el Don NewsAs a news outlet, el Don uses various platforms to get our reporting to our audience. In 2025, information is readily available to anyone searching for it online; we wanted to ensure our reporting reached its intended audience. This past summer, with ICE raids targeting communities with high immigrant populations, informing those communities was crucial. Santa Ana, with nearly a quarter of its residents being noncitizens, was especially hit hard by ICE.
El Don understood the importance of reporting in this crucial time. When faced with the difficult decision of how to inform our community and protect those who are vulnerable, we decided to use print to our advantage.
The issues reported in our special print edition were not covered by other news outlets. Santa Ana has become a news desert ever since the Orange County Register was bought out by the Southern California News Group in March of 2016.
Our reporters used print to fill in the gaps that mainstream news outlets left out.
In the summer, multiple zines covering how groups provided resources to those affected by the raids were printed and distributed. In the fall, we incorporated these zines into our new magazine format. Both the zines and the special edition print were reprinted and distributed to the community several times.
We went from a traditional newsmagazine to something smaller and more magazine-like. Our new print product is less intimidating, easy to distribute and read. This new format allows us to inform our community more effectively.
