U-T’s Hoy is so yesterday

In Chicago, the downsizing of the once-mighty daily Spanish-language newspaper Hoy to a weekly by parent tronc, Inc. has caused only a muted outcry. Launched in 2003, the paper “that began as a daily and later shrank to three days a week,” reports media blogger Robert Federer, “will appear in print only once a week — on Fridays.” Adds Federer, “The reduction follows a similar move by tronc earlier this year when RedEye, the free daily tabloid for young adult commuters, downsized into a weekly dining and entertainment guide distributed on Thursdays.”

Supposedly, “by ‘streamlining’ distribution, Chicago’s Hoy will be on the same schedule as its counterpart in Los Angeles,” a tronc public relations woman was quoted as saying. “She cited ‘significant growth’ in online views of Hoy, saying the company plans to focus on keeping the momentum going in its digital transition. No jobs were eliminated by the change, according to the spokeswoman.”

Unfortunately, the same can’t be said of San Diego’s version of Hoy, which was called Enlace before being rebranded by tronc last year to match the chain’s L.A. and Chicago publications. Though there was never an official announcement of San Diego Hoy’s fate, advertising and page counts of the tabloid have been falling precipitously, and assistant editor José Manuel Martín-Nieto has moved on to become a translator/interpreter at the San Diego Unified School District, per his LinkedIn profile. Lilia O’Hara remains as Hoy’s editor and the paper’s lone employee listed on the U-T online staff page.

Though San Diego Hoy maintains an online version with a modest mash-up of English and Spanish edits of U-T stories, the print publication has dropped from a comparatively robust eight news and feature pages a year ago to just two pages of editorial material on July 21 of this year, along with two pages of advertising for the San Diego County Credit Union and the Hollywood Casino in Jamul. Roaldo Moran, who plays the same role in Los Angeles, remains listed as publisher.