State Of Hispanic America p. 11

By: Mark Fitzgerald

National Council of La Raza says negative stereotyping by
both Hollywood and news organizations is holding down Latino
progress in civil rights, education, housing and the economy sp.

REFORMING THE Entertainment and news media should be the highest priority of Latinos, a major Hispanic group says.
In its third annual "State of Hispanic America," the National Council of La Raza says negative stereotyping by both Hollywood and news organizations is holding down Latino progress in civil rights, education, housing and the economy.
"We can't solve these other issues without addressing the media problem," La Raza president Raul Yzaguirre said in an address at the group's recent convention in Miami Beach.
"More than hurt feelings are at stake," Yzaguirre added. "Our inaccurate and poor media image has a devastating effect on virtually all aspects of the Hispanic policy agenda."
Much of the 42-page, heavily footnoted report is taken up with supposed abuses of the entertainment and electronic news industries.
However, the report faults newspapers and magazines as well for inadequate numbers of Latino journalists and sources.
"While comprehensive, longitudinal research in this area is particularly scarce, anecdotal evidence strongly suggests that major newspapers frequently fail to adequately present Hispanic perspectives in their coverage of the news," says the report, which was prepared by NCLR staffers Lisa Navarrete and Charles Kamaski.
"Even when print news coverage includes Latinos," the report says, "it appears that this coverage is inadequate. Specifically, such coverage appears to focus on Latinos as 'objects' of the news to be commented on by others, rather than as 'subjects' of the news who have an authoritative or legitimate perspective to share."
Hispanics, the report complains, are too often treated in print media as "problem people" ? either perpetrators or victims of crime, drugs, poverty and sloth.
"These negative portrayals are exacerbated by the fact that they are rarely counter-balanced by Hispanics who appear in more positive settings in the news," the report said.
Just as much of the National Council of La Raza report focuses on the alleged failings of entertainment and broadcasting, so do the recommended solutions lean heavily on federal oversight.
NCLR recommends strengthening Federal Communications Commission regulatory powers over radio and TV to ensure full Hispanic representation on broadcast outlets.
It suggests Congressional legislation to increase positive Hispanic visibility in broadcasting, similar to the Children's Television Act of 1990.
In a recommendation that touches on newspapers, the council suggested the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission "place a high priority on the media."
Specifically, it says, the EEOC should conduct "hearings on Hispanic employment in the entertainment and news industry."
The council also recommends using government science funds to conduct "Hispanic-oriented media research."
NCLR also wants industry groups such as the Newspaper Association of America ? misnamed the "Association of Newspaper Publishers" in the report ? to adopt "Latino-specific hiring and promotion goals for all occupational categories [which] should include specified milestones and time lines."
Newspapers should further conduct "periodic self-assessments of its coverage of the Hispanic community.
"Actions as simple as retaining and disseminating to all editors and reporters lists of trustworthy Latino sources or technical experts on Hispanic issues would greatly improve most media coverage," the report says.
"Finally," it concludes, "newspapers and network news organizations could hire or retain distinguished Hispanic scholars, perhaps on a rotating basis, to fill a special 'ombudsman' role to monitor and comment on" the coverage of Latino issues.