1	In the News From politics to art, the headlines of Hispanidad. read more...
2	Up Front Columnist Ruben Navarrette, Jr., offers a meditation on the touchy subject of “selling out” when it comes to assimilation. read more...
3	Up Front Leading educator Dr. Eduardo Padrón finds, in his students, hope for a more enlightened public discourse. read more...

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in the news

GOVERNMENT
The Spymaster
The House of Representatives Intelligence Committee will have a Hispanic chairman as Silvestre Reyes, a retired Border Patrol agent, will take the top post on the panel. The committee is tasked with guiding the U.S. approach to Iraq, Afghanistan, government spying and other security matters. The committee oversees 16 U.S. spy agencies, including the CIA. He says he will focus on implementing the remaining recommendations of the Sept. 11 Commission, will review U.S. intelligence efforts for supporting U.S. troops in Iraq, and will determine how the nation’s spy agencies can help the United States transition from a combat to an advisory role in Iraq.

PUBLISHING
Pressing Matter
New York City Spanish-language daily El Diario La Prensa is boasting the highest circulation and readership growth rate of any major New York newspaper. According to reports, the newspaper saw an increase in circulation of 5.8 percent for its daily paper and 8.4 percent for its Sunday edition. Paid circulation as of Sept. 2006 of its daily edition is 53,090, up from 50,151 in 2005, while the Sunday edition jumped from 33,859 to 36,712 from 2005 to 2006. Established in 1913, El Diario La Prensa is one of the oldest Spanish-language newspapers in the U.S.

MEDIA
Spanish-language TV
Two different ad spending tracking services listed Spanish-language television as the second leading growth outlet for ad spending, next to the Internet. According to Nielsen Monitor-Plus ad spending on Spanish-language television rose 16.6 percent for the first three quarters of 2006 over the same period last year, while TNS Media Intelligence reported a 19 percent increase. Meanwhile, local Spanish-language television radio station revenues were projected to be headed for further growth according to a report released by Kagan Research. The report anticipates continued increases through 2010 when expenditures will pass $1.9 billion.

MUSEUMS
Making History
Alberto Ibargüen, president and CEO of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, and former Miami Herald publisher, became chairman of the Newseum, a Washington-based news museum. The Newseum closed its original Arlington, Virginia site in 2005 to move to its new location in Washington. It is a top project of the Freedom Forum, established in 1991 by Allen H. Heuharth as successor to a foundation started in 1935 by newspaper publisher Frank E. Gannett. This coming September Ibargüen, who served as a newspaper executive for two decades, will be joined by four other top national leaders on the museum’s board.

LEADERSHIP
The New Republican Face?
A week after elections in which Hispanic support of Republicans plummeted, President George W. Bush nominated Cuban American Sen. Mel Martinez (R-FL) as Republican National Committee chairman. This means Sen. Martinez will head up the party’s election efforts for the 2008 contest; it will be the first time a Hispanic has held that post. Sen. Martinez will serve primarily as the spokesman for the organization while Mike Duncan, the RNC’s general counsel and a former party treasurer, will run day-to-day operations. Sen. Martinez, the first Cuban American to serve in the U.S. Senate, was sworn in to office on Jan.4, 2005.

BUZZWORDS
“It’s not just a war against drug lords, it’s a war against the entire criminal structure.”
Mexican Attorney General Eduardo Medina Mora on that nation’s renewed efforts to fight drug traffickers, some of whom have hung decapitated heads in front of government offices to intimidate authorities.
Apatzingan, Mexico, Associate Press

“The only solution to the basic problem of emigration is to multiply job opportunities in this country and open doors to investment in Mexico.”
Felipe Calderón, new president of Mexico, speaking at the Arizona-Mexico border, in a speech welcoming home emigrants making their annnual holiday pilgramages to visit friends and family in Mexico.
Mexico City, San Antonio Express-News

“Even though the president has been extremely vocal about a comprehensive immigration reform package, most Latinos will remember what the [anti-immigrant] Congressional
position was—and that can’t be good for the future of a [Republican] party that needs more than just the white vote.”
Media guru and leading Republican Lionel Sosa on how anti-immigration rhetoric and proposed legislation have cost the Republican party Latino votes.
The Nation
“Mexico is a country that is an erstwhile democracy where they have the greatest disparity of wealth. ... It is one of the wealthiest countries in the hemisphere and because of a corrupt system that exists in Mexico, there is the 1 percent of the population at the top, a very small middle class and the rest is abject poverty.”
Sen. Joe Biden, incoming chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, talking about getting tough with Mexico for illegal immigration and drug problems.
Columbia, South Carolina, Associated Press

TELEVISION
Networking
Telemundo made waves in more ways than one recently. The Hispanic-targeted network
celebrated its 20th birthday Jan. 12, and also recently acquired full ownership of Miami-based Telemundo-RTI Productions to create Telemundo Television Studios Miami, LLC, positioned itself to acquire its foreign distributor Tepuy International, and saw several top hires and replacements. Patricio Wills was named president of Telemundo Television Studios, Marcos Santana took the post of president of Telemundo International and Carlos R. Bardasano, Jr., formerly vice president of programming development at Univision Television Networks, was appointed executive vice president of Telemundo.

BROADCAST
Visionary Anchor
Univision newsman Jorge Ramos joined RadioCadena Univision providing analysis of world news and current events for Hispanic listeners in the United States with daily news capsules and updates. The 20-year Univision veteran will continue as co-anchor of Noticiero Univision with Maria Elena Salinas. RadioCadena Univision currently has 11 AM stations in the U.S. It syndicates national news and talk programming to Univision’s AM stations and other Spanish-language stations owned by Univision. Ramos, a top-selling author, also has a syndicated column that runs in over 40 newspapers in the United States and Latin America.