SILER CITY — Four months after publishing Chatham County’s first Spanish-language community paper, the News + Record’s second Spanish print edition of La Voz de Chatham goes to press this week.
La Voz de Chatham — or “the Voice of Chatham,” in English — is a bilingual reporting project the News + Record began last summer to cover the impact of COVID-19 in the county’s Hispanic/Latinx community thanks to initial funding from a Facebook Journalism Project grant. News + Record reporter Victoria Johnson leads the project.
“We’re super excited to publish this second print edition and continue a really meaningful project for the county’s Spanish-speaking community,” Johnson said. “We can’t wait for it to ‘hit the streets.’”
The first Spanish print edition of La Voz went to press back in April. According to Publisher and Editor Bill Horner III, the News + Record has decided to make the publication quarterly, with another print edition planned for mid-November.
“The overwhelming reception the first edition got, and the demand for more print content in Spanish, made the decision to go with a quarterly publication cycle very easy,” Horner said. “That first edition was planned as a stand-alone, one-time print edition. Readers of our Spanish-language content and advertisers have both asked us for more from La Voz, so we’re happy to oblige. The content Victoria is producing has a large audience.”
Chatham Hospital and Mountaire Farms have taken over sponsorship of the project after the initial Facebook funding was exhausted, Horner said.
This incarnation of La Voz is a bit different than the previous version, Johnson said. Instead of an 18-page broadsheet newspaper, the second print edition of La Voz is a 40-page tabloid newspaper.
The content, too, encompasses a wider variety of stories — and bylines. Beyond La Voz stories produced within the last four months, the tab includes several translated News + Record stories and a six-page sports section with stories written by CN+R Sports Editor Victor Hensley.
“When the April publication first came out, I remember my sister asking me, ‘Are you the only one who works there?’” Johnson said with a laugh. “This time, we’ve got a bunch of stories from Victor, our news reporter Hannah McClellan and a few community organizations.”
Like last time, the News + Record will directly mail La Voz to more than 2,500 Spanish-speaking households in Chatham County this week. The News + Record is also printing an additional 2,500 copies to distribute among the local community, starting with a few hundred at the Hispanic Liaison’s COVID-19 Health Fair on Saturday afternoon.
Other free copies will be distributed among local businesses, organizations and schools in Siler City and Pittsboro. A digital version of the publication will be available from the “La Voz” link on the News + Record’s website at www.chathamnewsrecord.com.
For more information contact Johnson at victoria@chathamnr.com.