Stereotypical representations of Hispanic and Latino Americans are often manifested in United States mass media, literature, theater and other creative expressions, with very real repercussions for the group in daily interactions and in current events.
In 2003, Serafín Méndez-Méndez and Diane Alverio of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists reported the following findings:[1]
- Latino-related stories make up less than 1% of all the stories that appear on network newscasts, even though Latinos make up more than 13% of the U.S. population.
- Crime, terrorism, poverty and welfare, and illegal immigration accounted for 66% of all network stories about Latinos in 2001.
- The arrest of suspected terrorist Jose Padilla, for allegedly plotting to detonate a "dirty bomb", occupied a central role in the coverage of Latinos in 2001, with 21 network stories or 18% of all stories that aired on Latinos.
- "The number of Latino-related crime and youth gang stories in 2002 was grossly excessive when compared to statistics on crimes involving Latinos."
- "Illegal immigration continues to be an important focus of network news coverage of Latinos."
EthnicMajority.com, a minority empowerment organization, states: "Who we see, hear, and read on television, radio, newspapers, and in movies has a great deal of influence on shaping the attitudes of all Americans. How African, Hispanic (Latino), and Asian Americans are portrayed in these mediums often stereotypes and reinforces negative images of each ethnic group."[2]
National media watch group Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR) points out that in contrast to the media's overrepresentation of minorities as criminals and druggies is their underrepresentation as experts and analysts. FAIR's studies in the late 1980s and early 1990s documented that 92% of Nightline's U.S. guests were white, 90% of the NewsHour's guests were white, and 26 out of 27 repeat commentators on National Public Radio over a four-month period were white.[3]
White U.S. Hispanics and Latinos are often overlooked in the U.S. mass media and in general American social perceptions, where being "Hispanic or Latino" is often incorrectly given a racial value, usually mixed-race, that is, mestizo, mulatto, or zambo.[4][5] Latinos in general are often depicted as all being part of one homogeneous cultural or ethnic group and/or having no defining characteristics; if a country of origin is specified, it is almost invariably either Mexico or Puerto Rico, regardless of whence the individual or group in question actually hails.
References
- ^ Serafín Méndez-Méndez; Diane Alverio (December, 2003). "Network Brownout 2003: The Portrayal of Latinos in Network Television News, 2002". National Association of Hispanic Journalists. http://www.nahj.org/NAHJbrownoutreport03.pdf. Retrieved 2008-06-04.
- ^ "Diversity in the Media and Entertainment Industries". EthnicMajority.com. http://www.ethnicmajority.com/media_home.htm. Retrieved 2008-06-04.
- ^ Cohen, Jeff (1999-10-01). "Racism and Mainstream Media". Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting. http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=2527. Retrieved 2008-06-04.
- ^ Richard Rodriguez. "A CULTURAL IDENTITY". http://www.pbs.org/newshour/essays/june97/rodriguez_6-18.html.
- ^ "Separated by a common language: The case of the white Hispanic". http://www.rawstory.com/exclusives/tryferis/hispanic.htm.
See also
- Ethnic stereotypes in pornography
- Hispanophobia
- Racial profiling
- Stereotype threat
- Colombia in Popular Culture
Further reading
- GalleryBlog on Latina/o Stereotypes. This blog serves as a constantly updated resource for Tex(t)-Mex, a University of Texas Press volume (2007)
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