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It is well-established that the core members of the bilingual Spanish-English audience
in the United States are Hispanics who use the English language (Rodriguez, 1999, p.
133). In much sociology, linguistic, and historical literature, the use of a “dominant
society language,” is seen as a way to absorb an ethnic minority into the larger society
(Fishman, 1972, 1989). However, Rodriguez points out that, “in the case of contemporary
English language and bilingual Latino-oriented media production, the embrace of the
English language is not equated with the erasure of these media’s distinct ethnoracial
identity” (Rodriguez, 1999, p. 134). Therefore, the combination of English and Spanish
language in U.S. society is important for many Hispanics as part of their identity. The
combination of Hispanic culture with life in the United States is not completely
straightforward, however. There are plenty of English-language Latino publications, like
Hispanic Business, which have shunned the Spanish language, but maintain a clear
Hispanic ethnic identification (Rodriguez, 1999, p. 139). Understanding the many ways
that identity is expressed in media help to define the publications that publish in English
or Spanish only, or, decide to work bilingually. Language is an expression of cultural
identity, but so are the types of stories, visual elements, topics, and sources used in a
particular publication.
There are also different styles for publishing journalistic work in Spanish and
English. An example of a bilingual publication is Vista, a newspaper insert popular in the
1980s and 1990s, which featured articles in English about Hispanic-related issues, as well
as two articles exclusively in Spanish per issue, printed without a translation (Rodriguez,
1999, p. 136). However, publishing several Spanish-language original journalistic works
in an English-language magazine is only one type of bilingual publication. Many