In a forum to discuss the delicate relationship between Boston’s community papers and Boston’s mainstream media, Patrick Purcell, the owner and publisher of the Boston Herald, spoke about the future of Boston newspapers to dozens at the University of Massachusetts-Boston’s Center on Media and Society Friday.

Purcell, who purchased the Herald in 1994, said decreasing interest in newspapers has forced the Herald Media Company strained on local coverage.

“When we bought the company, we basically bought into the perfect storm,” Purcell said. “There was consolidation of banks, a shifting of marketplace … and freelance had to be compromised.”

Purcell’s company acquired the Community Newspaper Company — a network of over 100 suburban papers — in 2001, he said.

Purcell continued that the competitive marketplace has forced his company to constantly stay on top of its local coverage because that is the sector where newspapers can mean the most to its readers.

“Local, local, local was our strength and our asset,” said Purcell, adding that it is important for community newspapers to keep their unique identities. “We recognized the strength in the local base.”

Purcell said growing availability of alternative sources for news, particularly with the success of 24-hour news channels, has caused the Herald’s readership to decline, but he did not think it was a death sentence for his papers.

“Newspapers are not going away like dinosaurs,” Purcell said. “Our content is why we will survive through all of this.”

In order to offset revenue loss from increasing media competition, Purcell said Herald Media has tried several different approaches.

“It’s kind of like throwing spaghetti at the wall and seeing what sticks,” Purcell said.

The Herald began experimenting with online news and has been improving its Herald Interactive — the online properties of Herald Media, Inc. — since its creation in 1995. But online advertisement revenues have not been sufficient enough to completely eliminate the actual print version, Purcell said.

Purcell’s speech, as part of The Future of the Ethnic News Business Conference, also addressed the concerns of the many reporters from ethnic publications and representatives of ethnic groups who say their voices are often go unheard by the mainstream press.

Media analyst and Director of the Center on Media and Society at UMass-Boston Ellen Hume said, “I think there’s a tension between ethnic papers and the mainstream press,” calling for the mainstream press to give fairer coverage to ethnic groups.

Hume added that while the mainstream press owes ethnic groups fair and equal coverage, ethnic publications must increase their quality and improve their resources.

“It’s a yin and yang relationship,” Hume said. “Both need each other to improve.”

Wilner Auguste, producer of Tele Kreyol and founder of Haitian-Americans United, said that he went to Friday’s forum because he thought events in the Haitian community do not receive the recognition they deserve.

“We don’t get enough coverage from the mainstream media,” Auguste said. “We got a few pictures in The Boston Globe, and that’s it,” said Auguste about the 2005 Haitian-Americans United Gala in which Boston Mayor Thomas Menino was an honorary award recipient. “Next time I will know exactly whom to contact.”

Auguste also praised the networking opportunities provided by the forum.

The conference, which encouraged networking among the ethnic journalists and ethnic groups in attendance, promoted collaboration among the guests to help one another.

“Here, people are realizing what makes us all Cambodian-American journalists or Hispanic-American journalists. There is a widening of horizons,” said Hiteshkumar Hathi, who is working on a program dedicated to supporting community and ethnic journalism at the Center on Media and Society.

Abiodun Shobowale, co-founder and TV personality of Global Africa Independent Network, said he appreciated Purcell’s advice to interact with other ethnic groups.

“The reason for coming is networking,” said Shobowale, a graduate of the former Boston University School of Public Communications. “You’re not an island.”