Competing discourses of community

Abstract

Based on a critical analysis of the news coverage and editorial content regarding the Elián González international custody case in The Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald, this article explores the ideological tensions between local general-market and Latino news outlets during moments of increased social crisis. Specifically, it documents the newspapers’ relationship with each other and analyzes the competing discourses of ethnic, community and national identity embedded in the journalistic texts. The study suggests that, as US ethnic and racial demographics continue shifting in its major cities, particular attention must be paid to the dynamic role of the ethnic media. Examining the production of meanings in ethnic and general-market news coverage in relation to one another presents an opportunity for rethinking the role of journalism in public negotiations over constructs of community, national identity, and ethnic and racial difference.