Transnationalism and Latino print media in Spain: The challenge of linking contents to both origin and destination

Abstract

The creation of transnational Latino media spaces is the result of the migratory flow of Latin Americans to the north. In this context, the goal of this research is to link news content in Latino print publications in Spain to the origin and destination of their readers, and to analyse the importance of this media content as a vehicle of transnational practices. As our initial hypothesis, we suggest that the content of Latino print media in Spain reinforces the maintenance of readers’ ties to their countries of origin, whilst failing to prioritize stories that encourage the incorporation of readers into their country of destination, in this case Spain. Our analysis focuses on the orientation of contents, in order to determine whether they are mainly oriented towards the readers’ origin or destination. The findings confirm the initial hypothesis, because origin-binding contents represent 62.4percent of all contents, a result that multiplies by four destination-binding contents, which represent 14.1percent of the total. The leaning of content towards origin is an important step to foster the transnational behaviour of migrants. However, the greater leaning of content towards origin could compromise the transnational role of Latino print media in Spain, because while their contents strengthen readers’ ties with their homeland, they do not sufficiently reinforce the integration of readers into their country of destination.