NJ Spotlight unveils Spanish-language news platform as a result of COVID-19 collaborative initiative; Reporte Hispano prints stories on front page
NJ Spotlight, New Jersey’s largest nonprofit news organization, has launched a new online section featuring coronavirus stories translated in Spanish, called EN ESPAÑOL.
The new section is a result of a COVID-19 translation initiative lead by Montclair State University’s Center for Cooperative Media.
Every week the Center selects at least two stories published by NJ Spotlight which are then translated into Spanish by media partner Reporte Hispano, the state’s largest Spanish-language newspaper. The translations, which began in March, were first funded by the New Jersey Local News Lab Fund, which is a partnership of the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, Democracy Fund, and Community Foundation of New Jersey. Since June the work has been funded by a grant from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation.
Additionally, Reporte Hispano runs all of the translated content on its website and frequently in its printed newspaper, including on its front page.
“The [NJ Spotlight] stories that we translated into Spanish provide timely and firsthand information on COVID-19 to the more than 1.8 million Latinos that we serve in New Jersey, representing nearly 21 percent of the state’s population,” said Kleibeel Marcano, editor of Reporte Hispano, who translates the stories. “There are certain English terms, like ‘flu-like symptoms,’ that may be vague for Spanish readers. That’s why a nuanced translation, culturally and linguistically, is crucial to mitigate language barriers and narrow information gaps in the Latino immigrant community, most especially during this unprecedented public health crisis.”
NJ Spotlight, which focuses on news and analysis about politics and public policy in the state, then posts these stories on the Spanish-language platform embedded in its website. The translated stories are also made available to all members of the NJ News Commons for republication through the Center’s daily COVID-19 newsletter. Several news organizations have picked up the Spanish translations, including the Press of Atlantic City, Planet Princeton and New Jersey Hispano.
Reporte Hispano has also translated some of its stories into English, which are made available to all NJ News Commons members.
As COVID-19 continues to impact lives across the state, this initiative aims to provide Spanish-speaking communities in New Jersey with information from a statewide and policy perspective about the virus and how it affects the state budget, immigration, housing, education, environment and more.
The EN ESPAÑOL section is the first of its kind among mainstream New Jersey news organizations.
There are 155 languages spoken in New Jersey, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, and one in four homes speaks a language other than English.
Spanish is the most frequently spoken language in the state after English, followed by Chinese, Portuguese, Tagalog, Italian, Korean, Gujarati, Polish, Hindi and Arabic.
As of July 27, Latinos in New Jersey are dying of COVID-19 at the second highest rate at 19.4%.
“This partnership highlights the multilingual, multicultural journalism and collaboration that our diverse communities need today, especially in the midst of a pandemic,” said Stefanie Murray, director of the Center.
As health officials are constantly announcing new coronavirus-related developments and reopening guidelines, language divides could disproportionately put non-English speakers at a greater risk.
“Now more than ever, it’s important to keep all New Jerseyans informed about the impact of COVID-19 on our daily lives and public policy, and we’re proud to share more of that critical information directly with our Spanish-speaking neighbors,” said NJ Spotlight Founding Editor John Mooney.
Through its translation initiative, the Center also works with partners from The Korea Daily and Sing Tao Daily to translate NJ Spotlight’s stories in Korean and Chinese. Those stories are also available for republication and are accessible from the Center’s daily COVID-19 newsletter.
Additionally, Reporte Hispano, The Korea Daily and Sing Tao Daily translate occasional important COVID-19-related stories from Spanish, Korean and Chinese into English. Those stories are also available for republication and can be accessed via the Center’s daily COVID-19 newsletter.
Oni Advincula is the ethnic media program coordinator at the Center for Cooperartive Media. Contact him at oni.advincula@gmail.com or advinculaa@montclair.edu.
About the Center for Cooperative Media: The Center is a grant-funded program of the School of Communication and Media at Montclair State University. Its mission is to grow and strengthen local journalism, and in doing so serve New Jersey residents. The Center is supported with funding from Montclair State University, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, Democracy Fund, the New Jersey Local News Lab (a partnership of the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, Democracy Fund, and Community Foundation of New Jersey), and the Abrams Foundation. For more information, visit CenterforCooperativeMedia.org.
