Sonoma Media Investments launches Spanish-language newspaper

Sonoma Media Investments, publisher of The Press Democrat, is launching a Spanish-language newspaper as it expands its news coverage and advertising products targeting Sonoma County’s Latino community.

La Prensa Sonoma, which began last year as a website, will publish its first print edition Tuesday. The free monthly newspaper will be distributed on the last Tuesday of each month starting Oct. 25.

“We want to do this right, and we’ll put in the resources we need to do it right,” said Steve Falk, CEO of Sonoma Media Investments and publisher of The Press Democrat. The print edition, he said, is the next step in the company’s effort to reach a wider segment of Sonoma County’s growing Latino community.

The publication will be distributed to approximately 20,000 households in Latino-dominant neighborhoods. An additional 10,000 copies will be distributed at markets, restaurants and other high-traffic areas.

“This first edition is a piece of history, both for The Press Democrat and for the Hispanic community living here in Sonoma County,” said La Prensa Sonoma Editor Ricardo Ibarra.

Along with news, he said, the print edition will include valuable information for Latinos living in the county, including items on immigration topics and the basics of obtaining drivers licenses and becoming U.S. citizens.

Ibarra said the print edition may prove especially valuable for older, first-generation immigrants who read Spanish and are less likely to get their news online. Many younger residents already turn to the website edition, partly because they are more tech savvy and can read the stories in either English or Spanish.

Along with The Press Democrat, Sonoma Media Investments owns The Sonoma Index-Tribune, Petaluma Argus-Courier, North Bay Business Journal and Sonoma magazine.

The launch of the online website almost a year ago has drawn significant interest from readers, including 6,000 who signed up for La Prensa Sonoma’s email newsletter, said Falk. And a number of companies are signing up to place ads in the print edition.

“So far there has been an encouraging amount of advertiser interest,” he said.

Today many advertisers are reaching out to local Latinos through print, television, radio and social media, said Hector Velazquez, president and CEO of Nexo Advertising in Sebastopol.

“There’s so many folks looking to tap into the Hispanic community,” Velazquez said.

The print edition was announced Friday at the Latino Cultural Experience lunch at Luther Burbank Center for the Arts, an event sponsored by the leadership group Los Cien. Herman Hernandez, chairman of Los Cien, called La Prensa Sonoma a welcome addition to the county’s existing media landscape, including the monthly bilingual magazine La Voz, which is celebrating its 15th year of publication.

“I feel it adds an additional link of communication into the Latino community,” Hernandez said.

Latinos make up a little more than a quarter of county residents and their numbers have roughly tripled here over the last 25 years. It’s a community poised for change, said Hernandez.

“You’ve got a growing middle class and you’ve got growing college-educated students coming back,” he said.

You can reach Staff Writer Robert Digitale at 707-521-5285 or robert.digitale@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @rdigit