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Mar 26,2006 - Apr 2,2006 |
9 - Italian-Americans today in the U.S.A.
New York-based daily America Oggi survives shake-ups as it satisfies readership
By Antonio Maglio
Originally Published: 2002-09-22
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A group shot of America Oggi editors and journalists
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Andrea Mantineo, editor in chief of America Oggi, New York City's Italian-language daily, is quite satisfied, despite some reservations, with the law on voting abroad recently passed by the Italian parliament. "I think this recognition is late," he says. "By now, the Italians who live here have integrated in the social fabric of the U.S.A., and therefore take scarce notice of Italy's political events. This is why I think the turnout will be very low. Anyway, better late than never, because Italian citizens, wherever in the world they may live, must be allowed to exert their voting rights."
A mere 214,677 Italian-Americans are entitled to those rights, a ridiculous figure if compared to how many Italians one can encounter daily in New York City or San Francisco, Seattle or Miami; but that's exactly the number listed in the Consular Registrars. This is how they are distributed: 2,852 in Washington, 12,188 in Boston, 21,551 in Chicago, 26,208 in Philadelphia, 4,068 in Houston, 10,864 in Los Angeles, 15,948 in Miami, 71,849 in New York City, 9,591 in San Francisco, 13,453 in Detroit, and 17,062 in Newark.
Of course, even though the next political elections are still far away, people are already maneuvering for nominations. Every two or three days, someone's chances go up and someone else's down, so that any forecast is highly uncertain. "It's useless, it's far too early," confirms Mantineo. "Even if we don't underestimate any movement. We keep our ears up, in short." The journalists of America Oggi have been doing so for the past 14 years, since November 1988 when the paper first hit the newsstands.
In the beginning there was Il Progresso Italoamericano, the legendary daily that witnessed our emigration to the United States, our aspirations and victories, and also our defeats. One could immediately see whether someone else was Italian by the paper he stuffed in his pocket. That newspaper was for years a banner and an ombudsman.
The downturn began in the late Seventies. Italian immigration had stopped, also because the U.S. government had kept reducing the number of foreign workers admitted (through various Quota Acts), and the readership had consequently changed. The newspaper was repeatedly sold, and after several changes in ownership it ended up in the hands of Italian entrepreneurs, who saw it as merely a business. They were quick in tossing out the editors, all 20 of them, when they noticed that the business was unprofitable. "In practice, however," remembers one of them, Massimo Jaus, current vice editor of America Oggi, "they took the money and ran; despite repeatedly winning in court, none of us was ever hired back."
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