Latin Looks

Images Of Latinas And Latinos In The U.s. Media

Clara E Rodriguez

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9780813327655
• eBook ISBN: 9780429978951
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Politics
• Index: Politics & International Relations

This book brings together a selection of the most analytically sophisticated writing on how Latinos have been portrayed in movies, television, and other U.S. media since the early years of the twentieth century and how images have changed over time in response to social and political change.

PART ONE

Latinos on Television and in the News: Absent or Misrepresented

The authors of the three chapters in this section—all excerpted from longer works—discuss Latino images in the news and television. These chapters have a dual focus: the lack of Latino representation and the misrepresentation of Latino events, characters, and culture. The National Council of La Raza (NCLR) in Chapter 1 and Lichter and Amundson in Chapter 3 use an empirical approach. Their work represents the most systematic, rigorous, and comprehensive examination of Latinos in the media to date. NCLR reviews research on the numbers of Latinos in the media and on their portrayals. Lichter and Amundson examine the portrayal of Hispanic characters on television over time, using the scientific method of content analysis. Their chapter concludes with an update covering the 1994–1995 season. Chapter 2, by Quiroga, is a first-person account, written in 1993 by a veteran Hispanic journalist in Boston, combining analyses of case studies and personal experiences. Together, the three chapters emphasize the impact of underrepresentation and negative portrayals on Latinos, on non-Latinos, and on public policy. Many of the findings discussed in these chapters parallel those in the subsequent section on Latinos and film.

“Not Enuf of It and It’s Mostly Bad—and Shrinking”

NCLR finds an all-too-familiar picture of underrepresentation and negative portrayals. NCLRs disturbing conclusions in Chapter 1 are that Latinos are almost invisible in both the entertainment and news media, leaving the nations second-largest minority “out of the picture.” Moreover, when Latinos do appear, they are consistently portrayed more negatively than other racial and ethnic groups. These two problems, underrepresentation and negative portrayals, have been persistent themes in films, in television, and in the news. Study after study reveals the chronic condition of Latino underrepresentation, but even more alarming is the finding that underrepresentation has worsened with time. Beginning with the examination by the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (the Kerner Commission, 1968) of television characters during the 1960s, Hispanics have consistendy been the least likely to appear in television entertainment programs. Moreover, the proportion of Hispanic characters has actually declined from 3 percent to 1 percent between the 1950s and the 1980s (NCLR, 1994:2). During this same period, the number and proportion of Hispanics in the United States increased dramatically, and the representation of African Americans on television increased substantially. The representation of African Americans fluctuated from season to season (from 6 percent to 16 percent), but Hispanics remained within 1 percent of the ten-season average each year. This lack of variation suggests that over the past thirty years, Latinos have been consistently underrepresented. Recent data indicate that despite greater numbers of Latinos in the United States, Latino representation on television has actually declined. Employment statistics from the Screen Actors Guild show a similarly dismal picture of severe and persistent underrepresentation (Screen Actors Guild, 1995).

This is a sad and unacceptable state of affairs. But it is not hopeless. After the Kerner Commission shamed Hollywood for ignoring African Americans, the movie and TV industries committed themselves to add more diversity and better reflect the social realities of the United States. These industries did change—a lot and fast. Although there were and still are problems in their depictions, as Lichter and Amundson chronicle in Chapter 3, African Americans began appearing in movies and on TV in increasing numbers and in better roles. Important progress has been made, showing how fast change can occur when the commitment is there. Now, as the twentieth century ends, Hollywood and TV need to review their commitment to diversity and include previously slighted and ignored groups.

A portion of the NCLR study not excerpted here documents an even lower representation of Hispanic characters on Saturday morning programs—a time slot that tends to be targeted to children. Here, too, there have been no major year-to-year fluctuations. The effect of this underrepresentation on Latino and non-Latino children has yet to be investigated, but UCLA psychologist Gordon Berrys review of research done on children suggests, “Childrens beliefs and feelings about [isolated] minority groups frequently are influenced by the way they are portrayed on television” (NCLR, 1994:19). Others have observed that Latino cartoon portrayals are among the most offensive representations of Hispanics on television (NCLR, 1994:7). These findings raise important questions about long-term effects. For example, does the relative invisibility of Latino characters or the negative portrayal of Latino characters affect the educational achievement or dropout rates of Hispanics? This is an important area for further research.

Hispanics and the News

As a recent article in the official publication of the Directors Guild of America indicated, the underrepresentation of women and other minorities has a net negative impact on the television and film industry: “Not only does this deny the industry the use of a host of strong creative talent, it also limits the ability to produce a good product. That in turn will ultimately cost the studios and networks money” (Petersen, 1995:16). Although Hispanics made up 9 percent of the total U.S. population in 1990, they only received 3 percent of roles (NCLR, 1994:3).

This same underrepresentation holds for Latinos in the news—both on and off camera. Latinos hold few “gatekeeper” positions in network news operations and they are underrepresented as correspondents and anchors. In a recent content analysis of news stories presented on three major broadcast television networks (ABC, CBS, and NBC) during 1995, researchers found that only 1 percent of the news stories focused on Latinos and issues related to Latinos. This is equivalent to 121 stories out of approximately 12,000 stories per year (Carveth and Alverio, 1996:2, 5).¹ Of these stories, the vast majority (85 percent) fell into four “problem” categories: crime (19 percent), immigration (21.5 percent), affirmative action (22.3 percent), and welfare (8 percent).² Moreover, in contrast to other issues, for which there may be a number of experts or network-paid consultants, “It was rare to see an expert on Hispanic issues” and when experts or commentators were employed, they tended to be “white state and federal government officials” (Carveth and Alverio, 1996:10). In addition—and also in contrast to coverage of other news stories—Latinos appeared on camera in only about half of the stories covering Latinos. Thus, in half of the stories about Latinos, Latinos were missing. These absences from network news led the study authors to conclude that Latinos are “symbolically annihilated” in network news (Carveth and Alverio, 1996:2). The significance of these findings is heightened by the fact that most Latinos receive their news from the English-language media.³

All three chapters in this section highlight how news coverage tends to present Latinos as “problem people.” Although rarely covered, when Hispanics are shown they are portrayed as having problems or being a problem (to Anglo society). (This applies to some other minority groups as well.) Latinos tend to be viewed in terms of the problems or difficulties they pose for Anglo society, and their own cultural activity and creativity are largely overlooked. During the 1970s, coverage often focused inordinate attention on the more bizarre or unusual elements of minority communities, such as gangs, illegal immigration, and interracial violence. Although these were undoubtedly legitimate stories, one might reasonably ask, where are the counterbalancing stories? Without stories to offset this pattern, the image that is projected is that “they” (Latinos) have problems and they present problems to others.⁴

The focus also tends to be on Latinos as “objects” not “subjects” of the news. Thus, commentary on Latino themes is generally provided by non-Hispanics. Latinos, who have an authoritative or legitimate perspective to share, are not included. Alternatively, persons with Hispanic surnames who share little with the Latino communities in thought, identification, or involvement are sometimes hired to represent essentially de-ethnicized points of view. Thus, we have, on the Public Broadcasting System, Linda Chavez and Richard Rodriguez. These are individuals who in their writings have made clear the distance they feel from Spanish-speaking communities, issues, and identities. They are also individuals whose views have been strongly criticized by many Hispanic organizations as not representative of most Hispanics.

The EfFects of Exclusion

On a more subtle level, the virtual absence of Latino “newsmakers” in broadcast news undermines the creditability and prestige of Hispanics seeking to influence public policy (NCLR, p. 24). This situation is aggravated by the media’s tendency to cite non-Hispanics more frequently even in news coverage of stories with predominantly Latino themes. The subtext then is, “Hispanic issues rarely matter and even when they do, Hispanics’ perspectives on these issues don’t matter much” (NCLR, p. 24). Yet, as Quiroga notes in Chapter 2, some of today’s most pressing national issues have a disproportionate impact on Hispanics, such as welfare reform, crime, national health insurance, job creation, substance abuse, immigration, and AIDS. Yet, “When the National press covers these issues Hispanics are seldom heard from. Their opinions are rarely sought” (NCLR, p. 24).

As Quiroga makes clear, this situation is also impractical. Given the large numbers of Hispanics in the United States, as a society we cannot afford to have newsrooms where no one speaks Spanish. Quiroga’s description of the Washington Post’s awkward handling of the 1991 Latino riots in Washington, D.C., underscores this.

The exclusion or invisibility of the Hispanic community in the media is well illustrated in Quiroga’s description of the coverage of the Rodney King incident. From the media coverage, as Quiroga puts it in Chapter 2, “Viewers would be pressed to describe the violence as something other than the rage of blacks against whites and Korean bystanders.” Yet, one of the four “White” officers charged was of Latino descent.⁵ In addition, according to Quiroga, Hispanics accounted for half of the 8,700 people arrested citywide during and after the riots; in fact, the Los Angeles Police Department arrested more Hispanics (4,307) than Blacks (3,083). Nineteen Hispanics also died during the civil disorders—just three short of the number of Black fatalities. Last, the Los Angeles mobs ravaged about as many Hispanic businesses as Korean-owned ones. Yet, the Rodney King incident was projected by the media to be (and is still generally recalled as) an essentially Black-White or Black-Asian American issue.⁶

Negative Portrayals and Stereotypes

Both the NCLR study and Lichter and Amundson document that those token Hispanic characters that do appear tend to be stick figures in secondary or stereotypical roles, with few lines and minimal contribution to the story plots. Moreover, Hispanic characters are portrayed more negatively than others. Common stereotypes are lazy and lower class, “failures,” “criminals,” “not to be taken seriously,” and devious and “untrustworthy.”⁷

The results of Lichter and Amundson s study are especially disquieting. This study is no haphazard, impressionistic view of Latino images. Its findings are based on considerable data and its methodology is scientific and sound. The authors conclude, “Hispanics are nearly invisible or confined to stereotypical roles” (Lichter and Amundson, 1994:8). This problem exists despite changes, such as cable, new program genre...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• List of Illustrations
• Introduction
• Part 1 Latinos on Television and in the News: Absent or Misrepresented
• Part 2 The Silver Screen: Stories and Stereotypes
• Part 3 Creating Alternative Images: “The Others” Present Themselves
• Part 4 Strategies for Change
• References
• About the Book and Editor
• About the Contributors
• Index