ESCONDIDO SPANISH-LANGUAGE NEWS PAPER EL GIGANTE HISPANO

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Escondido Spanish-language newspaper focuses on local coverage

By: PAUL EAKINS - Staff Writer

ESCONDIDO -- Since the Escondido-based Spanish-language newspaper El Gigante Hispano hit the streets one year ago, it has been working to carve out its niche in a competitive market.

Founder Paulo Solorza said he hopes to serve local readers and businesses with local news coverage written by local writers.

"There are communities that need information," the 33-year-old Solorza, of Poway, said Monday in Spanish. "And the best form to give it to them is in their own language."

About 10,000 copies of the free tabloid newspaper are delivered to homes and distributed each Saturday to 400 locations throughout North County such as grocery stores and taco stands, Solorza said. The official publication date is Sunday.

The newspaper, whose name means "The Hispanic Giant," an atypical newspaper name in any language, has grown from eight pages in its first June 2006 North County edition to 20 pages.

Solorza founded the newspaper at the end of 2005 in Chula Vista before bringing it here last summer because he thought it would be more successful in North County, said Solorza, the company president.

Spanish-speaking North County residents have many newspapers from which to choose. But most of the at least seven Spanish-language newspapers distributed in the area focus on other San Diego County cities, contain mostly advertisements, or are filled with national and entertainment news provided by news services.

Breaking into such a competitive Spanish-language market -- not to mention facing competition from much larger daily English-language newspapers -- wasn't easy at first, said Bertha Alvarez, El Gigante Hispano's advertising sales director.

"At the beginning, it was a little more difficult because the people didn't know the newspaper," Alvarez said in Spanish.

Now, the publication has 80 to 100 advertising clients, she said.

Zeferino Hernandez, owner of Latinos Market at 525 W. Grand Ave., said he advertises with El Gigante Hispano because many of his customers speak Spanish and Latinos are a large part of Escondido's population. About 43 percent of the city's 141,000 people are Latino, according to San Diego Association of Governments estimates.

"That's the reason we need to reach them," Hernandez said Monday.

Valenti Facio, manager of the Knights of Columbus downtown and an Escondido resident for 20 years, said he reads Spanish-language newspapers for entertainment and to find out what is happening in the city.

"You see what the council and the mayor are doing, you can see the new laws of the city," Facio said of El Gigante Hispano.

In the most recent issue, a front-page article discusses Congress' recent failure to pass an immigration reform bill. Although immigration reform is a national issue, local immigrants living in Escondido are interviewed for the story by a local writer.

Other stories include coverage of local soccer leagues, a feature on a local high school graduate, and financial and real estate advice columns by local experts. The newspaper is available online at www.elgigantehispano.com.

"I didn't study this," said Solorza, who doesn't have a journalism degree. "But I think I know what the people need to know."

-- Contact staff writer Paul Eakins at (760) 740-5420 or peakins@nctimes.com.

Other Spanish-language newspapers in the region include:

Diario San Diego, or "San Diego Daily," a tabloid of mostly San Diego, national and international news.

El Latino, a well-established news tabloid from Chula Vista.

El Semanario, or "The Weekly," a tabloid newspaper from San Diego that draws many North County advertisers.

El Comprador Mexicano, or "The Mexican Shopper," an advertising publication.

Impacto Internacional, or "International Impact," which has mostly national and international news.

Enlace, or "Link," the region's most comprehensive Spanish-language newspaper, which is published by The San Diego Union-Tribune.

Hispanos Unidos, or "United Hispanics," a six-page broadsheet with mostly national and international news.

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/07 ... 7_3_07.txt

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ESCONDIDO SPANISH-LANGUAGE NEWS PAPER
EL GIGANTE HISPANO






http://elgigantehispano.hdnweb.com/index.php

[WhatMattersMost]

OMG . . . that's the tackiest looking rag I've ever seen. The name alone is tacky enough but cheap gaudy print and pictures is just all kinds of wrong.

[reptile09]

Greetings from Mexico's Finest City... San Diego, Mexifornia.