Diario Xalapa

I get this major daily newspaper delivered to my building here in Xalapa. Actually, Xalapa is blessed with lots of newspapers, both local editions and newspapers from other towns and cities. The newsstands are groaning.

Diario Xalapa is a pretty hefty paper and is part of a media conglomerate, OEM (not sure what that stands for), that owns major papers and broadcasting outlets around Mexico. I think they are into the Internet also. Does this sound familiar? Just like in the US, Mexican media has been consolidated into fewer and fewer hands. Maybe you are OK with this, but I don't think it can be a good thing. At least a lot of media critics and just plain private citizens have raised objections to this in the US.

Today, I happened across an article in the online edition of Diario Xalapa that is published in English. Perhaps this is a new feature, but it looks like a fluke. I cannot find the same article in the printed edition and indeed even the electronic version section does not jibe with the printed edition.

I would like to be able to select text from the online edition so I could quote it in this blog (with attribution, of course) or save it if I wanted to, or send it to a translation program or whatever. Unfortunately, Diario Xalapa locks their web pages so you cannot easily copy the content. Maybe there is a technical way around this problem, but I have a lot to do just now so finding a fix to this issue is way on the back burner. I was able to capture some of the English language article using Snagit, my screen capture program, but it doesn't really work well.

The article, if you want to read it online is entitled Both Sides, Rare no more, Mexicans in the United States. The author explains how thoroughly Mexican culture has penetrated the US. Even the smallest towns boast stores and restaurants that cater to to Mexicans.

If you are planning on visiting Xalapa and want to gather information ahead of your visit, you will find the online edition here:

http://www.oem.com.mx/diariodexalapa/notas/n387585.htm

Like in the US, the weekend editions have the most classified advertisements. If you want to read newspapers from other Mexican cities and towns go to this section of the OEM site:

http://www.oem.com.mx/oem/

This page organizes information according to geographic area. The banner at the top of the page is an active element. If you mouse over the titles they scroll back and forth.