NewsGuild, Elected Officials Rally to Save El Diario

.@RosieMendez: I'd be shameful for a city like NYC not to have a Spanish daily we can hold & read. #saveeldiariopic.twitter.com/hb0TZfv3HY

— NYC CLC (@CentralLaborNYC) January 27, 2016

The News Guild of New York, CWA Local 31003, rallied on the steps of City Hall Wednesday morning to protest the latest round of layoffs that have gutted El Diario/La Prensa, the mainland's oldest Spanish-language newspaper.

Journalists and union members spoke out alongside city council members, who had held an oversight hearing on the importance of supporting local ethnic media immediately after the press conference. They expressed concern that in its 103rd year of publishing, El Diario would soon go out of print.

“It is not too late to save El Diario,” said Peter Szekely, the president of the NewsGuild, speaking at a rally. But Impremedia is “going to have to make a decision to invest or step aside and sell it to someone who can,” Szekely said.

"It'd be shameful for a city like New York City not to have a Spanish daily we can hold and read," said city councilmember Rosie Mendez.

On Jan. 15, El Diario's parent company, ImpreMedia, laid off nearly half of the publication's editorial and sales staff – dealing a devastating blow to an already overstretched, demoralized newsroom.

El Diario is viewed as "The Champion of the Hispanics" in the city's Spanish-speaking communities. Many readers – especially senior citizens – do not have access to digital forms of media, and would have no other way to learn about what's going on in their neighborhood, their city and their country if the outlet ceased its print publication.

Read about the layoffs here.