Ethnic media have commanded attention by capturing a growing and diverse audience, but its influence on politics and policy is still in its infancy, pollster Sergio Bendixen told a dozen academics and advocates at the opening of a recent two-day symposium hosted by Louisiana State University.
LSU’s Manship School of Mass Communication chose “The Influence of Ethnic Media on Politics and Participation” as the topic for this year’s John Breaux Symposium, held in New Orleans on the eve of the game-changing midterm elections. But, Bendixen said, “It should be potential influence.” Ethnic media’s “potential is unlimited but it has not been realized.”
We — Angie Chuang, assistant professor of journalism at American University School of Communication, and Kenny Irby, Poynter’s visual journalism senior faculty and director of diversity — were among the panelists who participated in the wide-ranging discussion about the past, present and future of ethnic media.
We compiled our top takeways from the two-day symposium to help all journalists understand this growing and critical media sector that represents the voices of those often overlooked by mainstream journalism.
For ethnic media, economic power does not equal political power. Much has been made of ethnic media’s record-high audience of 57 million and growing, as well as the earning power of corporations like Univision and Black Entertainment Television.
But general-audience media tend to look at ethnic media as a “one-way street,” said Félix Gutiérrez, professor of journalism and American Studies & Ethnicity at University of Southern California. They want to leverage ethnic media to sell their products to diverse audiences, “but it’s not a listening relationship.”
Ethnic-media journalists often do not cover major issues that affect their communities, such as the foreclosure crisis, because they do not have enough access to official sources, said Sandy Close, founder and executive of New America Media, the nation’s first and largest ethnic-media collaborative. “The biggest Achilles heel of ethnic media is politics and policy.”
Bloggers and social media may appear to be a threat to ethnic media, but ethnic and new media potentially fulfill the same role for their communities.
The emergence of younger-generation ethnic blogs like AngryAsianMan.com, Twitter feeds like @AnaRC (Ana Roca Castro) and websites like TheRoot.com challenge traditional definitions of ethnic media.
“Young people are looking for ways to self-express,” said Bill Imada, chairman and CEO of IW Group, a multicultural communications firm. The more-assimilated second, third and fourth generations of immigrant communities often don’t relate to first-generation media, which are based on the common experiences of the home language and fighting discrimination.
Yet panelists agreed that ultimately, the roles of legacy ethnic media and ethnic new media will merge. Ethnic newspapers and broadcast outlets can bring together the social-media “I” types and make them into a “We,” Close said.
That’s what ethnic media have always done, Gutiérrez said. “They are conveners.”
The new multicultural and multiracial generation of immigrants and people of color will transform ethnic media as we know it.
Historically, ethnic media have built advocacy and community around common negative experiences, such as the black press’ coverage of violence against civil rights protesters or Spanish-language media’s rallying against California Gov. Pete Wilson’s anti-immigrant policies in the 1990s.
The view was that “ethnic identity has a psychological and financial cost,” said Hayg Oshagan, associate professor of communications at Wayne State University in Detroit.
But young people of color see ethnicity as both “cool” and fluid, since so many of them are of multiple cultures and races. “This is a generation for whom identity is a choice,” Close said, “which is a total revelation.”
Ethnic media, which traditionally has been cut across more defined lines, will be challenged to speak to this new audience.
“In a multicultural society,” Gutiérrez said, “people pay attention to media that pay attention to them.”
Kenny Irby contributed to this report.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article misspelled the name of Félix Gutiérrez and misidentified Black Entertainment Television.
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