Hispanic Newspaperman/woman on Long Island

A newspaper geared to Hispanic population has been given to me to produce here

on Long Island. Right now it covers NYC and Bonx. My job is to bring it to

Long Island. I am a photographer and writer and am able to work with Quark

Express to produce the paper. My problem is that I don't speak Spanish and

need someone who does and can work with me to produce the paper. If there is

anyone out there who is interested in getting this together with me, let me

know. abe@photo.net. Thanks. We are hoping it will be a moneymaker soon.

There is no cost to produce it, just need to put in some time and effort. We

have the beginnings of something very viable, but need to put the effort into

it. The paper is 70% english, 30% spanish. It is geared to lifestyles,

meaning more entertainment, health, politics, than accidents or spot news.

Abe, Abe, Abe. What have you been drinking? No cost to produce it? Do you believe in perpetual motion as well?

John, John, John, What have you been smoking? When I said there is no cost, I mean it. The cost of producing this paper is already being paid for and taken care of by the publisher. That said, I meant what I said and I just would prefer to hear from someone who is interested and is serious. If you have a stupid wise comment, save it for your own post.

Actually, its quite a serious answer (so far the only one you got).

Abe,

My dayjob for the past 25 years has been in journalism/PR, first as a reporter and editor for newspapers, wire services and magazines and then doing PR on Capitol Hill in Washington and editing a number of newsletters. What you need is a staff of Spanish-language reporters/writers, not just somebody who took a college or even college language course. Preferably native speakers. Otherwise you run the risk of the famous mis-translation of the Coke slogan into Chinese that came out "Eat the wax tadpole." Even beyond proper language issues, your reporting staff would have to be intimately familiar with Hispanic culture if they are to cover the Hispanic community. As for "no cost" -- printing and distribution are hardly the biggest expense in producting a newspaper. Personnal costs are your biggest expense, particularly newsroom personnel who spend money without directly producing revenue.

I worked with a crew that spoke Spanish. They were continuously calling the Anglos around them names or telling tall tales about them. Some slang was quite filthy and the Anglos thought these were nicknames and started referring to themselves using these names. Pretty soon in a factory of some 2,000 people, Anglo managers were absolutely ridiculing themselves in front of everybody. My recommendation is to learn Spanish first, THEN hire a staff that you can understand.