Latinos as Problems

Newsmagazines’ Portrayal of Hispanics Analyzed

An examination of the portrayal of Latinos in the nation’s leading newsmagazines in 2005 shows the group to be depicted chiefly in the context of immigration and principally as problems.

The study (PDF), “U.S. News Magazine Coverage of Latinos,” was conducted for the National Association of Hispanic Journalists by the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University and released today at the NAHJ convention in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

“As is often the case regarding minority groups, the representations seem to fall at the end of two extremes,” the report said.

“Latinos were either positioned as a problem/threat, or as the successful exception/role model of their community, even the success of Latinos in politics was often represented with ambivalence and danger.

“And yet, the majority of Latinos do not fall into either camp. Indeed, the majority of the coverage did not represent Latinos as average Americans leading mainstream lives. It also suggests that Latinos are only newsworthy when they are doing something that marks them as unique. As long as these news practices persist, Latinos cannot be incorporated as full citizens in U.S. society.”

The report found that of 1,547 magazine stories published in Time, Newsweek and U.S. News & World Report, only 18 stories, or 1.2 percent, were about Latinos. Twelve of the 18 focused on immigration.

“In these immigration stories, Latino immigrants were portrayed, for the most part as a negative and disruptive force on U.S. society,” it said.

The study noted a headline in Newsweek after the election of Antonio Villaraigosa as mayor of Los Angeles: “A Latin Power surge. A New Mayor in L.A. A Decisive Showing in 2004. Latinos are Making their Mark on Politics as Never Before. Get Used to It.”

“This headline reflects a warning statement and an almost reluctant acceptance of this fundamental change in American politics,” the report said.

Other conclusions:

• “The number of Latino sources was low and the diversity of sources used was limited. Although Latino migrant workers seemed to be the main focus of the predominantly Latino stories, few Latino laborers or those who employed them were quoted.

 

• “For every cover story focusing on successful Latino artists and celebrities, many more stories depicted Latinos as poor, illegal, desperate migrant workers.

 

• “In some ways, even the success of Latinos in the political realm is represented with ambivalence. The subtle message suggests that mainstream Americans should be on guard and monitor the growing influence of Latino political power.

 

• “Despite attempts to raise awareness of the problematic nature of calling humans ‘illegals,’ such phrases persist in news magazines.

 

• “Stories about U.S. immigration and immigrants rarely feature nationals outside of Latin America.”

Oscar Corral, Miami Herald: Hot issues at Hispanic media convention

Editorial, Miami Herald: Free Cuban journalists

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Confusion Over Pro-Business vs. Pro-Immigrant

“Despite the global significance of immigration legislation and immeasurable effects on individual lives, there have been deep flaws in media coverage of the legislative debate,” Saurav Sarkar wrote for the left-leaning media watchdog group Fairness And Accuracy in Reporting.

“In particular, large segments of the media have biased their coverage towards a pro-business standpoint on the debate, which is misleadingly portrayed as a pro-immigrant position; the opposition to this view is a racialized, nativist perspective that is misrepresented as advocacy for U.S.-born workers. Actual pro-immigrant, pro-worker and international points of view have been almost entirely absent,” Sarkar said in the May/June issue of FAIR’s publication Extra!

“Constructing a false dichotomy between the harsh nativist measures being considered by the House of Representatives and the more business-friendly measures endorsed by the Senate, the media have also fostered an unjustified sense of urgency to promote sweeping legislation that is likely to end up harming immigrants and non-immigrant U.S. workers alike,” Sarkar continued.

“Mainstream media have helped to set the terms of the debate by endlessly repeating catchphrases and buzzwords like ‘porous borders’ and ‘comprehensive immigration reform.'”

Meanwhile, William Lucy, president and founder of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, said too little attention was being paid to educated immigrants taking high-tech jobs away from middle- and upper-class African Americans, according to Lorinda Bullock of the National Newspaper Publishers Association News service.

“That is much more of a threat to us than picking lettuce,” said Lucy in Bullock’s story.

• Roy S. Johnson, AOL Black Voices: Latins in the House

 

• Ruben Navarrette, San Diego Union-Tribune: Focus on the other border, too

 

• Joseph C. Phillips, BlackAmericaWeb.com: Why’re We Rushing? Let’s Secure Borders First (Part II)

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Ex-Local TV Reporter Sells Lingerie at Nordstrom

Shelley Crenshaw, for two years a reporter at WBNS-TV, the CBS affiliate in Columbus, Ohio, left last September and now works at the city’s Nordstrom department store selling lingerie.

She also does freelance television pieces, such as one that aired on the WE (Women’s Entertainment) cable network on nursing, and another health-related special that aired in several major markets, produced by the Gilbert Media Group.

But, Crenshaw told Journal-isms, “I have bills that need to be paid,” hence the Nordstrom job. Only a couple of customers have recognized her from her television work, she said. A “tipster” wrote into the NewsBlues subscription-only Web site that she was working at the store, and the site ran the “tip” today.

Crenshaw previously worked in Grand Rapids, Mich., Austin, Texas, and eastern Washington. She said “television is my heart,” but “I haven’t been able to get an agent. I don’t want to do hard news. I got tired of murders and robberies and stabbings,” she said, and never want to go to another city council meeting.

Moreover, “I hated the station I worked for,” Crenshaw said. “Everybody was miserable.” So she did not work for seven months while she prepared herself for her next job. A member of the National Association of Black Journalists, Crenshaw said she was interested in health reporting but found that acquaintances became scarce once she no longer worked at the station.

In the May sweeps, WBNS’s newscasts were No. 1 at 6 a.m., noon and 5 p.m., the Columbus Dispatch reported; and were narrowly edged out at 6 and 11 p.m. by WCMH-TV, the NBC affiliate. In the late newscast, WBNS won on weekdays but lost the full week because of a drop on Saturdays and Sundays, the Dispatch said.

John Cardenas, news director at WBNS-TV, said he did not know about Crenshaw’s job at Nordstrom. “I don’t have any comment” on her situation, he told Journal-isms. “Just no comment. Anybody who leaves television news should be able to pursue any career they feel they should,” he said.

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Blind Reporter OK With Bush Faux Pas

At his press conference this morning, President Bush asked Los Angeles Times reporter Peter Wallsten, who was wearing sunglasses outside, “Are you going to ask that question with shades on?”

“I can take them off,” said Wallsten.

“I’m interested in the shade look, seriously,” said Bush.

WALLSTEN: “All right, I’ll keep it, then.”

BUSH: “For the viewers, there’s no sun.” (Laughter.)

WALLSTEN: “I guess it depends on your perspective.” (Laughter.)

“Turns out Wallsten is legally blind and wears the sunglasses due to a rare genetic disorder called Stargardt’s Disease,” Editor & Publisher explained.

“But Wallsten later told the ThinkProgress web site that Bush’s comments did not offend him at all. ‘I never advertise it to him. I’ve never told him,’ he explained, according to the site.”

• [June 15 update: Bush apologizes to reporter who wore sunglasses (Newsday)]

 

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N.J. Slams Door on Interviews With Prisoners

• [June 15 update: Media ban in prisons is lifted (Philadelphia Inquirer)]

 

“The New Jersey Department of Corrections has instituted one of the nation’s tightest restrictions on media access to state prisons, including a complete ban on interviews with inmates,” William Kleinknecht reported today in the Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J.

“George Hayman, the acting corrections commissioner, issued the ban after taking office in January and plans to keep the restrictions in place as long as he is in his current status, said Matthew Schuman, a spokesman for the department.”

“. . . He said the new policy was based on security concerns.

“The press still has the option of writing to inmates if they have questions,” Schuman said.

“John O’Brien, executive director of the New Jersey Press Association, said not only the general public but policymakers themselves can benefit from information elicited by interviews with prisoners.

“He said he would initiate contact with state officials in an effort to have the new policy overturned.

“For decades, the jailhouse interview has been a staple of American journalism, the fodder for books like ‘In Cold Blood’ and ‘The Executioner’s Song’ and movies like ‘The Thin Blue Line.'”

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“Sensitive Racial Issues” No Reason to Close Court

“A pre-trial hearing in a prominent murder case should not have been closed to the public simply because the case involved domestic violence and racial issues, the South Carolina Supreme Court recently ruled,” Barbara W. Wall reported Friday in her “Legal Watch” report to Gannett newspapers.

The decision, involving Hearst-Argyle Television, Inc. and the Greenville (S.C.) News, “highlights that proceedings in criminal cases may be closed only if it is very likely that closure would be necessary to protect the defendant’s right to a fair trial.”

“In 2003, Charles Christopher Williams,” who is black, was arrested for assaulting his former girlfriend,” who was white. “While free on bail, Williams took her hostage and allegedly shot her four times with a shotgun,” Wall wrote.

“Williams confessed to a state psychiatrist after he was arrested for the murder. However, before trial, Williams asked the court to prevent the psychiatrist from testifying about what he said and to suppress a journal that was discovered based on his confession.

“At the judge’s suggestion, Williams requested that the hearing on his motion be closed to the public. The Greenville News and WYFF-TV objected, but the judge said that closure was warranted because the case involved the ‘hot button’ issue of domestic violence, and ‘sensitive racial issues.'”

“The closed hearing went forward before the decision could be appealed. Williams’ motion was denied, and he was convicted and sentenced to death.”

Rivers Stilwell, who represented the Greenville News, said of the state Supreme Court ruling, “the good thing is it’s a nice, strong open-court ruling. It’s an epistle from the Supreme Court to its trial courts.” But, he told Journal-isms, “I didn’t even know it was a black-on-white crime until he said that,” speaking of Judge J.S. Nicholson Jr. He said Nicholson never explained the “sensitive racial issues.”

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Britain Offers Guidance on “Reporting Diversity”

“Significant numbers of our, shall we say, traditional readers have reacted badly to an increase in pictures and stories from the minority ethnic communities, so inclusiveness is not without its problems.”

So said Jim Williams, editor of Britain’s Oldham Evening Chronicle, in a story Monday by Chris Arnot in the London Independent.

“There are parts of the country,” Williams continued, “where you find people talking as though Britain hasn’t changed. And I guess there are some white people who are turned off by coverage of issues that seem remote from them. But as journalists we have to have some belief in promoting a society that is at ease with itself. Regardless of the difficulties, editors in all sections of the media have to accept responsibility for changing the communities that they serve. If they can’t make different people in communities understand one another, then there isn’t anybody who can. Who else can address broad swathes of people from different ethnic backgrounds?”

Arnot’s story was headlined, “How to get to the heart of Britain’s ethnic diversity: A little knowledge goes a long way when reporting on the racial make-up of the UK.”

A guidebook, “Reporting Diversity: How journalists can contribute to community cohesion,” was commissioned by the Home Office and released late last year.

Copies may be ordered by e-mailing info@societyofeditors.org. The guidebook can be viewed online.

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Earl Graves, Father and Son, Speak Out

“‘Sheriff’ Earl G. Graves, publisher emeritus of Black Enterprise magazine, deputized everyone at the Black Enterprise Entrepreneurs Conference recently at Dallas’ Hilton Anatole Hotel,” Gordon Jackson reported in the Dallas Examiner.

“I’m deputizing all of you in my personal crusade,” Graves told the audience during his State of the Black Business address that kicked off the conference.

“Graves’ mission: reverse the crisis of young Black men in the country. The 71-year old prostate cancer survivor added, ‘I plan on being around a long time and I intend to continue to make every day count. I’ve come to the conclusion that the best way for me to do that is to do everything in my power to restore dignity, hope and opportunity to the lives of young African American men and boys.’

Meanwhile, “saying the advertising industry is ‘licensed to practice racism,’ the president-CEO of Black Enterprise magazine yesterday called for consumer and political activism aimed at increasing the number of marketing dollars spent with black-owned media on products popular with black consumers,” Lisa Sanders reported today in Advertising Age.

“Earl ‘Butch’ Graves Jr., president-CEO of “Black Enterprise” magazine, charged that black media are not getting a fair share of media spending aimed at black consumers.

“Mr. Graves made the comments at an event sponsored by the magazine to promote its annual ’40 Best Companies for Diversity’ special report. The magazine’s forum comes a time of rising debate about the role of blacks and other minorities in advertising and why they are not represented in large numbers in senior roles in the industry.”

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Short Takes

• “An analysis of the 2006 fall television season by the NAACP Hollywood Bureau indicates that while African American actors are in significant roles in drama series, there are no sitcoms on the four major broadcast networks starring African American actors scheduled for the upcoming season,” the organization reported Monday. “President Bruce S. Gordon, in letters to network executives, expressed concern that progress in diversifying the television industry appears to be slipping in some areas.”
• On the Nieman Watchdog Web site, University of California at Berkeley economics professor Brad DeLong and journalism professor Susan Rasky today offered “a quick guide for journalists who talk to economists and want to be in the information — rather than disinformation — business.”
• “In 2006, women with children often still face a tough decision — stay at home or work outside of it. Balance professional mandates with personal responsibilities,” Sam McManis wrote Tuesday in the Sacramento Bee. “But it’s not just the Elizabeth Vargases, Katie Courics or Soledad O’Briens. On the local level, female broadcasters say they are tugged in several directions as well and — internally, at the very least — feel obligations to return to work quickly.”
• “Mayor C. Ray Nagin, the newly re-elected mayor of New Orleans who led the city during Hurricane Katrina, will be a featured speaker at the National Association of Black Journalists’ 31st Annual Convention and Career Fair in Indianapolis,” Aug. 16-20, the organization announced today.
• According to Connie Chung, MSNBC’s “Weekends With Maury and Connie,” which airs its last show Saturday, was always planned for just 26 weeks, Gail Shister reported Tuesday in the Philadelphia Inquirer.
• Tiger Woods holds less allure for reporters than for fans, Jane McManus of the Westchester, N.Y., Journal News wrote Tuesday in USA Today. “Woods is notoriously elusive, often heading straight for the exit once his PGA Tour-mandated press time is over. Over the years, some in the media ranks have come to resent the challenge the golfer poses, especially since he is the person their readers and viewers most want to hear from.”
• “Tonight on the ‘CBS Evening News With Bob Schieffer,’ correspondent Lara Logan kicks off a three-part series about Sudan and trouble in the region,” Richard Huff reported Tuesday in the New York Daily News. New York Times columnist Nicholas D. Kristof, who won a Pulitzer Prize for commentary for his Darfur coverage, wrote last month that the “CBS Evening News” had “decided that genocide wasn’t newsworthy, devoting only two minutes to coverage of Darfur in all of 2005.”
• David Rogers, the weatherman at New York’s WCBS-TV who served time in an Ohio prison after a 2003 drunken driving accident in Cleveland, has joined WVIR-TV in Charlottesville, Va., as morning, weekend, and part-time noon show meteorologist. A judge knocked six months off his 10-month prison sentence, the Plain Dealer reported in September. Neither Rogers nor his news director, Neal Bennett, responded to a telephone inquiry today.
• “Timothy McNulty‘s column on the media’s coverage of Iraq makes for a compelling read. But comparing USA Today’s Page 1 coverage of Iraq with ‘traditional’ newspapers is like comparing apples and oranges, ” USA Today’s Baghdad correspondent Cesar Soriano wrote in a message to the Poynter Institute Web site. “The very nature of USA Today’s design and layout limits us to running about three front page articles per day, versus about six 1A stories in other newspapers. Those other papers also have larger staff in Iraq.”
• “Al White, the well-known “Troubleshooter” investigative reporter for WOKR-TV in the 1970s and ’80s, died May 9 in Charlotte, N.C., where he suffered a heart attack and underwent bypass surgery,” Greg Livadas wrote June 2 in the Democrat and Chronicle in Rochester, N.Y. “He was 68. Known for his broad smile, on-camera laughing attacks and his ‘We’ll be watching’ signature signoff, Mr. White also was a government watchdog, the voice of the consumer, and loved helping those in need.”
• Ron Wade and Roderick Hicks are recent additions to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Wade, who was senior news editor at the Philadelphia Inquirer, is metro coordinator, helping to oversee the nightly production of the daily metro sections; and Hicks, suburban editor at the Detroit News, is night news editor.
• “A federal judge said yesterday he would not rule on unsealing records related to discovery in the Bill Cosby sex case until Cosby’s lawyers have completed their deposition of Cosby’s accuser,” Michael Hinkelman reported Saturday in the Philadelphia Daily News. U.S. District Judge Eduardo C. Robreno also denied motions by the National Enquirer and a Los Angeles entertainment lawyer to dismiss them from a related defamation lawsuit during a 90-minute court hearing, the story said.
• The trial of New York Times researcher Zhao Yan, 44, who is accused of disclosing state secrets and fraud, will begin in Beijing on Friday, his lawyer said Tuesday, David Lague reported today in the Times.
• “The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns a three-month prison sentence given to a radio journalist in the Democratic Republic of Congo for defaming a local police chief,” the committee said Monday. “Pierre-Sosthne Kambidi, of private radio station Concorde FM in the central town of Tshikapa, was sentenced on June 10, his lawyer said.”
• “The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the attempted murder of senior Indian journalist Shujaat Bukhari, a correspondent in Kashmir for The Hindu newspaper. Bukhari told CPJ his life was spared because his attacker’s gun jammed,” the organization said on Monday.
• “A court in the Gambia freed a reporter on bail today, more than two months after he was detained by the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), local sources told the Committee to Protect Journalists. Lamin Fatty of the Banjul-based The Independent will go on trial June 22 on charges of publishing ‘false news’, they said,” the committee reported Monday.