Press Release

NAHJ Discouraged by the Overall Lack of Coverage of Latinos on the Network Evening News

Washington, D.C. - The National Association of Hispanic Journalists is once again discouraged by the lack of coverage of Latinos on the network evening newscasts of ABC, CBS, CNN and NBC which collectively are among the major sources of television news in the country.

NAHJ today released its 9th Annual Network Brownout Report and found that out of 16,000 stories that aired on the network evening newscasts in 2003, only 131 stories, or 0.82 percent, were exclusively about Latinos. This was an increase from 2002 when there were 120 stories about Latinos (0.75 percent).

While the portrayal of Latinos improved slightly in 2003, network coverage of Latinos remained dismal given the growth and importance of the nation’s Latino community. Latinos make up close to 14 percent of the U.S. population.

Out of 639 hours of network news stories that aired in 2003 (38,325 minutes), a scant 0.63 percent (4 hours and 2 minutes) was dedicated to Latino stories.

And overall, the percentage of Latinos on screen virtually failed to register. The report found that Latinos did not often appear in non-Latino related stories. Out of 16,000 stories that aired in 2003, Latinos appeared as sources in an estimated 285 non-Latino stories (1.8 percent). Interviews with Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, California Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson accounted for 40 percent of this total.

The sobering reality is that U.S. households were hard pressed to view any story about Latinos in 2003. Out of nearly 350 stories that aired on the network evening news each week, a little more than two stories were about Latinos.

"The fact that the 30 million people who watch these news shows rarely see us or only see us in certain ways is a true disservice to our society as a whole," said Iván Román, executive director of NAHJ. "While we acknowledge that the portrayal of Latinos improved in 2003, the virtual absence of Latinos on the evening news contributes to the skewed views about people that continue to feed stereotypes, breeding discrimination, ignorance, mistrust and disrespect. We must do better."

NAHJ believes that the lack of diversity throughout the ranks of the network news divisions is a major reason why Latinos remain almost invisible on the evening news. NAHJ has repeatedly called on the networks to make their racial and ethnic newsroom employment figures public. But, so far, they have refused our requests.

The Brownout report also found that the majority of Latino stories that aired in 2003 covered a limited number of topics. Overall, 44 percent of Latino stories were about immigration (30 stories) and crime (27 stories). That figure climbs to 55 percent when human-interest stories (15 stories) are included and to 73 percent when the topics of election politics (11 stories) and celebrities (12 stories) are added.

Despite the overall lack of coverage, Latinos were more positively portrayed in news coverage in 2003. For example, the number of human-interest stories increased from 3 in 2002 to 15 in 2003. Many of these stories profiled the service and sacrifice made by Latino soldiers.

NAHJ also conducted, for the first-time ever, a content audit of network stories that aired over a five-day period (Oct. 20-24, 2003) to better understand how Latinos appeared in stories during a typical news week. The audit revealed that out of 241 stories that aired during this time, not a single story was exclusively about Latinos. In all, only four stories included Latinos as new sources.

Other major findings included:

• The overall number of crime stories declined from 47 stories (39 percent) in 2002 to 27 stories (21 percent) in 2003.
• Stories about Latinos lacked diversity of viewpoint and opinion. Of the 131 stories about Latinos, 43 percent did not cite a single source. In addition, 58 percent did not feature an interview with a Latino.
• Several stories, regardless of topic, portrayed Latinos as immigrants seeking a better life in the United States.
• Immigration and crime stories portrayed Latinos as victims. In previous years, Latinos were more often featured as perpetrators of crime or burdens to society.
• Latino soldiers killed or wounded in Iraq were portrayed as heroes.
• Several stories about politics focused on the growing influence of the Latino vote.

The Network Brownout report can be downloaded on the NAHJ Web site at: www.nahj.org.