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Not to bore you, but I wanted to give you some idea where we are as Latinos
in print as well as in the entertainment area. And of course there’s
good news and bad news, but let me give you the good news. The good news
is that in 1999, the study conducted by the National Association of Hispanic
Journalists found that an increase of 35% of Latino stories were in fact
in three major networks. The report also claimed that the number of Latino
experts interviewed had doubled, however, the report also found that only
three reporters covered more than 100 plus stories. Also, remember that
in 1999 there was the Elian Gonzalez case, so maybe that had a lot to
do with the growth in stories.
The not so good news is that the other studies continued to show the lack
of diversity, not only in the newsrooms, but in other areas, but in particular
the newsrooms. They remained white, male-dominated. Minorities account
for only 19% of television newsroom staff and only 11% in radio. Only
1 out of 10 faces in the United States is Hispanic, but only 100 faces
in television is Hispanic. Did I read that right? Latinos represent nearly
13% of the total population and yet we only represent 2% of all network
TV characters. That’s been said over and over again. We’re making
incremental changes -- at least the coalition with its multi-ethnic partners
-- hopefully this year the report will be different. Latinos watch four
hours of TV a day, which is 45 minutes more than non-Latinos which means
in terms of marketing-- duh, hello!
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