FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 13, 2013
CONTACT Inez Gonzalez igonzalez@www.nhmc.org (213) 718-0740
NHMC Insists That Cable News Include More Latino Guests
Pasadena, CA - Today the National Hispanic Media Coalition, NHMC, laments the pitifully low number of women, Latinos and other people of color appearing on evening cable news. A new report released today by the non-profit, Media Matters, finds that evening cable news guests are overwhelmingly white and male. According to the report, titled Diversity on Evening Cable News in 13 Charts, women, Latinos, and other people of color are sorely underrepresented as guests on evening cable news programs at MSNBC, CNN and Fox News. Media Matters examined the guests of thirteen evening cable news shows on CNN, MSNBC and Fox News during the month of April 2013. During that time period, only 33% of MSNBC guests, 29% Fox News guests and 24% CNN guests were female. Latinos fared much worse. Only 3% of Fox News guests and 2% of CNN and MSNBC guests were Latino. "This is unacceptable," stated NHMC's President and CEO, Alex Nogales. "At a time when Latinos are over 16% of the country, a growing bloc of the electorate, and with over $1 trillion per year of buying power, it is unimaginable that we be excluded from cable news at such rates. This has a real affect on our community - the way we are perceived is how we are treated, and when our experts are absent from these programs it gives the perception that Latinos are not making meaningful contributions to this country, which couldn't be further from the truth." Nogales added, "I have a long list of Latino experts in my pocket that run the gamut of subjects, be it education, health, safety, immigration, technology, law: you name it, and they are all ready for primetime. I challenge CNN, MSNBC and Fox News to start inviting these expert guests onto their programs at greater rates to turn these terrible numbers around." Just a few months ago NHMC released a national poll on the impact of media on opinions and attitudes toward Latinos. The poll confirmed that positive images of Latinos in media positively impacts non-Latinos beliefs and attitudes towards Latinos. Being absent on newscasts contributes to negative opinions regarding our community.###
About NHMC The National Hispanic Media Coalition is a non-partisan, non-profit, media advocacy and civil rights organization established in 1986 in Los Angeles, California. Its mission is to educate and influence media corporations on the importance of including U.S. Latinos at all levels of employment. It augments the pool of Latino talent with it s professional development programs. It challenges media that carelessly exploit negative Latino stereotypes. It scrutinizes and opines on media and telecommunications policy issues. Learn more athttps://www.nhmc.org. Receive real-time updates on Facebook and on twitter @NHMC.
