The San Bernardino County Sun from San Bernardino, California • Page 178

Minority papers emphasize the positive become 'tools' of the community 65 The headlines are not In its early days the paper trained its focus on such issues as police brutality, job discrimination, the war in Vietnam and poverty. Local people recall that residents of the community even looked at the staff as somewhat radical and objected to the name, which at that time was considered almost militant. Now the weekly El Chcano highlights local politics, activities of hispanic youth organizations, hispanic weddings and celebrations, his-panics who win local or national recognition, and a host of hispanic issues such as bilingual education. "Basically, it's moved from being an (hispanic) mnvpmpnt npwsnaner to to beine a communitv who shot who. The headlines are not horror murder stories They are day-to-day issues of the community 99 not something he is likely to give up.

He says he's turned down offers to sell it in the past. "It could be, you heard the old saying, 'Having the tiger by the tail, you can't turn it But I suppose I'm egotistical enough to believe that because 16 or 18 members the Congress know me personally or at least through reading the Precinct Reporter every week and the same thing about eight or nine black members of the state Legislature as well as most of the black administrators in the state government, I think that I'm able to do the total area some good." press," Macias said. "I think it made a change to survive." A number of similar college papers started by hispanic activists didn't survive. It is one of the few independently operating Spanish-interest publications in the state. "I can only think of a handful of us left in the state," she said.

In contrast to the Precinct Reporter, El Continued from preceding page nition of cultural diversity by the media and its related industries. The tie-in, however, was to Townsend's editorial in which he said, "The birth of a newspaper is a sobering event." The paper was born during the height of the civil rights movement. Within two weeks of the first edition, fire was engulfing Watts, a south central Los Angeles community only 60 miles west of San Bernardino. "The basic reasons for starting the newspaper are still there," Townsend said. "Basically, we're here to espouse and protect the best interests of the black community." The emphasis in the Precinct Reporter is on the positive successes of black students, appointments of blacks to positions of leadership both locally and nationally, activities of local organizations.

"We can take anything to it," said Frances Grice, head of a job training and small business assistance agency in San Bernardino and also one of the paper's columnists. "Art's paper never shows murders. It reflects the sentiments of the community. It's based on ideas and philosophy, not who shot who. The headlines are not horror murder stories.

They are day-today issues of the community. It's become an educational tool for the community." Indeed the Precinct Reporter does not cover murders or crime. Townsend said he doesn't have the time or staff for it. There is at least some feeling that the paper may have gone overboard by choosing to ignore negative news. "If I have any criticism it would be that they are overly complimentary and not tough enough (on the black community)," businessman Parker said.

He said he felt the paper should be tough on San Bernardino's black councilman, John Hobbs, "for the way he represents the El Chicano t's been 11 years since a group of college students and friends of theirs in the community helped a government- supported college newspaper, El Chicano, make the jump to commercial Parker's comments came shortly after an Aug. 4 council meeting in which Hobbs walked out when Chicano makes money. According to the 1960 Ayer Directory of Publications, the paper prints 10,000 copies a week. Macias would not say how many of those were paid subscriptions. As it has grown, it naturally has come in for some criticism.

Martinez, the former director of the Inland Manpower Association, said he found that the paper's editorial position often was swayed by the "establishment" hispanic community. He felt it should have been more an advocate of the entire community. He was unable to recall specific examples. Macias responded, "All I can say is that I make judgments on what is going in and I try to reflect as many positions as possible." Gil Lara, co-chairman of the finance commit-" tee for county Supervisor Bob Hammock, said El Chicano is a good newspaper, but he has felt more so in the past than now that too much space was devoted to advertising and not enough to news. But Macias said the paper's editorial columns take up an average 60 percent of the space, more than many other newspapers.

Other comments came frpm Wayne Sargent, editor of The Sun, who rated El Chicano "not too good, but getting better." He was critical of the number of personal photos of Macias he has seen in if erent editions of the paper. Macias responds that Sargent "is entitled to his opinion." Further, Sargent criticizes El Chicano for allowing San Bernardino City Councilman Ralph Hernandez to write a weekly column. "We would not carry the self-serving columns of any elected official," Sargent said. That would be like giving space for a regular column to Ronald Reagan while he was running for president, he said. But Macias says she has sent an invitation to all elected officials to write a column, an offer which still stands.

the mayor vetoed a Hobbs-sponsored motion to take an agenda item out of order. His absence left independence. But they had no choice in the matter. It seems that in the straightforward, idealistic style the editors employed in their college days, they ran a cartoon strongly critical of a local politician. Because of that, the newspaper at the University of California, Riverside, lost its government funding, and the staff faced a choice to go independent or fold.

They went independent and the first issue, as Bill Harrison, business manager, said, "damn near killed us." Left without enough news to fill the front page, one of the students drew a charcoal sketch of Christ that filled the entire front page of the Easter-time issue in April 1969. Today, many of those people who started the paper are still with it, including Gloria Macias Harrison, Harrison's wife and editor and publisher; her sister, Marta McQueen, as associate editor, and the women's father, Guillermo Gutierrez, who writes stories, sells ads, and who used his experience as a radio station ad salesman to help his daughters get the irst publication off the ground. But no longer is the Colton-based paper operated by people who are considered col- -lege idealists but by people who hold positions of leadership within the hispanic community. Macias, the name Gloria Harrison uses professionally, not only teaches Spanish full-time at San Bernardino Valley College in addition to running the paper, but is in her second term as a Gov. Brown appointee to the California Commission on the Status of Women.

McQueen is an aide to Rep. George Brown, D-Riverside. the council without a quorum and cut the meeting short. People who had been waiting in the audience for certain items to come up had to leave. Candidly, Townsend agreed that his paper probably isa't "tough enough" in covering the black community.

He may personally register complaints to people by telephone or in person, but he adds, "I try to minimize any semblance of conflict among blacks." He believes the paper has a higher responsibility of "trying to bring unity within the black community." "I'm not a journalist," he said. "A lot of people get the impression that the Prpcinct Reporter is just an indication of somebody or someone who cares about their individual problems." Even though it costs him money, the paper is nI-'-Skin Deep.