The New California Media Expo and Awards 2002– the largest statewide gathering of ethnic news organizations in the country was held Tuesday and Wednesday–September 17th and 18th–at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills–California.
Among those attending were: California Assemblymembers–elected officials–Los Angeles Mayor Jim Hahn–presidents and CEOs of Bank of America–Los Angeles Times–Kaiser Permanente–NBC4–La Opinion–American Association of Advertising Agencies–American Advertising Federation–and hundreds of marketing strategists and planners–journalists–and approximately 2,000 viewers and exhibitors.
The purpose of the event–NCM’s first in Southern California–was to build and enhance bridges between media representatives–corporate–civic and nonprofit individuals and organizations in California. Several workshops took place–during which field experts shared their experiences and secrets of success. Workshop topics included: Scoring PR successes with the ethnic media – community based organizations–corporate communications–political campaigns–government agencies; Impact of Census 2000 on ethnic media; Ethnic media and mainstream media collaboration – strategies for creating a more inclusive public forum; How advertisers and ad agency executives make the case for ethnic media – best practices and case studies; How to look and sound good on television–and several other topics including healthcare–education and multilingual polls.
"Every day–54 percent of Asians–Hispanics and African Americans in California identify specific ethnic media as their primary source of news–advertising and entertainment. The numbers are even higher when Arab–Armenian–Iranian–Rumanian–Russian and other ethnic media are included. Long isolated and ignored as mom and pop operations–today these media collectively represent the mostpowerful segment to emerge in American journalism since alternative media flourished in the 60s and 70s" said Sandy Close–Executive Director of NCM.
Bianca Manoukian–director of Horizon Armenian TV represented her company as an integral part of the Armenian American community. Commenting on the relationships established at the event–Manoukian said: "The Expo provided the opportunity to network with pioneers of the television industry–as well as with many non-profit organizations and government agencies who share with us–similar concerns about the community; they therefore–expressed great interest in the activities of Horizon TV and affiliated organizations."
Salpy Khoury of the advertising and sales department represented Asbarez Daily and Horizon TV. "We thank NCM for creating the channels for us to communicate with leading multicultural marketers. We were engaged in a remarkable interchange with corporate CEOs–presidents–advertising agencies and PR executives. The contacts we made–along with the bridges we’ve already built will have a monolithic impact on our readers–viewers and our advertising revenue"–said Khoury.
The NCM was founded in 1996 and has been a leader and vital role player in "Connecting the New Majorities" – the theme of this year’s Expo.