Professional Documents
Culture Documents
JUNE 2006
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The National Association of Hispanic Journalists would like to thank the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and
Mass Communication at Arizona State University for producing an excellent report that we believe established a solid
baseline for future research on the coverage of Latinos by our nation’s leading news magazines.
We look forward to working with ASU again on future projects that further examine issues affecting newsroom diversity.
We want to especially thank Christopher Callahan, the dean of the Walter Cronkite School, for providing funding for
this report; ASU’s Dina Gavrilos, Ph.D., the author of this study; and Marianne Barrett, Ph.D., associate dean for
academic affairs at the Cronkite School.
We also want to thank ASU students Sonu Munshi and Jake Geller, as well undergraduate student Melody Rodriguez,
for their work on this study.
NAHJ would also like to thank Rafael Olmeda, the association’s vice president of print, who proposed that NAHJ
authorize a study on the coverage of Latinos by the country’s leading news magazines. We also want to thank him for
providing personal funding for the printing of this report.
We would like to thank Daniela Montalvo, communication and research coordinator for NAHJ, and Joseph Torres,
NAHJ deputy director, for their help in editing and guiding this report. Finally, NAHJ would like to thank Federico
Subervi, Ph.D., for his guidance.
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The National Association of Hispanic Journalists has produced a Network Brownout Report for more than
10 years, analyzing the way Hispanics are portrayed on national newscasts. We have long wanted to
develop a companion to that report that examines print media, but it has always been a major challenge.
Would we only look at the top 10 newspapers in terms of circulation? Would we randomly select one
week for extensive review? And most importantly, would we be telling a national story?
It wasn’t until last year that we took the idea and decided to apply it to the three major national news
magazines. Time, Newsweek and U.S. News & World Report seek to be agenda setters in the United
States. The three publications have a unique opportunity to bring stories to all Americans. It’s time — it’s
past time — to ask whether they are fully and fairly telling the story of Hispanic America. Would we see
Hispanics as part of the fabric of the United States, or as a threat to it? Would the average reader of
these three publications walk away with a positive, negative or neutral opinion of the largest minority
population in the United States?
My personal thanks go to NAHJ President Verónica Villafañe and the rest of the association’s board of
directors, as well as the staff, for their support in the development of this project. I also want to thank
Arizona State University for taking it on.
The board of directors of NAHJ entered this project with an open mind. Although it would be a
companion to the Network Brownout Report, we never used the word “brownout” to describe it. We
wanted an honest content audit, not a “hit piece” with a predetermined outcome.
In future years, we hope coverage of the Hispanic community will improve. But first, the publishers of
these magazines need to work to change these results.
Thank you.
Rafael Olmeda
Vice President of Print
National Association of Hispanic Journalists
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INTRODUCTION
In 2003, the U.S. Census Bureau reported that Latinos were the largest minority group in the
United States As an increasingly influential group in all aspects of American society and culture,
the news media are beginning to notice.
For example, the magazines Time and Newsweek devoted cover stories to Hispanics in 2005.
Time’s cover story for the week of August 22, 2005 highlighted the “Top 25 Most Influential
Hispanics in America.” On May 30, 2005, Newsweek dedicated a cover story titled “Latin
Power Surge,” to Antonio Villaraigosa’s elected position as Mayor of Los Angeles. Villaraigosa
was the first Latino Mayor elected in nearly 150 years.
However, 2005 was also the year that saw increased attention to the issue of immigration and
increased nativist and anti-immigrant sentiment directed toward immigrants of Latino descent.
This is evident in the example of the U.S. News & World Report cover story published on
November 28, 2005, titled: “Border Wars: The Border with Mexico Leaks Like a Sieve. Why the
Feds Can’t Fix it.”
The growing influence of the Latino community in U.S. society along with the important role
of the news media in reporting on public issues and major societal trends warrants a study that
examines how Latinos are represented in U.S. mainstream news magazines, especially since
magazines continue to play a crucial role in today’s public discourse.
According to the NAHJ Network Brownout Report, published in 2005, broadcast news
programs still have a long way to go before reporting stories that present the Latino
community in a fair and non-stereotypical manner. Will this be the case when analyzing the
nation’s top three leading news magazines for their representation of Latinos?
These are some of the urgent issues that prompted this study’s evaluation of Time, Newsweek
and U.S. News & World Report’s coverage of Latinos last year. By looking at the ways in which
the three leading U.S. news magazines covered Latinos, this study raises the following
questions:
• What was the number of magazine stories about Latinos in 2005?
• What were the topics of these stories?
• What are the main themes or patterns found in the news coverage of Latinos?
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
There were several major findings and themes Out of 174 Latinos appearing in Newsweek, the
found in this study that should give journalists a largest number, 44 or 25.3 percent, were
starting point from which they can begin artists/entertainers or celebrities.
reflecting upon the importance of changing the
ways in which Latinos are covered in the future. Out of 174 Latinos appearing in Newsweek, 136
(78 percent) were found in non-Latino stories.
QUANTITATIVE FINDINGS
U.S. News & World Report:
Overall News Stories Out of 382 news stories published in U.S. News in
In 2005, out of 1,547 magazine stories published 2005, four (1.0 percent) were predominantly
in Time, Newsweek and U.S. News & World about Latinos and none were inclusive of Latinos
Report, only 18 stories (1.2 percent) were as a group.
predominantly about Latinos.
Out of the four stories published about Latinos, all
The majority of stories predominantly about were about immigration.
Latinos (12 out of 18) focused on immigration.
Out of 49 Latinos appearing in U.S. News, the
Only five stories of the 1,547 total (0.3 percent) largest number, 10 or 20.4 percent, were political
significantly included Latinos in non-Latino stories. and government officials.
Of the 1,547 stories published, 214, or 13.83 Out of 49 Latinos appearing in U.S. News, 39
percent, mentioned (or referenced) at least one (79.6 percent) were found in non-Latino stories.
Latino. These stories did not stress their ethnicity.
Out of a total of 106 Latinos that appeared in In these immigration stories, Latino immigrants
Time, the largest number, 29 or 27.4 percent, were portrayed, for the most part, as a negative
were artists/entertainers or celebrities. and disruptive force on U.S. society.
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Conclusion
Coverage of Non-Immigration Stories Overall, the news magazine coverage of Latinos in
For all three magazines, a total of 18 stories were 2005 was predominantly about Latino
predominantly about Latinos. Out of those 18, 6 immigration and presented migrants as a problem
or 33 percent, focused on topics other than for U.S. politics, culture, and society. Such
immigration. representations make it difficult for society to see
the broader array of Latino roles and contributions
Within these stories, Time and Newsweek focused to American communities.
on the more positive contributions made by
Latinos, such as their growing political power and
influence. Both magazines devoted cover stories
to these more positive topics.
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FINDINGS
PART 1. THE QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS
This section explains the results of the quantitative portion of this research. The researcher
analyzed magazine representations of Latinos with both a quantitative method (content analysis)
and a qualitative method which examined the “numbers” in a more subjective, in-depth way.
For the content analysis, all news magazine exclusively focused on Latinos, featured
stories published by the three chosen Latinos as a group within a larger
magazines in 2005 were coded and counted framework, or referenced Latinos
for the following variables: story topics, the
Latino focus of the story, and the number • The makeup of Latino representations
and types of Latino representations in each
story. For a more detailed discussion of the
coding process, and how stories were chosen STORY TOPICS
and defined, please consult the methodology Stories were assigned to 11 mutually
section at the back of this report. exclusive topics ranging from
national/regional politics and social issues to
This section will report: arts & culture, as well as human
• The topics covered by the stories interest/demographic & lifestyle trends (see
methodology section for a complete listing).
• The number of stories that either
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By far, the largest number of stories published It is not surprising that the main story topics
by Time and Newsweek were those about of these news magazines focus on national
arts & culture (see Table 1). Out of 656 total politics, social issues and arts/culture since
stories examined for Time, 342 (52.1 percent) these leading publications have a general-
were arts & culture stories and, out of the interest focus and strive for national
509 stories examined for Newsweek, 190 relevance.
(37.3 percent) were about this topic. The next
most frequent type of story published by each
was national/regional politics & social issues LATINO FOCUS OF STORIES
(123 or 18.8 percent for Time, 120 or 23.6 Four categories were created to measure the
percent for Newsweek). degree to which a news story focused on
Latinos. Stories were coded into these
For U.S. News & World Report, known for mutually exclusive categories:
having a much harder national news focus, • Stories predominantly about the Latino
the most common type of story published was community and/or prominently or
about national/regional politics & social issues. centrally about individual Latinos;
Out of a total 382 stories examined for the
magazine, 145 (38.0 percent) were dedicated • Stories that significantly included Latinos
to this topic. The next most common type of as a group within a larger non-Latino
stories centered on business/economy (76 framework;
stories or 19.9 percent).
1. National/Regional Politics & Social Issues 123 (18.8%) 120 (23.6%) 145 (38.0%)
2. Arts & Culture/Celebrities & Entertainment 342 (52.1%) 190 (37.3%) 17 (4.5%)
3. Health, Science, Medicine, Environment 58 (8.8%) 50 (9.8%) 57 (14.9%)
4. Business/Economy 53 (8.1%) 63 (12.4%) 76 (19.9%)
5. Sports 17 (2.6%) 10 (2.0%) 1 (0.3%)
6. Education 5 (0.8%) 5 (1.0%) 22 (5.8%)
7. Technology 3 (0.5%) 8 (1.6%) 20 (5.2%)
8. Crime 7 (1.1%) 5 (1.0%) 6 (1.6%)
9. Calamities 14 (2.1%) 26 (5.1%) 7 (1.8%)
10. Human Interest/Demographic & Lifestyle Trends 19 (2.9%) 22 (4.3%) 22 (5.8%)
11. Religion 15 (2.3%) 10 (2.0%) 9 (2.4%)
Total Number of Stories 656 (100%) 509 (100%) 382 (100%)
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• Stories that reference individual Latinos way, even though the story was not exclusively
whose heritage or Latino identity is not about them. For example, a story about
the focus of the story (a reference can President Bush included his push to garner
denote a quoted source or merely a Latino voters and another story about the
passing mention of a Latino name); and Protestant Church in the United States devoted
some of the coverage to the influence of
• Stories that did not have any Latino Latinos in the Church.
reference.
A breakdown of the individual magazines
Overall, out of a combined total of 1,547 shows that:
magazine stories that were examined, a mere • Of 656 news stories in Time, 7 (1.1
18 stories (1.2 percent) predominantly percent) were predominantly about
featured Latinos and five stories (0.3 percent) Latinos and 3 (0.5 percent) were inclusive
significantly included Latinos (see Table 2). In of Latinos as a group.
other words, only 1.49 percent (23 stories
total) of all magazine stories published by • Of 509 Newsweek news stories, 7 (1.4
these magazines in 2005 featured Latinos in a percent) were predominantly about
significant way. Considering Latinos now Latinos and 2 (0.4 percent) were inclusive
make up over 14 percent of the nation’s of Latinos as a group.
population, this number is very disheartening.
• Of 382 news stories in U.S. News & World
The majority of stories predominantly about Report, 4 (1.0 percent) were
Latinos focused on immigration, but both Time predominantly about Latinos and none
and Newsweek also included other stories such were inclusive of Latinos as a group.
as the historic win of Antonio Villaraigosa in the
Los Angeles mayoral race. It is discouraging to see that there was only a
combined total of 18 stories (out of over
Stories that were inclusive of Latinos included 1,500) that predominantly featured this
the community within the story in a significant community. Latinos now comprise the largest
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and/or activist/advocates were also high on the devoted to arts and culture). The largest
list of Latinos appearing in the magazine’s number of Latino sources found in U.S. News
stories. Similarly, at the top of the source list were elected and non-elected
for Newsweek, were elected and non-elected political/government officials (see Table 5).
political officials, non-profit workers, and law Out of 49 Latinos appearing in this magazine,
enforcement personnel. 10, or 20.4 percent, were in this category.
U.S. News, which focuses solely on hard Journalistic practices — such as the necessity
news, did not feature any Latino artists or of including “credible” sources and the need
celebrities (with only 3.4 percent of its stories to rely on easily accessible quotes to meet
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deadlines — often lead news organizations to Time, 66 (62.3 percent) were found in these
an over-reliance on official sources. This pattern stories. For Newsweek, the figure was 136
holds true in analyzing Latino coverage. out of 174 (78.2 percent) and for U.S. News,
the figure was 39 out of 49 (79.6 percent).
In all three magazines, the majority of Latinos
appeared in stories that were not This pattern has both a positive and negative
predominantly about Latinos, but referenced interpretation. On one end, it is encouraging
them in some way. Out of 106 Latinos in to see that in two of the magazines, close to
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80 percent of the Latinos appearing in their “referencing” Latinos usually included a very
stories were found in stories that went superficial mention of the individual. In most
beyond Latino contexts. In other words, cases, Latinos were not interviewed as
Latinos were not pigeonholed in sources, but instead, were merely mentioned
predominantly Latino stories — they were by name, with no other significant
seen elsewhere in stories dealing with more involvement. So, although Latinos often
“mainstream” topics. On the other end, appeared in these stories, their involvement
stories that were in this category of was not significant.
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The qualitative analysis involved multiple • “Stalking the Day Laborers: Border-
readings of all stories that were patrolling Minutemen turn inland in their
predominantly about Latinos or included fight against illegal immigrants”
Latinos as a group in some way. The goal (December 5, 2005)
was to gain an understanding of the
underlying themes, patterns and context of • “Playing Both Sides of the Fence: The
Latino representations. president will try to end a year of mishaps
with a victory on immigration reform”
In both
STORIES PREDOMINANTLY (December 5, 2005)
Time and ABOUT LATINOS
Time and Newsweek each published seven A close reading of the four immigration-
Newsweek, related predominantly Latino stories revealed
stories that predominantly focused on
four of their Latinos. U.S. News published four. What that Latino immigrants were frequently
were these Latino-focused stories about? positioned as a “problem,” “disruption,” or
seven stories “menace” to communities around the
Significantly, a majority of the predominantly
nation. For example, the story “Serving Up a
(each) Latino stories in all three news magazines
concerned Latino immigration. In both Time Conflict: Raucous volleyball games pits new
concerned and Newsweek, four of their seven stories immigrants against old neighbors in a New
(each) concerned immigration. All four of the England town,” showed how Latino
immigration. immigrants’ “raucous” pastime disturbed a
U.S. News stories about Latinos involved
immigration. The following section presents a quintessentially quiet, tranquil, sophisticated
detailed analysis of these immigration stories and prosperous New England town.
in more detail.
The story about college tuition focused on
TIME STORIES ON the debate concerning whether
IMMIGRATION undocumented immigrants should be
allowed to qualify for in-state college tuition
Immigration is an increasingly hot-button
rates. This debate pits in-state legal residents
political and social issue in the U.S. The
against immigrant residents. The debate
headlines of the four immigration stories
raises fundamental questions about the U.S.
published by Time magazine highlight some
ideal of broad popular access to education.
of the controversies involved:
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and migrants and their employers is • “Crossing Over: Bush’s Other Battle. He
inevitable in places where migrants gather Hopes His Guest-Worker Plan Will Fill Jobs
looking for work, although violence has yet and Build the Party. But is the GOP
to occur. onboard?” (February 7, 2005)
The story about President Bush’s immigration • “The Most Dangerous Gang in America:
reform plans underscores the political crisis They’re a violent force in 33 states and
surrounding immigration and highlights the counting. Inside the battle to police Mara
American public’s stance on the issue. The Salvatrucha” (March 28, 2005)
article also discusses President Bush’s attempt
to gain political advantage through his • “The New Face of Witness Protection: A The story
immigration reform initiatives. Changing Demographic Strains a Storied
about
Program” (May 2, 2005)
In general, stories about immigration President
communicated that Latino immigrants were a • “A New Spice in the Gumbo: Will Latino
negative force in American society. They were Day Laborers Locating in New Orleans
Bush’s
represented as disruptive to American Change its Complexion” (December 5, immigration
communities and traditional ways of life. They 2005)
were positioned primarily as outsiders and as reform plans
a problem and threat. What was most It is significant to note that two of Newsweek’s
underscores
remarkable was the inclusion of only one stories were crime-related, perpetuating the
unskilled day laborer as a source (see Table 3) stereotype of Latinos as dangerous and the political
in the sum total of Time immigration stories. criminal. Although the crime-related stories
In fact, there were only a total of two present a serious social concern, Newsweek’s
crisis
unskilled laborers (the category in which tendency to neglect stories about Latinos in surrounding
undocumented migrant workers would other walks of life evokes an unbalanced view
typically be included) mentioned during the of Latinos in American society. immigration
entire year’s worth of news coverage.
and
Furthermore, there were no businesspersons One story described the increasing violence
as employers of the migrant workers who perpetrated by mostly Salvadoran and Central highlights
were interviewed on the subject of American immigrant members of the Mara
immigration.1 Thus, the immigration stories Salvatrucha gang. About a month later, another
the American
presented an unbalanced view of immigration predominantly Latino crime-related story also public’s
issues — mostly from the perspective of those referenced Mara Salvatrucha gang activities.
who feel threatened by immigrants. This time, the story focused on the new stance on the
difficulties faced by the FBI in providing
issue.
protection for younger, Latino/a gang-
NEWSWEEK STORIES ON members-turned-informants as part of its
IMMIGRATION witness protection program. This story projects
Similar to the results found in the Time younger Latinos as a new challenge to law
magazine stories, four out of the seven enforcement, requiring law enforcement
predominantly Latino Newsweek stories were agencies to change their traditional approaches.
about immigrants and immigration. They were:
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The other two stories focusing on Latino service workers or activists; and, one was a
immigration are predominantly about Latinos criminal. It is clear that there is not a wide
as laborers. Similar to the political story in range of Latino sources in varying
Time, Newsweek featured a Latino occupations and status being consulted.
immigration story highlighting Bush’s
proposed guest worker plan as a solution to
the problem of immigration and his own U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT
political problems. STORIES ON IMMIGRATION
The stories predominantly about Latino found
Another story on Latino laborers showed in U.S. News were all about immigration.
Remarkably, evidence of similar themes found in Time. Unlike the Latino stories in Time and
This story showed how American
there were Newsweek, which also included some stories
communities were irrevocably and about growing Latino power and influence in
only two fundamentally changing as a result of the society, U.S. News only presented stories
influx of Latino immigrants. Alluding to the associating Latinos with the problem of
unskilled prevalence of Latino day laborers migrating immigration. Following is a list of the
Latino to New Orleans to work following the immigration story headlines in U.S. News:
Hurricane Katrina disaster, the theme of the
laborers story is captured through its tongue-in-cheek • “Under the Sun: A new wave of
headline, “A New Spice in the Gumbo.”
quoted the immigrants is transforming communities
According to the story, longtime New Orleans nowhere near the border” (June 20, 2005)
entire year, residents were disturbed at the increasing
number of Latinos in the area. • “Local Labor Pains: America’s immigration
in a year of
debate lands on Main Street” (October
much Representations of Latinos in these Newsweek 24, 2005)
stories were primarily elected government
immigration officials (14) and non-elected officials (7) (see • “Special Report—Border Wars: The border
Table X). These sources comprised 62 percent
controversy. with Mexico leaks like a sieve. Why the
of all the sources featured in predominantly Feds can’t fix it” (COVER STORY)
Latino stories about immigration. Once again, (November 28, 2005)
noticeably missing in these stories about
immigration were migrant workers. • “Going After Illegal Aliens: Q&A: Michael
Remarkably, there were only two unskilled Chertoff: Getting tough on illegal
Latino laborers quoted the entire year, in a immigrants” (November 28, 2005)
year of much immigration controversy.
Similar to the other magazines, the themes
Besides official sources, the other types of of out-of-control immigration and new
Latino representations featured in all of the immigrants transforming and fundamentally
predominantly Latino stories (regardless of altering America’s “main street” and
whether it was about immigration or not) “communities nowhere near the border” were
came from only four other categories: three evident in these stories. Two stories about the
were artists/entertainer/celebrities; three were increase of immigrants in places where large-
businesspersons; four were non-profit/social scale immigration had not traditionally been
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an issue highlighted the unease, loss, and fear The Time cover story, in particular, was
experienced by longtime residents as a result exceedingly positive in its portrayal of
of Latino immigration. successful Latinos in various fields. There
were nine artists/entertainers; five non-
Unlike Time and Newsweek, U.S. News did profit/social service workers and activists;
not cite any Latino elected or non-elected three elected politicians; three business
political officials. Instead, four Latinos (all persons/entrepreneurs; two communications
border law enforcement personnel) were professionals; one medical/health
included in the border wars story. Three professional; one architect; and one
unskilled Latino laborers and non-profit/social appointed government official.2 The other
service workers were included in the two stories focused on the growing influence In general,
remaining stories. Overall, ten Latino sources of Latinos in power profiling Antonio
the stories
were used in the four predominantly Latino- Villaraigosa’s victorious election as L.A. Mayor
focused stories. In general, the stories and Governor Bill Richardson, whom the presented a
presented a one-sided negative impact of journalist cited as having the potential to
immigration on the nation and in specific “become the first Latino President.”
one-sided
communities. For example, in the Q&A piece negative
with Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Each of these stories was considerably more
Chertoff, only one source is used, thus positive and included a broader impact of
limiting alternative perspectives on the issue. representation of Latinos as successful
immigration
politicians, artists/entertainers, and
businesspersons than did the Latinos-as-poor- on the
TIME MAGAZINE’S NON- migrant-workers stories. And, it is noteworthy
IMMIGRATION STORIES that the story profiling the top 25 Hispanics in
nation and
While four predominantly Latino stories America was a cover story, the ultimate in specific
appearing in Time painted an unbalanced and confirmation of a magazine story’s
newsworthiness and importance. However, communities.
stereotypical representation of Latinos as an
immigrant problem population, there were when put into the context of an entire year’s
three additional predominantly Latino-focused worth of coverage, it is lamentable that such
stories that were more positive in nature. They successful Latino individuals were not very
included stories with the following headlines: evident outside of these few Latino-focused
stories. For example, outside of the three
• “Charming the Angels: L.A. elects Latino businesspersons profiled in the top 25
Antonio Villaraigosa as its first Latino Hispanics story, there were only two
mayor in 133 years. But can he fix the additional Latino businesspersons cited
traffic?” (May 30, 2005) throughout the rest of the year’s coverage.
Such is the case with many other less visible
• “The 25 Most Influential Hispanics in professions such as educators and
America” (COVER STORY) (August 22, medical/health professionals, among others
2005) (see Table 3).
• “10 questions: New Mexico’s Bill Beyond the low numbers, however, it is
Richardson” (December 12, 2005) troubling to see that, in general, instances of
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Latino inclusion tended to be framed in terms Once again, one story described Antonio
of two opposite ends of the spectrum - either Villaraigosa as a strong contender in the Los
as super-successful leaders and entertainers or Angeles mayoral race, followed a few
as migrant workers threatening America’s months later by a cover story about his
communities and traditions. This results in a victory. In addition to discussing Villaraigosa’s
number of negative consequences for the victory, the cover story elaborates on how
Latino population in the nation. The overall Latino voters, as well as Latino politicians and
coverage implies that poor, struggling Latinos hopefuls, are becoming major players on the
have no excuse for not succeeding in a culture national and local political scene.
that has, to some degree, made Latino success
A New stories more visible. On the other hand, the Of note, though, is the tone of the headline
preponderance of Latino stories about — “A Latin Power Surge. A New Mayor in
Mayor in
immigration suggests that the majority of L.A. A Decisive Showing in 2004. Latinos are
L.A. A Latinos are poor migrant workers and that Making their Mark on Politics as Never
successful Latino individuals are the exception Before. Get Used to It.” This headline reflects
Decisive to the rule. Clearly missing are representations a warning statement and an almost reluctant
Showing in of Latinos that do not fall on opposite ends of acceptance of this fundamental change in
the spectrum — average, middle-class, 2nd or American politics. The prevalent theme in this
2004. 3rd generation Latinos who are quiet news story is that Latinos are irrevocably
contributors to American society. changing American society in fundamental
Latinos are
ways and “the rest of us,” or “we,” as the
Making their headline stated, must get used to it. This
NEWSWEEK’S NON- indicates that the target audience of the
Mark on IMMIGRATION STORIES magazine is a non-Latino audience that has
Politics as While the majority of Newsweek’s stories to “get used to” the growing influence of
were also about immigration, the magazine Latino power. Latinos would not need to
Never “get used to” their community’s success.
featured three predominantly Latino-focused
Before. stories about the increasing power and
influence of Latinos in politics. These stories Finally, the only predominantly Latino story
were: related to arts and culture in any of the news
magazines concerned the pairing of black
• “Won’t Get Fooled Again: Villaraigosa actors with primarily Latina actresses rather
seeks vengeance in L.A.’s Mayoral than, and almost to the exclusion of, black
Rematch” (March 21, 2005) actresses. The headline was: “Why Can’t a
Black Actress Play the Girlfriend?”
• “A Latin Power Surge. A New Mayor in Unfortunately, the story mainly presents the
L.A. A Decisive Showing in 2004. Latinos problem as one of African-American actresses
are Making their Mark on Politics as Never versus Latina actresses. There are clearly more
Before. Get Used to It.” (COVER STORY) complex race relations at play in the movie
(May 30, 2005) industry dynamic, such as how receptive, or
not, white audiences would be to mainstream
• “Why Can’t a Black Actress Play the movie pairings of two African-Americans or
Girlfriend?” (March 14, 2005) two Latinos, but these issues are not addressed.
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USE OF DEROGATORY TERMS - criminalizes the person rather than the action
LATINOS AS “ILLEGALS” s/he is purported to have committed and
Unfortunately, when analyzing stories that recommends using the term undocumented
were predominantly and inclusively about workers or undocumented immigrants.
Latinos, the use of derogatory labels was
evident. Time and Newsweek primarily used
the phrase illegal immigrants when describing
CONCLUSION
Latino migrants, although Time used the term This 2005 study serves as a benchmark
“illegal aliens” once in the story about in- assessing Latino-related coverage in U.S.
state college tuition. Time also used that term news magazines. To date, there have been
Although
when citing sources who used it. no comprehensive year-long content analyses
Latino migrant on this subject. This benchmark will be a
Most egregiously, however, U.S. News used particularly useful way to track Latino
workers the nouns “illegals” and “illegal aliens” representation in the future, especially as
seemed to prominently in stories that were immigration from Latin America has become
predominantly about Latino immigrants. In an increasingly controversial political issue in
be the main the story about immigrants transforming 2006.
inland communities, the term “illegals” was
focus of the
used in the subheading “Where the Illegals There were several major findings and
predominantly Are,” which went on to describe where themes revealed in this study that should give
Latino communities can be found. journalists a starting point from which they
Latino stories, Furthermore, such derogatory labels were can begin reflecting upon the importance of
few Latino used in the headline featuring an interview changing the ways in which Latinos are
with Michael Chertoff, Secretary of the U.S. covered in the future.
laborers or Department of Homeland Security. The
profile was titled: “Going After Illegal • The number of Latino sources was low
those who
Aliens.” In sum, U.S. News used the phrase and the diversity of sources used was
employed “illegal aliens” six times in the stories that limited. Although Latino migrant workers
were predominantly about Latinos, “illegals” seemed to be the main focus of the
them were two times and the phrase “some illegals” predominantly Latino stories, few Latino
quoted. once. laborers or those who employed them
were quoted. Mostly elected and non-
Labeling various ethnic and minority groups elected political and government officials
with derogatory phrases serves to stereotype, were cited. The lack of alternative sources
demean and de-humanize individuals. In the of information is a trend that is not unlike
case of the Latino community, The National mainstream news coverage in which
Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ) has officials are quoted more often than non-
encouraged journalists not to use pejorative official sources or less powerful sources.
terms to describe immigrants. A prominent
derogatory term is the use of the word • For every cover story focusing on
“illegals” as a noun, shorthand for “illegal successful Latino artists and celebrities,
aliens.” NAHJ states that not only is it many more stories depicted Latinos as
grammatically incorrect, but the term poor, illegal, desperate migrant workers
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invading the U.S. border and communities that mainstream Americans should be on
nationwide. The status quo, traditions and guard and monitor the growing influence
long-held ways of life in American of Latino political power.
communities were seen as irrevocably and
fundamentally threatened as a result of • Despite attempts to raise awareness of
Latino immigration. Only a handful of the problematic nature of calling humans
news magazine stories (out of more than “illegals,” such phrases persist in news
1500 in 2005) represented Latinos magazines.
inclusively as an integral part of American
communities, both changing and being • Stories about U.S. immigration and
changed by U.S. culture and society. Very immigrants rarely feature nationals Only a
few stories incorporated Latinos in outside of Latin America.
handful of
broader issues and everyday concerns
outside of immigration issues and stories Overall, the news magazines’ coverage of news
about prominent, highly successful Latinos in 2005 was predominantly about
Latinos. Latino migrants portrayed as a problem for
magazine
U.S. politics, culture, and society in general. stories (out
• The stories about super-achieving Such narrowly focused stereotypical
Latinos/as in various professions served as representations of the Latino community of more than
a sharp contrast to the stories about poor, make it difficult for the society to see the
1500 in
illegal migrants. As is often the case broader array of Latino roles and
regarding minority groups, the contributions in American communities. 2005)
representations seem to fall at the end of Sadly, such representations may often make
two extremes. Latinos were either it difficult for Latinos to also see themselves
represented
positioned as a problem/threat, or as the beyond these one-dimensional depictions. Latinos
successful exception/role model of their
community, even the success of Latinos in By incorporating Latino concerns and Latino inclusively as
politics was often represented with sources within a broader range of topics and
an integral
ambivalence and danger. And yet, the roles, journalists may be able to slowly
majority of Latinos do not fall into either construct a more productive debate not only part of
camp. Indeed, the majority of the about immigration and the roles of Latinos in
coverage did not represent Latinos as society, but also about what it means to be
American
average Americans leading mainstream American. communities
lives. It also suggests that Latinos are only
newsworthy when they are doing
something that marks them as unique.
LIMITATIONS AND FUTURE
As long as these news practices persist,
RESEARCH
Latinos cannot be incorporated as full
citizens in U.S. society. This study was designed to answer some
basic questions about topics, sources and
• In some ways, even the success of Latinos prevalence of Latino coverage in leading U.S.
in the political realm is represented with news magazines. As with any study, there are
ambivalence. The subtle message suggests some limitations. Most notably is the use of a
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U.S. Census Bureau list of top Hispanic writers at these magazines, either as authors
surnames as a way to identify Latinos in the of Latino or non-Latino stories.
stories. Counting individuals as Latino based
on a Hispanic surname and no other explicit Finally, since the analysis of news magazine
Latino identification can raise questions coverage in 2005 indicated a growing Latino
about the criteria for being Latino. political power, it would be important to
trace the coverage of Latino political leaders
Another limitation was restricting stories to in the future to see how they and their
only main feature stories listed in the table of policies are depicted.
contents of the magazine. While this
Much insight captured the majority of news coverage
found in each issue, it does exclude portions METHOD
could also be
of the magazine that could have featured Using Content Analysis
gained from Latinos including weekly news round-ups, Content analysis studies systematically,
quotes-of-the-week sections, as well as quantitatively and objectively measure the
coding news columnists and editorials. characteristics of content such as news
magazine magazine stories. The approach requires
As the influence of Latinos in the U.S. selecting the characteristics of a text that
sources’ continues to grow, it is even more important interest the researcher and determining how
to conduct further research to assess the role
positions on to identify and count them. For this study,
of the news media and its representations of this involved coding and counting the stories
various the largest minority in the U.S. today. in the news magazines for the following
Latino- variables: story topics, the Latino focus of a
As mentioned, this study provides a story, and the number and types of Latino
related benchmark of data about Latino coverage in sources quoted or individuals mentioned.
news magazines. The year 2006 is turning out
issues. to be a landmark year for a follow-up study of Counting Stories
Latinos considering the large-scale protests, Before coding for the topic of the story, it
massive policy attention, and presidential was necessary to define what constituted a
statements on the matter. While future studies “story” for the purposes of this study.
of news magazines should count and analyze Stories, as defined in this study, were those
the number of Latino sources and other that were listed as main feature stories in the
aspects of the copy, it would also be news magazines’ table of contents. Main
important to analyze the visual aspects of feature stories in news magazines’ table of
these types of stories, especially the cover contents pages are typically bolded. The
stories representing Latino immigration issues. news magazines’ round-up sections on
Much insight could also be gained from people/celebrities were included as a way to
coding news magazine sources’ positions on assess the reporting on Latino artists,
various Latino-related issues. entertainers and other prominent figures.
This included, for example, Time’s “People,”
Another point of interest for future research “10 Questions,” and “Milestones” sections;
would be an examination of the bylines of Newsweek’s “Newsmakers” section; and
these articles to see the makeup of Latino U.S. News’ “Q&A” section.
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Items in the news magazines that were not 2. Arts & Culture/Celebrities &
counted as “stories” included: round-up Entertainment
sections of news blurbs or quotes, consumer- Stories in this topic category could
oriented tidbits on health, tech gadgets, include reviews or discussions of books,
travel; editorials; opinion columns; and letters television programs, movies, music, and
to the editor. Furthermore, stories with a popular culture phenomena, among
predominantly non-U.S. or foreign focus others.
(e.g., stories about the tsunami in Southeast 3. Health, Science, Medicine, Environment
Asia or civil war in Sudan) were excluded 4. Business/Economy
since this study’s purpose was to analyze the 5. Sports
national representation of Latinos. However, 6. Education After
stories that involved U.S. government actions 7. Technology
obtaining
and foreign policy were counted. A cover 8. Calamities
story, which features multiple related sub- Stories in this topic category may include hard copies
stories with various sub-headings, was stories about natural disasters or major
counted as one story. catastrophes caused by humans.
of Time,
9. Crime Newsweek
After obtaining hard copies of Time, 10. Human Interest/Demographic &
Newsweek and U.S. News & World Report at Lifestyle and U.S.
the local public library, researchers analyzed Stories in this topic category may feature
News &
each weekly issue published in 2005. To stories about teens, baby boomers,
ensure reliability, a coding guide describing changing U.S. demographics, Americans’ World
the variables to be counted and coded was busy lifestyles, among others.
constructed. Three coders were trained to 11. Religion
Report at the
use the coding guide. The three coders read local public
all the main feature stories (see method for Determining Latino Focus
how stories were defined) found in each Four categories were created to measure the library,
weekly issue of each magazine. Thus, the degree to which a news story focused on
researchers
entire population of stories for the year 2005 Latinos. Stories were coded into the four
were examined. mutually exclusive categories: those analyzed
predominantly about the Latino community
Coding Story Topics and/or about individual Latinos/as; those that
each weekly
Stories were assigned to the following significantly include Latinos as a groups; issue
mutually exclusive topics: those that reference Latinos as sources or
1. National/Regional Politics & Social Issues figures and those that include the Latino published in
Stories in this topic category could community or any individual Latinos/as.
2005.
include those concerning national
security, electoral politics, immigration 1. Predominantly about the Latino
policies, as well as stories about national community and/or about individual
or regional social issues, conflicts or Latinos/as
controversies including race relations,
debates about poverty and abortion, The story prominently and centrally
among others. features Latinos as a group or a Latino.
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NAHJ is governed by an 18-member board of directors that consists of executive officers and
regional directors who represent geographic areas of the United States and the Caribbean. The
national office is located in the National Press Building in Washington, DC. NAHJ has 2,300
members, including working journalists, journalism students, other media-related professionals
and academic scholars.
NAHJ is continually adding to its list of exciting programs and services. They include:
• National convention and career expo
• Mid-career and professional development programs
• The Parity Project, which concentrates efforts in target cities to increase the presence and
influence of Hispanics in newsrooms
• Online career and referral services
• Scholarships and student journalism workshops and internships
• Regional workshops and seminars
• Journalism awards for excellence and leadership
• Internship and fellowship opportunities
For further information about NAHJ, please contact the national office at 1-888-346-NAHJ or
via email at nahj@nahj.org. NAHJ welcomes your support and participation. The future of our
association lies in the efforts and achievements of our members.
Magazine Report.QXD 6/8/06 11:19 AM Page 26
202.662.7145 p
202.662.7144 f
nahj@nahj.org
www.nahj.org