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Introduction
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Population Picture | Content
Analysis | Audience | Ownership
and Economics | Alternative
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Charts & Tables
Audience
By the Project for Excellence in Journalism
As mentioned at the beginning of this chapter, getting hard
numbers concerning the audiences of ethnic news outlets is
difficult. Many are run by small, locally owned companies,
and the populations they serve are often language-specific
and small. The 2000 Census, for instance, found there were
11.8 million Asian Americans living in the United States,
seemingly enough to spawn a language-based advertising or
publication group that might gather data. But when you break
that population into its constituent language groups, the
numbers don't sound quite so dramatic. The single largest
group of Asian Americans in that number was Chinese-Americans
with 2.7 million people. Spread across the U.S. and divided
into the many dialects of Chinese, the number seems a lot
smaller. And an Asian American as counted by the Census may
have been here for a year or thirty years, and may have limited
English or speak the language as well as or better than the
average American. For such reasons, much of the data concerning
ethnic-news audiences tend to be anecdotal and scattered.
As we noted last year, the one exception to this general rule
is the Spanish-language media, which have become a more organized
entity as the Spanish-speaking population of the U.S. has
risen dramatically in the past twenty years. The fact that
so many different nations speak Spanish means immigrants from
many different countries look to these media for information
- not to mention the fact that one of the nations that borders
the U.S. speaks Spanish.
In this section will we look at the audience numbers available
- national figures and more anecdotal numbers - but also look
at why various ethnicities use ethnic media outlets. We will
examine which media ethnic populations say they turn to for
different kinds of news and when and how often they say they
turn to English-language outlets.
As other media see audience declines, the ethnic media appear
to be bucking the trend. Even though hard figures are elusive,
it seems clear from available data and trends that the numbers
here are growing.
Spanish-Language Audience Numbers
The one group of ethnic outlets for which there is large-scale
national information is the Spanish-language media. In the
past few decades the Hispanic population has grown so much
that its media have reached something of a critical mass.
And with the growth have come the kinds of things mainstream
media organizations have working for them: bigger ownership
and ways to buy and sell advertisements on a larger scale
than much of the other ethnic media. Those things have, in
turn, led to data collection on the Spanish-language audience.
The numbers, as we discussed in last year's report, are almost
uniformly up and that trend appeared to be continuing, especially
in the print media.
According to the Latino Print Network, the number of Spanish-language
newspapers grew again in 2003, up to 666 overall, 40 of which
were dailies. That's up from 652 total and 35 dailies in 2002.
And all of that comes at a time when English-language print
outlets are struggling.
Not surprisingly circulation also grew in 2003, according
to the Latino Print Network, with overall and daily-paper
figures showing solid increases. Overall circulation grew
to 17.5 million, up 7.7% from 16.2 million in 2002. Among
dailies, circulation climbed 6.4% to 1.8 million from 1.7
million in 2002.
Those figures sound almost too good to be true, and to some
degree they may be. Some experts note that even adding together
the circulations of the three largest Spanish-language dailies
- La Opinion, El Diario/La Prenza and New York's Hoy - the
combined circulation is only about 225,000.
Of the 40 dailies for which the Latino Print Network collects
data, only 14 have their number audited. The same is true
for only 76 of the 304 weeklies represented in these numbers,
and for only 8 of the 322 papers that publish less than once
a week.
And it's impossible to discuss these papers without at least
mentioning how the circulation scandals that hit the newspaper
industry struck a major player in the Spanish-language press.
Hoy, published by the Tribune Company, was found to be vastly
exaggerating its circulation. Between September 1999 and September
2003, the paper claimed circulation increases that took it
from under 40,000 to over 90,000.
But an investigation by its competitor El Diario and the Audit
Bureau of Circulations found that the paper was not properly
reporting copies that were not sold. Unread papers were in
some cases found in bulk in city garbage bins.
Still, looking at the sheer number of Spanish-language newspapers,
it is hard to argue that they're not doing well. The fact
that new papers, and new dailies, are being launched so often
suggests that people believe there is plenty of audience to
be tapped. And the way ownership in this market is changing
- involving the entry of bigger companies with deeper pockets
-it's clear that major players see not just increasing growth
but also growth potential in this audience.
In Spanish-language television, the figures for audience are
less dramatic and more anecdotal, but no less indicative of
growth. In particular Univision, the biggest network, reported
some important milestones in 2004.
Univision is now the fifth-largest network in the U.S.,
and its news programs often attract more viewers than Fox
News or CNN. The July sweeps in 2004 showed a flurry of good
news for the network. Univision's stations in Los Angeles,
Houston, Dallas, Phoenix, Fresno and Bakersfield all overtook
even their English-language competitors in prime time among
adults 18-49 to finish first over all. The network's early
evening local news in Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami, Houston,
Dallas (tie), San Francisco (tie), Fresno, Phoenix and Bakersfield
all finished atop the ratings heap among adults 18-34. And
in Los Angeles, Miami, Phoenix and Fresno, Univision's early
evening local news broadcasts averaged more 18-49 year-olds
than the local ABC, CBS and NBC broadcasts combined.
There are, of course, some reasons for those numbers beyond
population growth. There simply aren't as many program choices
for Spanish speakers as there are for those who speak English,
so Spanish-speaking viewers are pushed toward Hispanic television.
But the growth is nonetheless impressive and suggests that
those audiences have not peaked yet.
And 2004-2005 estimated numbers from Nielsen reveal just how
large the potential audiences are. The "Spanish Dominant"
number is a subset of the "Hispanic" number.
| Market Name |
Total TV Households |
Hispanic HH |
Spanish Dominant HH* |
| New York |
7,355,710 |
1,206,336 |
621,263 |
| Los Angeles |
5,431,140 |
1,716,240 |
830,660 |
| Chicago |
3,417,330 |
434,000 |
200,074 |
| San Francisco |
2,359,870 |
332,741 |
137,755 |
| Dallas |
2,292,760 |
389,769 |
198,392 |
| Houston |
1,902,810 |
454,771 |
220,018 |
| Phoenix |
1,596,950 |
293,838 |
133,402 |
| Miami |
1,496,810 |
603,214 |
378,818 |
| Denver |
1,401,760 |
194,844 |
78,522 |
| Sacramento |
1,315,030 |
220,925 |
83,509 |
| San Diego |
1,025,730 |
216,429 |
90,034 |
| San Antonio |
748,950 |
348,261 |
89,851 |
| Albuquerque |
649,680 |
222,840 |
47,091 |
| Austin |
567,870 |
120,388 |
44,062 |
| Fresno |
527,770 |
203,719 |
80,265 |
| Tucson |
417,070 |
109,272 |
37,371 |
| Harlingen |
312,300 |
256,710 |
119,113 |
| El Paso |
288,440 |
207,388 |
88,969 |
| Corpus Christi |
193,290 |
100,897 |
17,757 |
Estimates as of January 1, 2005, and used throughout the
2004-2005 television season, which started on October 2, 2005.
* Homes where only Spanish or mostly Spanish is spoken, using
all Persons 2 years or older in the home.
With those numbers in mind one can only wonder how long it
will be before others enter the Spanish-language television
market. Right now Univision, an independent company, and Telemundo,
owned by NBC, dominate it. We'll discuss that more in the
Economics/Ownership section.
Other Ethnic Audience Numbers
Beyond the Spanish-language media, reliable figures are harder
to gather. Television and radio stations are so small they
are not normally the subjects of audits or data collection.
The print outlets are almost never audited. In New York, the
Independent Press Association does publish self-reported numbers
from publications in the city, and even time trends, but those
numbers cover only one city and there is no real way to vouch
for the figures that the IPA is given. Even Hoy, the Tribune-owned
Spanish-language daily that actually had Audit Bureau-certified
circulation numbers, turned out to be inflating its figures
by tens of thousands.
Still, the IPA's director, Abby Scher, writes in her study
of the New York ethnic press, "One City, Many Voices,"
that the growth is hard to miss:
"The press in almost all of these [fastest-growing ethnic]
communities has grown. The number of Polish and Russian language
newspapers is easily a third greater than a decade ago, and
the circulation of the Chinese language dailies has steadily
grown to a combined circulation of half a million from about
170,000 in 1990. The Indian community, which had one newspaper
25 years ago, now has at least eight with a combined circulation
212,300. On the right newsstand, you will find a Jamaican
(Weekly Gleaner or Weekly Star), Guyanese (Guyana Monitor),
Dominican (El Nacional), four Filipino, and an Ecuadoran (Ecuador
News) newspaper written and published in the metropolitan
area. Unnoticed by outsiders, the African press of New York
has grown astronomically to five magazines and three newspapers."
Along with those figures there are the numbers from the Editor
and Publisher Yearbook, which lists 134 ethnic weeklies.
But getting national numbers on, say, the Pakistani press
or the Vietnamese press is still not likely to be easy for
the foreseeable future.
There are some signs that the ethnic presses are getting more
interested in gathering reliable data on themselves. Along
with the Spanish-language media, the black press, one of the
longest-surviving ethnic media in the U.S., is undergoing
a large-scale audit by an organization in Chicago called the
Ethnic Print Media Group (EPMG). It will include 90 papers
in 65 markets across 27 states, according to the company.
The audit will include readership studies of individual markets
and data from interviews with more than 13,000 African Americans.
Final results of the study are to be released in the spring
of 2005 and will be included in our report next year.
Ethnic Audiences' Media Preferences
Perhaps more interesting than the growth of the ethnic audience
is how the many and various ethnic groups use the media outlets
at their disposal. Here again there are no hard-and-fast data
showing which groups choose which outlets and for what reasons.
Looking at the available information on ethnic groups in California
from 2004, though, it appears that some Spanish-speakers there
prefer their broadcast media in their native language more
than people of other ethnicities do. This supports findings
from 2003, based on a slightly different question.
Language Preferred for Local TV News, Various Ethnicities
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Survey of 1,845 Californians
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Language Preferred for Talk Radio, Various Ethnicities
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Survey of 1,845 Californians
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In 2004, 78% of California Latinos said they preferred to
get their television news in their native language, compared
to 46% for Asians and Middle Easterners. The numbers for talk
radio were similar - 71% "native language" for Latinos,
44% for Asians and Middle Easterners. But the numbers are
not too surprising. California has large numbers of Spanish-speakers
and, not coincidentally, many Hispanic media outlets, particularly
television and radio. It stands to reason the "foreign
language" responses to the question would be higher for
Latinos; it's a matter of availability. The number of options
for Hindi or Farsi speakers, for example, is much more limited;
it's logical that Asian and Middle Eastern groups would necessarily
have to rely more heavily on English-language outlets. But
something interesting happens when one changes the question
to ask about newspapers.
Language Preferred for Newspapers, Various Ethnicities
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Survey of 1,845 Californians
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For newspapers, the "English" preference goes much
higher for the Latinos questioned - the numbers are almost
reversed from the TV and radio questions. The numbers for
Asians and Middle Easterners on newspapers look almost unchanged
from their percentages on the TV and radio questions.
The question is why Latinos so heavily prefer Spanish for
television but choose English for print news? It may be that
many Latinos are proficient in both languages and simply find
that the spoken word is more comforting to hear in Spanish.
It may be that newspapers, which can be read at one's own
speed, are easier for new English-speakers to follow than
TV or radio, where language can fly by. It may be that Spanish-speakers
prefer English-language newspapers as a way to learn the language.
And finally there is the fact that Spanish-language newspapers
are not readily available even for most California Latinos.
Whatever the reason, the numbers, interestingly, even out
between ethnic groups when the question is asked about the
Internet, a medium that combines the delivery systems of print
and broadcast.
Language Preferred for the Internet, Various Ethnicities
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A Survey of 1,845 Californians
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The findings on Internet use are particularly interesting
because the medium allows users to essentially tap into news
outlets from around the world in native tongues and dialects.
Immigrants from distant homelands can read news from other
continents without the filter of western editors. Yet it doesn't
seem that this pattern for the Internet is being mined to
its full potential.
There may be several explanations for why the Internet is
predominantly used as an English-language medium. One possible
factor is economic. Many immigrants are still new to the country
and may not yet be able to afford Internet connections, particularly
the high-speed connections needed to download graphic-heavy
pages. Another is cultural. Some immigrants may not have extensive
experience on the Web and may not yet be comfortable navigating
their way around it. It is also possible that immigrants who
have always read a newspaper or listened to the radio simply
aren't interested in reading words on a computer screen.
A Note on Latino Media Use
Data show that the media preferences of the fast-growing
Latino segment of the population shift dramatically over time.
A survey of 1,316 Latinos by the Pew Hispanic Center found
that the percentage who prefer Spanish-language media drops
from 38% among first-generation (foreign-born) Americans to
only 3% by the second generation. By the third generation,
the number is down to 2%. The number of Latinos who prefer
getting their media in both languages drops less sharply,
though, from 50% among the first-generation to 43% among second-generation.
And even in the third generation 25% of American Latinos prefer
their media in both languages. Over all, the appeal of the
Spanish-language media appears to be somewhat limited, or
at least a short-term phenomenon. But those second- and third-generation
Latinos who were surveyed came of age in time when there were
more limited Spanish-language media offerings.
Following Political News
As the California recall campaign rolled along in 2003, USC's
Annenberg Institute, The Pew Hispanic Center and New California
Media, a nationwide association of over 700 ethnic media organizations,
surveyed registered voters in different ethnic groups to see
where they were going for their campaign news.
Media Preferred for Elections and Voting Information,
Various Ethnicities
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Survey of 1,608 Californians
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Black respondents chose local TV far more than any other group
for election news - 45% of respondents. The next-highest local
TV group was Hispanics at 38%. Over all, local TV was the
number one answer across ethnic groups.
Asian respondents turned to national broadcast TV much more
than any other group, with 25% saying they relied on those
networks' news teams - that number was nine percentage points
higher than any other group. Asians also were less likely
to turn to newspapers than other groups - only 8% of Asians
polled said they relied on newspapers, and the other groups
all wound up at 15 or 16%. How applicable those findings are
to a national election is not known.
Summary
Despite the lack of solid numbers, some amount of growth
among the ethnic media audience in the U.S. seems clear. The
self-reported numbers for Spanish-language newspapers show
steady increases, as do some of the audited figures for Spanish-language
papers like La Opinion in Los Angeles, which saw a 1.1% increase
in circulation in the beginning of 2004. And on television,
Spanish-language broadcasts, particularly on Univision, had
a banner year in 2004.
But there may be some troubling signs ahead, particularly
in the Hispanic press. Some figures show that while Spanish-speakers
prefer TV and radio in their native language, their choice
in print is English-language sources. What's more, as competition
is growing among Spanish-language print outlets, some newspapers
are actually seeing a flattening of circulation or even declines.
Miami's El Nuevo Herald saw flat circulation numbers in the
beginning of 2004 compared to the year before, and El Diario/LaPrensa
in New York actually witnessed a 4.9% decline to 50,019 in
circulation.
Across town, El Diario's competition, Hoy, is nowhere near
as healthy as its stratospheric circulation numbers initially
suggested. In the circulation scandal, which also hit Newsday
- both papers are owned by the Tribune Company - Hoy reportedly
threw extra copies of the paper into dumpsters to reduce return-copy
numbers. The final adjusted audits show Hoy with a daily New
York circulation of 49,681,
numbers that put it in the same league as El Diario, but far
below what Hoy had suggested its numbers were. What's more,
Tribune, which once saw Hoy as a brand it could sell in the
three largest U.S. cities - New York, Chicago and Los Angeles
- has backed off its large-scale plans somewhat. Hoy is still
available in all three cities, but is sold only in New York.
Elsewhere it is given away.
Other ethnic media in the country, meanwhile, continue to
be difficult to measure. The evidence of growth among them
is anecdotal - hampered by dispersed audiences and small owners
that have trouble attracting larger-scale advertising.
Click
here to view footnotes for this section.
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