Publication analysis

About the publication

Title: Tri-City Voice

ISSN: N/A

Website: http://www.tricityvoice.com

Purpose, objective, or mission: An independent newspaper serving the southeast San Francisco Bay Area.¹

Target audience: The target audience includes laypersons interested in local news and events in the Castro Valley, Fremont, Hayward, Milpitas, Newark, San Leandro, San Lorenzo, Sunol, and Union City areas.²

Publisher: Tri-City Voice.³

Peer reviewed? No.

Type: Civilian newspaper.

Medium: Print and online.⁴

Content: Coverage of local news, art, culture, sport, entertainment, and events in the southeast Bay Area.⁵

Frequency of publication: Weekly.⁶

About the publication’s submission guidelines

Location of submission guidelines: No submission guidelines are available online. There is an online form on the Contact page to fill out for story ideas or letters to the editor.⁷

Types of contributions accepted: The newspaper accepts letters to the editor and articles about local events and news.

Submission and review process: Submit Opinions, Letters to the Editor, or article ideas through the online form.⁸

Editorial tone: Casual and informal.

Style guide used: A specific style guide was not indicated.

Conclusion: Evaluation of publication’s potential for LIS authors

This is a local newspaper with an audience limited to a specific region. However, because of the sense of the small audience, information and reports about the local libraries would be of great interest to the readers of the newspaper. This would be a great venue to submit manuscripts about events in the library, programs, library news, and interviews with authors.

This newspaper does not have a wide readership within the LIS profession so articles written may not get noticed by a large audience within this community. However, Hayward Public Libraries and libraries within the Alameda and Santa Clara County library system fall within the areas covered by this newspaper. Librarians who submit articles for publication will gain recognition within their own library systems and possibly further if the article is of interest to those outside of the city or county libraries. Publishing in this newspaper will also provide readers with a closer look at library services. Those interested in fulfilling tenure requirements should not consider this publication as it is not peer reviewed and does not include research.

Audience analysis

About the publication’s readers

Publication circulation: “Employees distribute 25,000 copies each week to thousands of locations throughout the community,” and the website receives over 1,800 visitors per day.⁹

Audience location and language or cultural considerations: The newspaper is delivered within the Northern California cities of Hayward, Fremont, Union City, Newark, Milpitas, and Sunol.¹⁰ This publication serves a diverse population. Scholarly tone should be avoided and articles should be clear for readers who claim English as a second language.

Reader characteristics: The southeast San Francisco area is highly diverse, and the newspaper is devoted to covering local issues and interests.¹¹ The audience for this newspaper may not have a general interest in libraries, but will be interested in library services, issues, and events that affect the community.

Knowledge of LIS subject matter: A knowledge of LIS subject matter shouldn’t be assumed.

Conclusion: Analysis of reader characteristics and their potential impact on authors

As in many cities, the audience for this newspaper is very diverse in terms of language, education, ethnicity/race, income, profession, age, and areas of interest. It is important for the author to write about topics that the readers will find of interest. They may want to consider writing articles about computer use and classes, using online and print resources available at the library, and featured authors or new books. Articles that would be of interest to English language learners are also important. However, the articles should not be filled with LIS jargon or go into depth about library topics that practitioners would be more interested in.

Based on the articles published in the newspaper, it can be assumed that the readers of this newspaper are very community-oriented, have strong family values, and are interested in different cultures. Authors should take all of this into consideration when submitting manuscripts for publication.

Last updated: Septemeber 6, 2020

References

Publication analysis

About the publication

Title: Press-Telegram

ISSN: N/A

Website: http://www.presstelegram.com/

Purpose, objective, or mission: The purpose of the Press-Telegram is to provide news and information of interest to local constituents.¹

Target audience: Residents of Long Beach and the surrounding areas.²

Publisher: MediaNews Group, Inc.³

Peer reviewed? No.⁴

Type: Civilian newspaper.⁵

Medium: Print and online.⁶

Content: General information relevant to citizens of the Long Beach and Orange County area. Includes varied content such as: sports, entertainment, business, religion, travel, lifestyles, obituaries, and special sections. This newspaper also includes information at the global, national, state, and local levels.⁷

Frequency of publication: Daily.⁸

About the publication’s submission guidelines

Location of submission guidelines: http://www.presstelegram.com/share-your-news

Types of contributions accepted: Letters to the editor are accepted on all issues of public concern. From their Share Your News section: “Letters must include the writer’s home community and a daytime phone number for confirmation. Please limit submissions to 150 words and send via email (without attachments) to speakout [at] presstelegram.com.”⁹ Guest commentaries of no more than 600 words are also considered for publication. “We look for topical commentary on public policy and social issues that are of general interest to our print and digital readership. We give preference to local, regional and California topics and writers.”¹⁰ “Email your submission to opinion [at] langnews.com with the subject line “Op-ed submission.” Include a sentence or two at the end including your position, city or community of residence, and any background relevant to your expertise in the topic.”¹¹

Editorial tone: Not specified.

Style guide used: None specified.

Conclusion: Evaluation of publication’s potential for LIS authors

This newspaper lends itself to publishing local LIS-related issues. LIS practitioners and students living in the covered area should consider submitting opinion pieces of local library issues. Topics may include: Long Beach library improvement initiative, Long Beach library special events, or a review of past public programming. Library-themed articles or letters may be published in this newspaper; however, they must be focused on local library issues and be free of library jargon in order to reach the public.

Audience analysis

About the publication’s readers

Publication circulation: 15,000 daily; 29,000 Sunday, with 699,000 unique monthly visitors to the website.¹²

Audience location and language or cultural considerations: The Press-Telegram market covers the Greater Long Beach Area including the communities of the Artesia, Bell, Bellflower, Carson, Cerritos, Compton, Cypress, Downey, Hawaiian Gardens, Huntington Park, La Mirada, Lakewood, Long Beach, Los Alamitos, Lynwood, Norwalk, Paramount, Pico Rivera, San Pedro, Santa Fe Springs, Seal Beach, Signal Hill, South Gate, and Wilmington.¹³ Although this is a local newspaper, it does tackle state, national, and global issues. However, these issues tend to be related in some fashion to the local audience. Although this newspaper is written in English, part of its audience is the large Hispanic community residing in the marketed cities. In addition, it includes information relevant to the Cambodian community because Long Beach has the largest Cambodian population in the United States.¹⁴

Reader characteristics: Readers are 51% female and 49% male with a median age of 38 years old. 51% of readers are Hispanic and 59% have a college education. The average household income $98,370. ¹⁵ The Press-Telegram readers likely do not have established opinions about library science subjects because they are not library professionals. This publication, much like the city of Long Beach and the Greater Long Beach Area, is much more progressive in nature due to its culturally diverse demographics.

Knowledge of LIS subject matter: After reviewing various articles in the Press-Telegram, it is clear that they do not specifically tackle library and information science issues, however, they will publicize events and news relevant to the local Long Beach public library or other libraries in the surrounding cities. It is very likely that the layperson will not understand library jargon, so technical terms are discouraged when attempting to publish in this newspaper.

Conclusion: Analysis of reader characteristics and their potential impact on authors

The readers of this publication are culturally diverse and do not share a similar type of job. When writing for this audience it is important to keep in mind that this is a progressive audience who cares about state, national, and global issues.

Last updated: September 14, 2020

References