Where we live

Over at my other blog, Herald Watch, I'm being criticized by another South Florida blogger for continuing to blog about the apparent disconnect between The Miami Herald Media Co. and the community which it serves.

The Miami Herald is the only English language daily newspaper whose primary audience is Miami-Dade County. Its sister paper, El Nuevo Herald, is one of two local Spanish-language dailies but is considered the leading one and one of the premier Spanish-language dailies in the country.

So is the Herald's seeming disregard for a large segment of its potential audience an issue for those of us who watch the Herald closely? You decide.

• According to the Census Bureau the 2005 population of Miami-Dade county was 2,329,187.
• Of that, 1,423,697 (61.1%) are Hispanic/Latino.
• Of those Hispanics the Census Bureau estimates that 736,073 (51.7%) are Cuban.
• That means that 31.6%, almost a third of the population of Miami-Dade county, is Cuban.

I don't know, but if I were an executive at McClatchy, The Herald's parent company, I'd want to make sure that I treated that third of my potential readership fairly, not just in the Spanish paper but in the English one as well. Especially in light of the recent declines in readership that the Herald has experienced. But what do I know, I only live here.

If you wan't to read more about The Herald's checkered past in its treatment of Cubans living in Miami, visit Professor Tony de la Cova's site.