Lack Of Latinos In Media? FCC To Launch Hispanic TV Viewing, Ownership Impact Study [VIDEO]

The FCC is launching and investigation into whether Amercia's growing Hispanic population is being accurately represented in both the ownership and programming of Television stations, as public interest groups continue to express concerns over a lack of diversity in the media and entertainment industries. According to the Federal Communications Commission press release today, the FCC "will conduct a study of the relationships among Hispanic television station ownership, Hispanic-oriented programming, and Hispanic television viewing." The study will focus on the impact of Hispanic-owned stations and Hispanic-oriented programming on the Hispanic population, the growth of Hispanic oriented programming as well as whether the current extent of Hispanic-owned stations and programming reflects the nature of the diverse American population. This study will be the Commission's first investigation into the nature of the Hispanic television market.

The FCC investigation comes on the back of a number of criticisms of a lack of Latino representation in the American television industry. As the FCC states, the 2012 Census demonstrated that 17 percent of the total US population, or 53 million people, are of Hispanic origin: this makes them the largest ethnic/racial minority in the country. Yet this does not correlate with current media representation statistics: in the last 30 years, Latinos have been represented in just 2% of network coverage. In its report in April this year, Aljazeera reported that, despite a rise in popular Hispanic figures in the media (i.e. Sofia Vergara, Pope Francis, Alfonso Cuaron), Latinos were vastly underrepresented across media outlets. University of California-Los Angeles Professor Otto Santa Ana demonstrated in his recent book that fewer than 1 percent of the evening news coverage on ABC, CBS, NBC focused on Latino stories. Of the nearly 50 anchors on CNN and MSNBC, only three are Hispanic.

Latinos are clearly becoming an important force on the country's political surface. In last year's election, 71% of Latinos voted for Barack Obama, while only 27% voted for Mitt Romney, the biggest support for a Democratic candidate in the last three elections. Moreover, Hispanic voters have increased by 26% in the last four years, bringing the total number of Latinos registered to vote to 24 million. It is unsurprising to learn, therefore, that the Republican National Committee spent just 1% of its $1 billion 2012 campaign budget on Hispanic voters. Clearly, Latinos are an ever increasing presence on the American social landscape: socially, culturally, politically, Latinos are a force to be reckoned with. Yet it seems that their representation in the media has not kept up with the expansion of the population. American media outlets, in television, magazines and newspapers, still have a startilingly small number of Hispanic journalists, while Latino-centred stories make up a minimal amount of news coverage. Clearly there is greater attention needed for the American media to accurately represent the heterogeneous nature of its society: hopefully this FCC study will demonstrate the deep necessity for change. Latinos are the new American powerhouse: their voices need to be heard.