AN OPINION
Relight the Torch of the Caribbean Diaspora
BROOKLYN, NY: Is it just me... or is there a hint of the ‘we can’t do anything about it’ mentality when our small Caribbean-American focused newspapers stop printing? Yes, the economy is bad but news is always important and newspapers are the most believed venue for news and information for many in this Diaspora...
Well, I’m not happy about it, and I’m sure that the sage members of the Diaspora are not prepared to loose a part of their fiber that still resonates as the best way to get the real story… The printed words of newspapers have seen better days for centuries; newspapers moved from telling us who died, got married, bought land and who was wanted for crimes, to being tomes of information and financial betterment. What’s happening now is that people have more choices to get news. But newspapers are nowhere near becoming lost in our history, especially with the variety of community papers that are available for the Caribbean American Diaspora.
Print newspapers and their online versions combined today are more popular than imagined, and yet mainstream media reports always seem to imply the print industry as gasping for air at the throat in the clutches of a digital hand.
Case in point is Caribbean Impact, based in New York and known as the Torch of the Caribbean-American Diaspora in its tri-state hub. Since its inception, the paper has been published and distributed freely in their hub and transported to the Maryland-DC, Atlanta and Florida areas that boast significant numbers of Caribbean-Americans. They found a niche in ensuring coverage for each island in business, politics, culture and folklore. The print version was followed by an online version http://www.caribimpact.net which enjoyed viewership internationally from the Caribbean and Guyana, to Europe and Africa and even to Turkey.
I’m not complaining about the internet as a vehicle for delivery of news and more; I think the internet does lots of things right. It allows papers like Caribbean Impact to compete, on breaking or expanded news. It provides additional information beyond what’s printed on paper, including documents that substantiate specific news reports. It enables us to creating links to other stories and past articles can be easily retrieved from the online archives. It’s made the growth of our Diasporic publications like CaribbeanWorldNews.com, Caribbean360.com and Caribbeannetnews.com and more, progress nicely. However, I do think it’s a troubling that print newspapers are losing readership; and getting our very community to understand the importance of their support is
Your help is needed to fund the continued printing of this paper which is distributed and provided freely to you, the community it serves.
Apart from being among the contributing writers who volunteer their ability to the paper for its bi-weekly publishing I’m among those disturbed by the threatened loss of print news. If you’ve been paying attention, then you know this is a tough time for newspapers. Advertising revenues and circulation is down. Readership is shifting to the internet, and the economic base that sustained print papers is not presently there either. The consequences have meant an impromptu hiatus for papers like Caribbean Impact. Their last issue printed was published on April 1, 2009.
Caribbean Impact was founded in 2003 by Dennis Nelson, Edgar Henry and Godfrey Wray, their vision was to provided news and information for the Guyanese and Caribbean-American community members who’d emigrated here. With dedicated sections of news covering the various islands and countries, Caribbean Impact provides indebt reporting and coverage beyond the bits and pieces of mainstream publications and media, editorials and opinions. This publication includes the community it serves; there are personal highlights from milestone birthdays to academic achievement, humor and obituaries; customary for the audience who like the feel of reading something they would if still living ‘back-home’. Newspapers are valuable and authoritative sources of information in the ex-patriot Caribbean-American mind; and newspapers are the usual source of quick news updates reported on the radio.
MAKE AN IMPACT…
This is an appeal to the Caribbean Diaspora at large to step up and support Caribbean Impact to ensure that we maintain coverage of the current events that matter to us.
The Friends of Caribbean Impact is the first group to openly call for the revival and upkeep of this paper; they plan to host a series of fund raising benefits begining on July 4th. Show your support for Caribbean Impact by making a donation or becoming an Advertising Patron of the publication.
You can also make a personal donation to Caribbean Impact; send it to the Brooklyn office at 282 East 42nd Street, Brooklyn, NY 11203 – Attention: Godfrey Wray
This is a wider issue with many national and major newspapers, but as a community we should look at the ones that appeal to us first. Major publications can cut cost easily; they just chose not to. Local publications such as Caribbean Impact require our heavy support. Save your eyes, read on paper.
ReplyDeleteNiche papers like CI don't have the option on cutting costs as easily... they depend on the advertising revenue of community based businesses to keep printing, with those dollars lost, they are forced to stop printing.
ReplyDelete