On Monday, New York City’s largest Spanish-language newspaper El Diaro laid off 13 of its employees, six of which belonged to its editorial team. Manuel Avendano, night editor of the paper, told NY1 that “out of 100 employees El Diaro used to have, only 35 remain.” NY1’s Joaquin reported that some of the employees think that El Diaro will soon cease publication in print — a situation faced by an increasing number of papers across the country.

ImpreMedia, owner of El Diaro, and new CEO Gabriel Dantur noted that the paper will continue to be printed, but that measures will be taken in order to put more attention on digital, mobile and social networking communications.

Dantur has acknowledged that the company has lost money in the last four years since the Argentinean Group La Nacion brought ImpreMedia.

“We are a city founded on the power and promise of immigrants with a rich history in culture and language. And have done for over 100 years, our New Yorkers seeking help navigating the complicated system of city services in ethnic newspapers and in foreign languages,” New York City Councilmember Carlos Menchaca, said in an article appearing in El Diaro. “True, our city needs to provide more funding for English learning programs in our neighborhoods. New Yorkers still learning English born abroad depend news media in the most comfortable language and which reflects their lives and experiences.”

In a statement, the NewsGuild of New York said that it “has represented the staff at El Diario for more than six decades, and we are committed to representing them for decades to come as the publication evolves. Lately, however, it has become clear that El Diario’s parent company, Impremedia, is neither the champion of its own publications, nor the communities they serve.”

The NewsGuild added that they are meeting with community leaders and elected officials, meanwhile the guild will pursue any and all legal options to protect members rights.

The NYC Council will be holding a public hearing on the state of the city's ethnic media that will be sponsored by Lower East Side Councilmember Rosie Mendez. This hearing is scheduled for Wednesday, Jan. 27th. The union and staff will be holding a news conference on the steps of City Hall on Monday, Jan. 25th at 1pm to announce the hearing.