Covering the Recall for a Spanish-Speaking Audience: The Political Editor of la Opinion Found-Herself Being Interviewed by a Lot of Other Reporters

Marrero, Pilar, Nieman Reports

From the beginning, minority communities in California, which by now are the majority of the state's population, were not part of the movement toward the governor's recall election, the tremor that shook the Golden State with a force reminiscent of periodic movements of the San Andreas Fault. The decisions involved in the recall of Governor Gray Davis emerged from a small but dedicated group of conservative activists and were later fueled by the suburban voter who worries about raising taxes and the proliferation of benefits for those less fortunate, including the largely faceless group referred to as "those illegal aliens."

This pattern is in keeping with Ronald Reagan's election as governor in the 1960's, passage of the anti-tax Proposition 13 during the 1970's, and the voters imposition of term limits in the early 1990's. Voter revolts haven't come from the less affluent and expanding minority communities where economic downturns mean loss of jobs, cuts in pay, closure of neighborhood health clinics, and anti-immigrant initiatives. They arise out of the anger of the mostly white middle class.

Informing Potential Voters

So it became our job, as journalists from the state's only Spanish daily newspaper, not only to inform our community about developments in this fast-paced political story but also to try to explain this odd election to our readership. Most of our readers had no knowledge of the recall process. Is there relevant …

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Publication information: Article title: Covering the Recall for a Spanish-Speaking Audience: The Political Editor of la Opinion Found-Herself Being Interviewed by a Lot of Other Reporters. Contributors: Marrero, Pilar - Author. Magazine title: Nieman Reports. Volume: 57. Issue: 4 Publication date: Winter 2003. Page number: 64+. © 1999 Harvard University, Nieman Foundation. COPYRIGHT 2003 Gale Group.

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