MEDIA

A longtime newspaper mysteriously closes while a new publication suddenly appears

Bill Goodykoontz
The Republic | azcentral.com
Publisher and owner Manny Garcia and CEO Lety Miranda Garcia hold up the Prensa Hispana publication on May 23, 2002.

Prensa Arizona, a new Spanish-language newspaper, will begin publication on Thursday, April 26, in print and online.

If the name sounds familiar, it may be because it’s reminiscent of Prensa Hispana, which was also a Spanish-language publication. Much of the Prensa Arizona staff, in fact, is comprised of former Prensa Hispana employees. That includes Lety Garcia, the general manager of Prensa Arizona.

“We are very excited with the launching of this totally new and different publication in the Spanish market,” she said in a statement. “This will be a newspaper not only of news, but of special reports, in-depth investigations, free journalism and lots of value."

Prensa Arizona begins publication a little more than three weeks after Prensa Hispana ceased publication after 28 years. On April 13, the Prensa Hispana Facebook and Twitter accounts posted that the publication no longer existed, and that the last issue published on April 4. “One day we will publish the details of its closure,” the statement reads. 

Those details were not forthcoming Monday, April 22, when staff members declined to comment beyond the media release, other than to say that Prensa Arizona should be considered a separate entity, not just a continuation of Prensa Hispana.

Prensa Hispana was founded in 1991 by Manuel L. Garcia, and it quickly established itself as an important voice in the Spanish-speaking community. In 2002, the National Association of Hispanic Publications honored it as Best Spanish-Language Weekly; at that point, weekly circulation was 65,000. In 2006, Garcia was named Hispanic Entrepreneur of the Year by the Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. 

Garcia, who still owned and ran the newspaper, died of a heart attack on Dec. 23, 2018. A prominent figure in the Spanish-speaking community, he was called "a pioneer of Hispanic media," by Phoenix Councilman Michael Nowakowski after his death. 

Still, the shuttering of the paper is all very mysterious; those who follow Valley media, and appreciate the need for an independent Hispanic voice, look forward to when the details of the closure are published.

In the meantime, Prensa Arizona has established a Twitter account, and posted photos of its first issue on Facebook. 

Reach Goodykoontz at bill.goodykoontz@arizonarepublic.com. Facebook: facebook.com/GoodyOnFilm. Twitter: @goodyk.

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