With the sheer number and spending power of the Hispanic/Latinx American population in the U.S., not to mention the importance of multicultural relations in society today—and not to mention the number of Hispanic/Latinx reporters in the country—it’s a bit pathetic that the sector’s media portrayal continues to be so disappointing.
But new research from Horowitz Research finds that more than 4 in 10 (43 percent) Hispanic/Latinx American consumers feel the news media does a poor or average job portraying their community, according to the latest FOCUS Latinx: State of Media, Entertainment & Tech: Consumer Engagement 2023 report from the firm.
A deeper look into the data by language preference reveals that English-oriented Latinx give lower ratings to the news media on how the Hispanic/Latinx and all communities of color are portrayed compared to their bilingual/bicultural and Spanish-dominant counterparts.
“Representation matters across the spectrum of Latinx audiences” said Adriana Waterston, EVP and Insights and Strategy Lead for Horowitz Research, in a news release.
“It is not a surprise that Spanish-language TV viewers give higher ratings to the news media on representation because a substantial portion of their news viewership is on Spanish-language news media,” Waterston said. “[But] the fact that English-oriented Latinx are the most critical of how they are represented in the news media underscore that mainstream news organizations still have work to do when it comes to onscreen inclusion.”
The report is available for purchase here.
The full FOCUS Latinx: State of Media, Entertainment & Tech: Consumer Engagement 2023 report explores different segments of Latinx consumers and their attitudes towards hot-button topics to help media companies, advertisers, advertising/marketing agencies, and PR companies make smart decisions about Latinx marketing and outreach. The survey was published in August 2023 among 606 Latinx adults 18+.
