Looking at Latino S In the Media Research Paper

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Latino's In The Media

Latinos make up a large portion of the population of the United States. According to Rodriguez (1997) the rapidly increasing population of Latinos accounts not only for 17% of the people in the U.S., but also 20% of the 18-34 demographics that are the focus of marketing. Thus, it is a key target group in marketing. This ethnic group's dedication to movies and radio has surpassed that of any other group in America, whether racial or ethnic (Meehan and Riordan, 2002). In terms of economic contribution, this group's buying power is expected to reach 1.6 trillion dollars by 2016, ranking it at number fourteen in the economies of the nations of the world, if it was a country on its own. Thus, they make up a large part of the economy. Nevertheless, as Disch (2009) and Robb (2014) state the rate of their participation in the media has been minimal, if at all. Their roles in front of the camera as well as being it, in every genre, have not grown proportionately with their growth in population. Disch (2009) and Robb (2014) studied the period 2000 to 2010 when the Latino population grew by 43%. In terms of character portrayals on the camera, Latinos have been confined to stereotypical roles as those involved in crime, overly sexualized roles, menial laborers and police.

Hollar (2012) states that Latinos are not just great media consumers, but also serious contributions. They have been known to create great content for films and television, and with the new digital age, they have made their contributions online as well. This group is very sensitive to how it is portrayed, actively and successfully campaigning against negative imagery, so that content that is seen as promoting sentiment against them is not released. Latinos are also very loyal in terms of consuming movies that feature their own and that have stories inspired by them. The ratings of such films are very high among this group of people (Zamorano 2014).

Unfortunately, when it comes to participation in widely consumed English language films, television and other media, Latinos are left behind. Hollar (2012) and Zamorano (2014) state astonishing facts when they reveal that the participation of Latinos in lead roles or even Latino storylines is lower than it was seventy years ago, a phenomenon that needs to be investigated. Monk-Turner, et.al (2010), gives statistics, from the 1940s and 1950s, to back up this claim. They state that in the 1950s, 1.7% of total leads and 1.3% of lead appearances were by Latinos, and this was when they only made up 2.8% of the population. Again, in the 40s when they were under 2% of the population, their lead roles were 2% of the biggest movies of the time and 0.9% lead appearances.

Given these facts, therefore, this paper seeks to evaluate the degree to which Latinos participate in media, whether mainstream or internet. The aim of this will be to identify the setbacks as well as the avenues open for the promotion of a level playing field for all in media. The paper will focus specifically on Latino participation in television, the roles played by Latinos on television as well as the barriers that they encounter when they seek to enter into media.

Literature Review

Montilla (2013) says that in terms of Latinos, male leads were significantly more than female lead roles in the 90s. However, this experienced a reversal, especially between 2010 and 2013. Of the top ten movie and television programs, there was no Latino male lead and in supporting roles, they only accounted for less than 3%. During the same period, however, 4.6% of leads were female/Latinos and of the television supporting roles they made up 9.5%. In terms of Latino supporting roles, the females made up 67% of all appearances.

In the year 2013, the Latinos who make up 17% of the U.S. population had no lead roles in what made up the top ten movies and scripted television shows. This group was made up of 50 million people in the U.S. at that time. When they made up 2.8% of the U.S. population, they had 3.9% of lead actor roles. At this same period of time, in the 1950s, they had 1.5% of all leading roles (Negron-Muntaner, et.al, 2014). They go on to note that with few exceptions, the mainstream English media has very low Latino participation.

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They contrast the environment today with that which existed 70 years ago, noting that the entertainment industry crafts fewer roles and less accommodative story lines, which thus have fewer lead actor roles. Thus, the inclusion of Latinos in these lead roles has been increasingly narrowed over the years as their population in the U.S. has increased (Negron-Muntaner, et.al, 2014).

There have been promises to increase the participation of minorities behind the camera by most networks (Deggans, 2005; Negron-Muntaner, et.al, 2014). This, they note has been seen in the efforts made to create jobs and executive roles that support diversity. However, the strategy has not been effective in making room for diversity in as far as creativity and leadership are concerned. The composition of Latinos in these roles was minimal at best. They made up 6% of writers, 2.3% of directors, and 2.2% of producers in the ten top ranking movies. When it came to top ten television show creators, no Latinos were accounted for. However, in these shows, they made up 4.1% of directors, 2% writers and 1.1% of the producers (Rob, 2014). These were statistics for the year 2010-2013. In addition to this poor representation, Latinos make up zero percent of the owners, chief executives, presidents or heads of studios and networks. As Negron-Muntaner, et.al (2014) state, in terms of all English language broadcasting, as well as in studios and their top 53 executives, only one Latina could be found.

The studies done by Deggans (2005) did not touch on the Univision and Telemundo, which are Spanish language broadcasters. In these broadcasters, those who are non-Hispanic make up about the same number as the Latinos in English media.

Stereotyping has been an issue raised by Negron-Muntaner, et.al (2014) and Montilla (2013) when they state that English language on media is keen on portraying Latinos in roles of criminals, law enforcers or menials. When comparing the statistics of 2012-2014 with those of 1994, Montilla (2013) states that 24.2% of television roles were linked to crime in 2012-2014 as compared to 6% in 1994. 69% of media maids are also Latinas, whether on television or movies.

Negron-Muntaner, et.al, (2014) notes that while the male leading roles have been disappearing, the female roles as well as Afro-Latino roles have been increasing. McKinley, et.al, (2014) highlight the low news coverage of Latinos, stating that they are given less than 1% news coverage and this is mostly with regard to crime. At the same time, Latinos as news anchors and executive producers were non-existent in the most highly rated news programs in 2013.

Statement of Argument/Thesis

In contrast with all this lack of inclusion, their purchasing power has increased so much that it is expected to reach $1.6 trillion by 2016. They watch more movies and listen to the radio more than any other group. They are more loyal to their programs, stories and actors than any other group, pushing ratings of movies featuring them to the top. They make up 17% of the U.S. population and significant marketing demographic (Negron-Muntaner, et.al, 2014).

However, the negative image of Latinos that has been propagated by the media leads to the negative perception of Latinos in the minds of others (Merskin, 2007; McKinley, 2014). This negative portrayal by the media not only affects Latinos, but immigrants as well. It has the power to increase stereotypical perceptions or decrease them. Latinos are viewed more positively by those who interact with them more closely. As Merskin (2007) and McKinley (2014) note, networks that carry negative entertainment promote negative views of Latinos and some of these are conservative radio as well as Fox News' audiences. Even audiences interviewed by the writers stated that the roles they knew Latinos to play were criminals, maids and gardeners.

Methodology

The survey was used as a research instrument in this research as it was qualitative. The participants who had been randomly selected comprised those at work, in school and at home. These participants had been contacted earlier and were sent emails for the purpose of the survey. The online survey had twelve participants. They answered pre-written questions designed to establish the stereotypes that existed regarding Latinos on television.

Findings

The participants were randomly selected and ranged from 15 to 65 years, atop being of different ethnicities. Most of the participants could only name three Latino.....

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