Primary Investigator:  

Frances Negrón-Muntaner, Columbia University

Partnering Organization: 

National Association of Latino Independent Producers (NALIP)

Despite occasional high-profile successes, traditional Latino advocacy strategies around representation and employment in the media sector appear to have hit a plateau. By some measures,  there were more Latinos on television and in films between 1950-1960, relative to the population, than in 2007.   And although the Latino population has grown nearly threefold since the 1960s, Latinos still hold the same small percentage of television and film industry jobs.  Studios, networks, and other broadcasters continue to express reservations about the merit of Latino advocacy demands around these and other longstanding issues.

Through this project, the  National Association of Latino Independent Producers (NALIP) and professor Frances Negrón-Muntaner (Columbia University’s Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race - CSER) will develop a more concrete account of these efforts and the larger dilemma they signal.  Will the gap between population and representation continue to grow, or can new advocacy strategies contribute to changing media policies and ensuring that Latinos are fairly represented in front of, and behind, the camera?

The major component of this work is an examination of Latino media advocacy efforts from the 1960s to the present, with a particular emphasis on the 2000-2008 period. Through the assessment, the collaborative research will measure the successes and failures of Latino advocacy in transforming mainstream media practices by gauging changes in the key demands made by advocates, such as diversity in staffing of creative positions, employment of key Latino decision makers, and the quantity and quality of representations of Latinos.  Moreover, the project will analyze and compare existing discourse on the relationship between Latinos and the media and produce resources that can be used by advocates,communities, and media-makers in critical social justice discussions and policy-making. 

The project also aims to create new tools for Latinos to engage with media institutions and effect social change. The results of the study will be used numerous ways, for example, in the context of a summit of the Latino Media Issues Forum -- a strategic group of Latino and diversity advocacy leaders who represent major constituencies; in public forums to discuss the findings in the three top markets (Los Angeles, New York, and Miami); in a forum at NALIP’s 10th anniversary conference in April 2009 to announce/discuss results with the community of over 750 attendees; in trainings to discuss how to use the research and to build new leadership in key national advocacy organizational gatherings; and in conversations with executives at key network and studios, to discuss implications of the results.