A bilingual newspaper serving Manchester’s Somali community has been founded with the help of a former regional weekly editor.
Sasca News has been set up with the aim of catering for expatriates from the East African country currently living and working in the city.
The project has been launched with the help of Dave Porter, who previously edited the Heywood Advertiser and Tameside Advertiser, and students from Manchester Metropolitan University.
Dave, now a lecturer in multimedia journalism at the university, was approached by Sasca, the Somali Adult Social Care Agency, who wanted to start a print product which could also appeal to older people in their community.
The front page of the first edition of Sasca News
The initial eight page edition features English language news in the firt half of the paper, with the same stories translated into Somali in the second half.
Dave, who spent more than 25 years in print journalism before embarking on his current career, designed the layout and helped members of Sasca with the translation.
A total of 550 copies were printed by the university and handed out by volunteers in shops, mosques and community centres around south Manchester.
It is now hoped the newspaper will be produced quarterly, with the next edition featuring double the amount of content, while a bilingual counterpart website has also been launched.
said: “Being a print journalist for many years I was keen to get involved with the project, and it was a great way for MMU journalism students to get a feel of how a paper is put together – as well as giving many of them their first byline in print.
“It’s especially pleasing as this is the first year of a new journalism degree at MMU.
“Members of Sasca were very enthusiastic about the finished paper and feedback from the community has also been really positive.”
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