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A decade later, broadcast news still overlooks Latinos
By Leslie Berestein

Ten years ago, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists conducted its first review of how well television networks were covering the nation's growing Latino population.

The findings were discouraging. There was little coverage dedicated to Latino issues, and when there was, the focus was chiefly on immigration, border security and crime.

Since then, Latinos have become the nation's majority minority, composing more than 14% of the population. By the middle of this century, according to census estimates, one of every four people living in the United States will be Latino. Corporate advertisers compete for their dollars. Political candidates court their sought-after vote.

Yet, just as it was a decade ago, this increasingly influential segment of the U.S. population continues to be all but invisible in network news reports.

Earlier this year, NAHJ released its 10 th annual Network Brownout Report, a study of Latino coverage on four major English language news networks during 2004. Researchers studied evening and weekend news programs on ABC, CBS, NBC and CNN.

The study found that the pattern of Latino coverage has changed little in the past decade: Now, as it was then, less than 1% of the stories aired by the networks are devoted exclusively to Latinos. Between 1995 and 2004, out of an estimated 140,000 stories aired, only 1,201 focused on Latinos.

Last year, out of an estimated 16,000 stories aired on the four networks, only 115 were about Latinos, or 0.72%. These stories amounted to less than 3½ hours out of nearly 550 hours of television news.

Immigration and border security continued to be the dominant themes. Forty stories were about immigration. More than half the stories with visuals featured images of immigrants, frequently crossing the border illegally. Combined, stories about immigration and homeland security accounted for 45% of all Latino-specific coverage last year.

On the positive side, crime stories, which made up more than 20% of Latino-related stories in 2003, dropped to about 8% of the coverage last year. But put together, stories about immigration, homeland security and crime accounted for 53% of all Latino-related coverage, meaning the overall picture isn't any rosier than in years past.

"In the less than 1% of the news, half of it is problematic," said Federico Subervi, lead author and researcher of the Brownout Report for the past two years. "Where are the stories about the contributions, the positive contributions to the country as a whole?"

Half the Latino-related stories did not feature an interview with a Latino source. Perhaps tellingly, out of the 115 stories that aired in 2004, only six featured a Latino reporter.

According to an annual newsroom survey done by the Radio-Television News Directors Association, Latino journalists presently account for 8.7% of the television news workforce. This is double the rate of a decade ago, although the survey doesn't distinguish between those working for English- or Spanish-language stations.

Having more Latinos on camera helps, but it doesn't necessarily improve the quality of coverage, said Subervi, a professor of mass communication and director of the Latinos and Media Project in Austin , Texas . The key lies with the people making coverage decisions.

Latinos represent only 2.8% of television news directors at non-Spanish- language stations, according to the radio and television survey. African-American and Asian news directors make up similarly small percentages. Eighty-eight percent are Caucasian.

"The lens through which the gatekeepers at the network news media see us is very narrow," Subervi said. "Every time there is a Latino in a decision-making position, there is a slight change for the better, and that has been well-documented."

A possible solution is in the works. For the past two years, NAHJ has been building what it calls the Parity Project, a push to improve hiring and coverage in media markets where the Latino population is underrepresented in the newsroom. The goal is for participating news outlets not just to boost hiring, but to cultivate sources and a better relationship with their local Latino communities through town hall meetings and advisory committees.

It's not a quick fix, said Rosa Maria Santana, associate Parity Project director in Los Angeles . So far just 21 companies are participating, and the majority of them are print publications.

However, there have been a few management-level recruits, she said, including a handful of editors, a columnist and a publisher. And five broadcast outlets – four television network affiliates and National Public Radio – are now on the Parity Project roster.

One of the stations is KCNC-TV in Denver , a local CBS affiliate that joined after its print partner, the Rocky Mountain News, became the first newsroom to participate in 2003.

The station joined the project in 2004. Since then its staff has received input on coverage and sourcing from a community advisory committee, said news director Tim Wieland. The station also has hired a Latina to be an online editor.

"It has been a great success, in my opinion, in terms of making newsroom decision-makers more aware of the community as a whole," Wieland said.

The station still does immigration stories - an investigative piece on human smuggling aired recently - but observers have noticed more variety. Polly Baca, a former Colorado state senator and community activist, said she has seen a marked improvement in its coverage of public education issues affecting Latino students, among other things.

"They air things that other stations don't air about Latinos," said Baca, who sits on the station's local advisory committee. "They have often aired stories that might be a little bit controversial." Best of all, she thinks, "the other stations seem to be following now."

Ripple effects such as these are what NAHJ's Santana hopes will grow out of the Parity Project. It may be a long time before such changes can be measured at the national level in future Brownout studies, but it's a start, she said.

"Is this going to change everything overnight - No," Santana said. "It takes time. It takes years. But this is one we really believe in."

Leslie Berestein, born in Cuba and raised in Los Angeles, is a staff writer at the San Diego Union-Tribune, where she writes about immigration and Latino affairs.

Su Conexión

Brownout Report 2005:
http://www.nahj.org/resources/Brownout%20Report%202005.pdf

Radio-Television News Directors Association newsroom survey:
http://www.rtnda.org/communicator/pdfs/072005-26-32.pdf