A broad stereotype of Hispanics is that we are undocumented criminals who use and traffic drugs. This may have something to do with a “Brownout” in TV news programming. This is the name of a study of Latino coverage in TV news networks done by the National Association of Hispanic Journalists.
Wrap your mind around this one. Less than one percent of the news reports deals with Hispanic issues and most are you guessed it, immigration, crime, and drugs. Hispanic journalists make up only six percent of the broadcast media and four percent of newsprint.
Having worked in main media I can tell you that the shortage of Hispanics in this industry is not due to Hispanics preferring to work in other fields but that is another story.
Latinos have struggled to tell their story. One example of this is clashing with the award winning documentary writer producer Ken Burns. It took corporate donors to get Mr. Burs to change his mind about his “Brownout” of Hispanics in his documentary over World War II.
Latinos have changed America and America has changed Latinos. I will bring you parallel reports to Soledad O’ Brien’s Latino In America.
