population (2004). The US Census Bureau grouped the Asian ethnicity as whole, including Chinese, Filipino, Vietnamese and other smaller Asian communities in the states and cities mentioned. Beyond simple ethnicity, and perhaps more to the point, there has been a large rise in the non English speaking population. Between 1990 and 2000, the number of people not speaking English at home grew from 31.8 million to 47 million, a staggering roughly 50 percent increase in a decade alone. Spanish speakers lead the growth, perhaps because of proximity of Mexico and the mainland US. Growing from 17.3 million in 1990 to 28.1 million in 2000, an increase in 62 percent. Chinese was second in growth, climbing from 1.3 million in 1990 to 2 million in 2000, still an increase in 54 percent ( 2000). Together with radio, and to a lesser extent television, community newspapers serve as valuable guides for recent immigrants, introducing them to a new culture and way of life. In most cases, the publishers approach their mission to inform, educate, and entertain with great passion and enthusiasm. Studies also showed that people who read ethnic newspapers as well as mainstream newspapers were better informed of community as well as news of their homeland. They are therefore better informed of local and international events than people who just read mainstream newspapers,             For many groups in the United States, the media is perceived as credible and is heavily relied upon for health information (1999). For immigrants the ethnic media is an important institution in immigrant communities because it caters to immigrants as cultural brokers for their communities by translating mainstream knowledge and practices (1987). The ethnic media can play a valuable role in disseminating health information to immigrant communities. For a variety of reasons the Asian Press is difficult to measure as a group, and the word Asian is more complicated, than let’s say Hispanic minority. Not only does Asian not speak of a single culture or nationality, it also does not define a single particular language. Even within Asian nationalities, there are language differences that make it difficult to group media. China alone has seven distinctly different dialect groups. That said, hat said, it is clear that some Asian language newspapers have large readerships. The World Journal, a Chinese-language daily based in New York, reports it has 250,000 in paid circulation. The Korea Times, in Los Angeles says it has more than 43,000 (2004).   Types of Ethnic Media in the US             Though no concrete figures exist for ethnic media nationwide, it’s becoming increasingly clear that the startling growth of print and television journalism in regions like California and New York is by no means anomalous. From Arab American newspaper competition in rural Michigan to Hindi pop tunes anchoring Radio Asia in Tampa, Florida, ethnic media has become a major player aboveground as well, seen most noticeably with NBC’s recent acquisition of the national, 24-hour Telemundo network. Ethnic media in the US can be accessed from all three medium of media, visual, broadcast and print. Internet is said to be the new medium and there is an increasing growth of ethnic media using Internet as its medium.  A study released by New Media America, an association of more than 700 ethnic media in the United States reveals the striking impact of ethnic media in the United States. Forty-five percent of all African American, Hispanic, Asian American, Native American and Arab American adults prefer ethnic television, radio or newspapers to their mainstream counterparts. These “primary consumers” also indicated that they access ethnic media frequently. This means that a staggering 29 million adults (45 percent of the 64 million ethnic adults studied), or a full 13 percent of the entire adult population of the United States, prefer ethnic media to mainstream television, radio or newspapers. More than half of all Hispanic adults are primary consumers of ethnic media. Approximately two-fifths of African Americans and Arab Americans and a fourth of Asian Americans and Native Americans prefer ethnic media to mainstream media (2005).             Similar study revealed that Asian American newspapers reach a substantial percentage of the nine million Asian American adults in the United States. More than half of all Chinese and Vietnamese adults read an ethnic newspaper on a regular basis. Nearly half of all Korean adults also read a Korean newspaper frequently. The reach of Filipino newspapers is smaller but still significant – one-fifth of the adults in this group read a Filipino newspaper a few times a month or more. The poll also indicates that Korean and Chinese television stations are rapidly increasing in popularity – a quarter of those interviewed reported watching Korean and Chinese-language television more often than English-language television. Access to the Internet is very high (67 percent) among all Asian Americans and half of them prefer ethnic websites to mainstream websites. Asian Indian adults access the Internet more often than other Asians (2005). Ethnic Media (Advertising Potential) In light of this startling growth, it should come as no surprise that mainstream players are getting into the act and trying to tap into these enclaves of prospective consumers. The recent acquisition of the Telemundo network by NBC for .98 billion had many initially scratching their heads–why had NBC seemingly overpaid for the underachieving network, a distant runner-up to Univision in Latino households nationwide? But if the growing Telemundo–which currently draws between 15 to 20 percent of Latino viewers–allows NBC access to the rising Latino population, in a few years that total may seem like a bargain. For companies like Viacom or NBC, it is beginning to make more business sense to acquire proven niche companies like BET (Black Entertainment Television) or Telemundo at high costs rather than going through the trouble of starting from scratch. (Why Advertise in Ethnic Media?) With Ethnic media’s wide access to ethnic communities in the US, it also plays a vital role in reaching and motivating vitally important ethnic consumer groups. Advertising that appears in ethnic media makes an emotional connection with consumers, which is critical to building sales and developing long-term relationships. In California, where the Latino, African-American and Asian-American communities combined make up about half of the state’s population, these groups prefer to get their news and information from ethnic media outlets. What’s more, nearly 65 percent of the ethnic Californians surveyed agreed that they are “more likely to buy a product or service advertised” in an ethnic-oriented publication or program. Latinos exhibited the strongest “advertising loyalty” characteristics followed closely by Asian-Americans. It is also advantageous for firms to advertise in ethnic media. Its chief advantage is cost efficiency since it reaches the people who the advertisement is addressed at a very reasonable price compared to mainstream media. Buying power among Asians and Latinos, California’s two largest minority groups, grew particularly strong. According to a study by the Selig Center at the University of Georgia, Asian buying power grew by 108 percent to billion. Latino buying power grew by 102 percent to 7.6 billion (2003). Banks, for example, are one of the major advertisers in ethnic media. They know that in order to gain customers from different ethnic groups they have to build relationships with communities,. So banks like Bank of American or Wells Fargo will advertise in a variety of languages through ethnic media. Telecommunication services like AT&T and MCI, and financial services like Schwab, know they will pay little to reach a loyal and substantial customer base, that’s why they are one of the More and more companies are now realizing that advertising in ethnic media is cost effective and reaches a wider range of consumers especially in the ethnic community. Chinese Media in the US Mass media are perceived to be powerful shapers of culture and communication in society. National majority media and ethnic minority media are both influential on achieving such reconstructed ideology. Thus, the new form of media business not only differs from the old, but also should be examined for its role of Chinese ethnic minority media. The ethnic press,  are once viewed solely as a special-interest voice and forum for minority groups, has become a fast-growing media market because it is one of the few places helping to document and report on cultural changes in America and its impact to Chinese community. The World Journal is a Chinese-language daily newspaper with 90,000 readers in New York State and 360,000 readers nationally. Founded in 1976, it is the largest Chinese-language newspaper in North America and is part of the 50-year-old United Daily News Group of Taiwan. One of the few U.S. daily newspapers distributed nationally, The World Journal is published in New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Houston, Vancouver and Toronto. Staff members in each city contribute local articles to the newspaper, which focuses on China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia.It has been a steady growth pattern, rather than sudden, said Ms. Lee, who said staying relevant to a younger generation has been a key to growth. Census data rank Chinese speakers second to Spanish speakers in America’s non-English-speaking population; the former grew from 1.3 million in 1990 to 2 million in 2000. The overseas Chinese press is known for its enormous size. Some 30 million Chinese are living outside China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao and constitute one of the largest ethnic groups in dozens of countries. Serving them are a large number of Chinese-language newspapers and magazines, which could be traced well back to the early 19th century, when the first overseas Chinese newspaper San Francisco News was founded in 1854 and the first overseas Chinese daily was founded in 1856. At the beginning of this decade, there were 64 daily Chinese-language newspapers published outside China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao. If the weeklies, biweeklies and magazines were included, the total number would reach 300. Among many other things, the ethnic Chinese publications cover local Chinese communities, report news from the “mother country” and advocate Chinese values, tradition and culture, and by doing so they have greatly contributed to increasing the cohesiveness of the Chinese community. A study of the Chinatown in New York City, for instance, shows that, Chinese immigrants in the New York City are living in a rather comprehensive Chinese media environment, complete with diverse and familiar sources of print and electronic materials. Chinese media inform immigrants about events that have taken place within and outside their community and about available social service. These media also offer an easy source by which older immigrants can maintain a stabilizing continuity in their cultural and entertainment life and younger immigrants maintain contact with their roots. Chinese Media Setbacks Political suppression was one of the main reasons for the significant set back of Chinese ethnic media. Even in the United States where freedom of the press is defended as a pillar of American democracy, publications by Chinese immigrants were also harassed for their support of the People’s Republic of China during the Cold War. Chinese press has also been suffering from a decline in the use of the Chinese language. To maintain a sizable audience, the Chinese press depends very much on the Chinese education of second and third generations of Chinese immigrants, yet this has become increasingly more difficult. Although the overseas Chinese education saw fast development following World War II, it has been suffering continued setbacks since the 1950s. On the one hand, as more and more Chinese immigrants began to be assimilated into the local culture, the second and third generations of Chinese immigrants often could not use the Chinese language effectively to consume the Chinese-language media. On the other hand, the assimilation policy adopted in many countries towards their Chinese population had a direct impact on the education of overseas Chinese. In some Southeast Asian countries, governments imposed restrictions on Chinese schools. Market competition with the mainstream media causes another problem for the Chinese-language press since it is much more difficult for ethnic media to survive financially. The early overseas Chinese media often faced more financial strains than other media because the potential size of its readership was always limited; and the distribution usually more difficult, with many potential consumers living in faraway and isolated places. As a result, the development of Chinese-language press has been fluctuating all the time, with a fast rate of coming and going. For example, of the 10 Chinese dailies published in the United States in the 1980s, more than half of them are gone today. In the early days of Chinese-language press, a newspaper was often started as a mission rather than a viable financial operation. In most cases, the Chinese-language media were financed by Chinese businessmen through individual or collective investment. Such investment was usually aimed at providing a community service rather than generating profits. The Internet and the Chinese Ethnic Media Although the Internet is still neophyte and computer media are not yet in a position to replace the traditional media, there are already signs that computer-mediated mass communication is bringing about a new turn for the conventional Chinese-language press by solving or easing some of its problems. The global nature of computer-mediated communication has drastically changed the way information is disseminated, making it hard to identify and terminate the source of origin. A government will find it more difficult to keep its people from publicizing and receiving information. In other words, although the Internet does not necessarily lead to change in government attitude towards the Chinese publications, it reduces the effects of restrictions imposed on them. The Internet has also expanded the role of the traditional mass media by blending their news function with entertainment and education. And this development is significant in helping the Chinese immigrants and their children to maintain their cultural roots. Conclusion Despite the large number of Chinese immigrants in various parts of the world, the ethnic Chinese press has been on the decline due to political restrictions, financial strains and the decline of Chinese education overseas. Although the new waves of immigration from China and other Chinese-speaking regions over the last two decades helped to boost the development of ethnic Chinese press overseas for the time being, there is no guarantee that the new immigrants and their children will not follow the steps of earlier immigrants in being culturally assimilated. The development of the Internet is thus bringing a new leaf to the life of overseas Chinese language press by effectively easing its problems. Moreover, the Internet is also helping to expand the functions of the traditional media by offering more diversified and specialized communication among overseas Chinese. Considering the role the ethnic press plays in the formation and consolidation of ethnic communities, the impact of the Internet goes far beyond the fields of publication. It has long been established that minority language newspapers helped minority people to keep their ethnic identity (1984) because they function to pass on knowledge, values and norms from one generation to another or from the members of a society to newcomers. In this way they serve to increase social cohesion by widening the base of common experience (1974). It is in this sense that the ethnic press is said to be a force in adjusting the balance between the maintenance of native ways and adoption of new ways of life by immigrants, who are pulled in two directions. Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

Ethnic Media in the U.S.

Ethnic Media in the U.S. (The Growth of Ethnic Chinese Media) The past decade has seen an inspiring growth in the number of national and...