Mainstream media fail to adequately cover Hispanic community, panelists say

By Cheryl Arvidson
The Freedom Forum Online

09.18.00

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Silvestre Reyes, left, Nicolas Kanellos and Félix Gutiérrez

ARLINGTON, Va. — Despite the fact that Latinos will soon become the largest minority group in the United States, the mainstream news media continue to do a poor job of covering the Hispanic community, participants in a special Newseum program for Hispanic Heritage Month said yesterday.

"Up to now, ... the mainstream media has not done a very good job" of focusing on Hispanic issues, culture and community conditions, said Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas.

Félix Gutiérrez, executive director and senior vice president of The Freedom Forum's Pacific Coast Center, said that by and large, most Americans put Latinos into two categories because that is how mainstream media covers the Hispanic community.

The first category Gutierrez called "zoo stories," where colorful Mariachi bands, singers and dancers are featured as part of coverage of such events as Puerto Rican Independence Day or Mexican Independence Day. "It's like you go to a zoo and see an animal but out of context," he said.

The second perception, Gutiérrez said, is that Latinos are "a problem people" — either being vexed by problems such as not knowing English, entering the country illegally, living in poverty or causing problems for other people through crime, drugs and guns.

"The reality is that we as Latinos, like other Americans, live between the national holidays, and things happen between us that should be covered," Gutierrez said. "And secondly, for the most part, we're just trying to get a good job and a good, decent education and raise our families and make the most of the opportunities in this country. If the media could just do a better job of getting that reality across, I think the society overall would have a better chance of people understanding each other better."

If the mainstream media only focus on problem areas, Reyes said, "that leaves 95% of the community uncovered."

Dr. Nicolas Kanellos, author of a new book documenting the long history of Hispanic media in the United States, said he also is concerned that Latino journalists are not adequately represented in U.S. newspapers and broadcast outlets.

"We're just lagging far, far behind," Kanellos said, adding that the lack of Hispanic journalists results in coverage that "shamefully" under-represents the Latino population.

Reyes noted that in El Paso, Texas, the Spanish-language television station, Univision, is tops in market share. He and Kanellos said the economic reality of the growing Hispanic population and the growing influence of the Spanish language, which now is the dominant language in the hemisphere, will eventually force mainstream media to change their ways.

Reyes also said he expected that within a relatively few years, the United States would become a bilingual country. "The issue of being monolingual in the near future is going to be behind us," he said.

"We have to push dual-language education," the congressman continued. "The more people who are bilingual, the better off we're going to be."

"Bilingualism is nothing new to us," said Gutierrez. "To be bilingual is to be better."

Reyes also expressed concern about the so-called "digital divide" — the failure of the riches of the Internet and other high technology advances to reach poor and minority populations as quickly as it has the wealthier population. He said Latinos do not have the same sort of access to the Internet or other technology-related fields as other population groups, and often, it is strictly a question of money.

"Do I spend the money on clothes and food or can I afford to get a computer?" That is the question Hispanics ask themselves, Reyes said. He noted that Hispanic unemployment remains at 2 1/2 times the national average, and many schools in poor Latino communities do not have computers.

"The real challenge is being able to put money in the education system to be able to address those consistent shortages in the Latino community," he said. "If we don't do it now, then that divide is going to broaden and you put whole communities at a disadvantage."

The panelists agreed that television networks like BET and Univision are succeeding in large part because mainstream media have been reluctant to focus on diversity in their staffs and their coverage decisions. Ultimately, their success will force mainstream media to change their ways, the panelists said.

"The really smart ones from mainstream media are paying attention," Reyes said. "It really puts pressure on the mainstream."

"We're a multimedia society, and we're a multicultural society," Gutiérrez said. "In a multimedia and multicultural society, people pay attention to media that pay attention to them."

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