WEBVTT	#Elemental Media Engine(TM) 2.17.0.603391

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Look around, it is no secret that

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our nation is increasingly

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diversifying.

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Here in California, nearly 40

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percent of the population is Latino.

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And with that in mind, today, the

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Los Angeles Times launched a free

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weekly newsletter called

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the LatinX Files to highlight

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the issues affecting this diverse,

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non-monolithic community.

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L.A. Times audience engagement

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editor Fidel Martinez joined us

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with details.

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Welcome to the program, Fidel.

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It is great to have you.

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Thank you. It's a pleasure to be

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here.

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Well, first of all, explain what an

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audience engagement editor is.

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Oh, yeah.

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I mean, this is a question that I

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have to answer every time I

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go home, right? So

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an audience engagement editor, is a

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combination of a social media

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strategist. We are responsible

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for the social media accounts

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for the various desks at the L.A.

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Times. I specifically work

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with the L.A. Times sports desk.

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So it's been a very busy, busy

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time, thankfully.

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Absolutely.

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And we also help a lot with

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digital strategy, basically helping

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the paper make that digital

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transformation as we move

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towards growing our digital

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subscriber base.

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The newsletter is called the LatinX

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Files. Very cheeky, very funny.

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But listen, let's talk about that

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term. Latinx.

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It's a fairly new term.

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Why is it controversial?

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So a lot of the controversy stems

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from the fact that it is,

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many people sort of see it as

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perverting the Spanish language.

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I don't see it that way.

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I see it as an English language

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term. And the reason why

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the X is there instead of the O

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the A is that it's supposed to be

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gender neutral.

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It's a recognition that

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there are people within our

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community that exist that don't

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necessarily subscribe to the gender

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binary.

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And so the reason to go with this

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name as opposed to Hispanic or

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Latino, is that I want

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it to be as inclusive, as inclusive

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of everyone in our community,

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which isn't to say that this is

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a change to the L.A.

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Times style guide.

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The L.A. Times style guide still

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very much prefers the term Latino

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over Hispanic, and that's

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not going to change the term

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Latinx will mostly be

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used in this newsletter.

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So tell us what the newsletter will

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cover.

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Well, the Latinx

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community, or the Latino community,

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is is large

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and contains multitudes.

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It's not monolithic.

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And as such, it's going to cover an

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array of topics that include sports,

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politics, local

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news and national news.

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The Latino population exists

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well outside of California, and this

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is an attempt to

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cover those communities better as a

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national paper that the L.A.

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Times is.

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Well, and it was a reckoning that

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brought us to this moment, right?

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The Times has been very open

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about all of the conversations about

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diversity within the newsroom and

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lack thereof over the last few

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generations, right?

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Absolutely.

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I mean, this is the, this newsletter

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is a byproduct of the

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change from within the

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company that that that was pushed by

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the staff, both

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the Latino and the Black Caucuses

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were formed, to sort of demand

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better representation and more

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equity in the way in which we cover

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the communities that we serve.

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And this is

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one of many attempts.

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This will be one of many things that

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the L.A. Times will do to

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rectify the historic

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negligence of both Latino

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and the Black communities.

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And as you say,

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it's is a huge population.

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Nearly a fifth of the United

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States is Latino, 40 percent

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of California.

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And this is a way to reach

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them and talk about all sorts

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of issues. Give us a peek inside

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what we might see in the first

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newsletter.

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Yeah, well, so it's going to be

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an array of different things.

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Something that I can tell you that

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I'm really excited about is this

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recurring segment called

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The Funniest/Best

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Thing We Saw on the LatInternet.

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And it's sort of a portmanteau of

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Latino and Internet, right?.

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And I mean,

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young Latinx audiences are very much

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online, I mean they over index

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for usage on Twitter and

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TikTok. And so there's a lot of

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great stuff that's shared within

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the community. So rest assured

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that you'll find that stuff, will

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make its way into

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into the newsletter.

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And another thing that I also like

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to mention is despite the fact

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that Latinos only

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account for 13 percent of

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the newsroom, that's still over

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hundred Latino journalists

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both writing in Spanish and

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in English. So this newsletter will

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also be a great forum for

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for us, for me to highlight the

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work, the important work that my

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colleagues are doing.

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Well we congratulate you on it,

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Fidel Martinez, L.A.

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Times audience engagement

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editor. And now we all know what

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that means. Thanks so much Fidel.

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Of course. Thank you.

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The LatinX Files newsletter posts

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every Thursday.

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Sign up at LATimes.com/newsletters

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to get it in your inbox.

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Coming up.