La Nación USA In Washington DC Leads Way For Ethnic Publishers Alliance.

Area publishers of the foreign language newspapers in the Nation’s Capital are not happy with local politicians and elected officials.

“The commitment to reach the ethnic communities is not made by politicians, officials and government agencies,” says Jesus Sanchez Cañete, publisher of the La Nación USA.

“For example, we have been ignored by the candidates. La Nación USA is the only daily Spanish language newspaper in Greater Washington and as a commitment to our readers, we sent questionnaires regarding issues of importance to the Hispanic community to 400 candidates in this area before the primaries – candidates running for federal, local and school board positions. Only seven responses came back,” exclaims Cañete.

This apathy drove Cañete to lay the foundation for a multicultural lobbying association.

The front page of Washington Business Journal, dated November 1, 2002, points to the story of how Cañete plans to bring together the publishers of local Chinese, Korean, Indian and Vietnamese newspapers to strengthen the voice of the ethnic communities. The goal of the association will be to lobby for the interests of the ethnic media and the communities they serve.

As the Washington D.C. metropolitan area’s ethnic population continues to grow, so do the numbers of foreign language papers serving the community. These newspapers deliver news from the homeland and cover local ethnic events, but more importantly, inform the reader of news many of the English speaking population takes for granted. “We believe we will finally make an impact,” says Cañete.