Media Perception Gap: Latinx Dissatisfaction With News In The Spotlight

More than four in 10 (43%) Hispanic/Latinx American consumers said that the news media does a poor or average job portraying the Hispanic/Latinx community and with the number of Hispanic/Latinx reporters, according the latest Horowitz report FOCUS Latinx: State of Media, Entertainment & Tech: Consumer Engagement 2023.

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.

News Media Representation Matters

“Representation matters across the spectrum of Latinx audiences” notes Adriana Waterston, EVP and insights and strategy lead for Horowitz Research. “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. 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.”

In response to the need to provide news media organizations with the tools to improve the quantity and caliber of their on-air diversity, Horowitz Research developed the JADE Score (Journalism Audit for Diversity and Equity), a proprietary audit tool that provides guidance for local news station managers, news directors and journalists to shape their daily decisions around what stories are told on the news and how they are being told.

Methodology

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 among 606 Latinx adults 18+. Data have been weighted to ensure results are representative of the overall U.S. Latinx population. The report is available in total market, FOCUS Latinx, FOCUS Black and FOCUS Asian editions.

In September, Quirk’s Media – an industry provider of content, events and resources for marketing researchers – announced that Horowitz is a finalist for the Marketing Research and Insights Excellence Award in the Nonprofit/Social Enterprise Research category for its JADE Score.