DALLAS — Major changes are coming to the The Dallas Morning News’ Spanish-language newspaper, Al Día.
On Monday, Feb. 6, the staff members of Al Día were notified that its team of five journalists would be disbanded and reassigned to different teams in the newsroom, according to a statement published by the Dallas News Guild.
Al Día has been covering the Hispanic community in North Texas for nearly two decades. The disbandment of Al Día comes amid a growing trend of news publishers cutting Spanish-language coverage.
Since 2019, The New York Times, BuzzFeed News Mexico and HuffPost Mexico stopped producing Spanish-language coverage. Tribune Publishing also closed Hoy, a Spanish-language weekly newspaper in Chicago.
"It's unfortunate that a prominent Spanish-language newspaper in Texas that has served its community for 19 years is closing," said Eleanore Vega, chair of SPJ's Diversity and Inclusion Committee, and Daniela Ibarra, vice-chair and SPJ director at-large. "It gives the appearance that it is not of value to the community it's supposed to serve. We hope the publisher and editors at the Dallas Morning News will reconsider their decision."
Al Día's print product will continue, as will its website, but its journalists will no longer create original content written in Spanish, according to the Dallas News Guild.
The Dallas Morning News sent WFAA the following statement:
"The Dallas Morning News and Al Dia remain committed to reaching the growing Hispanic audience in North Texas. We will continue to publish Al Dia every Wednesday in print and aldiadallas.com will continue to publish daily stories in Spanish. The Al Dia team is now reporting into the same content areas as reporters from The Dallas Morning News in an effort to better serve the growing Latino community in North Texas. This community is not only our future, but it is the present, and it deserves enhanced coverage from our newsroom."
The Society of Professional Journalists said false political information is more likely to reach U.S. Latinos and Spanish-language mis- and dis-information often goes unchecked, which is why it is important to provide more news in Spanish instead of less.
In the Dallas News Guild statement, the staff said “It is with sadness that the Al Día team believes it has no choice but to accept the company’s decision.”
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