Where are Latinos in the English media

A comprehensive study by the University of Columbia upheld the marginal presence of Latinos in the media U

.S. English speakers, despite being the fastest growing population in the country. 

Although the Latino population grew 43 percent between 2000 and 2013, reaching 17 percent of the total population, the Latino Media The Gap Project: The State of Latinos in U.S. Partial conducted by the Centre for Ethnic Studies Columbia and Race (CSER) in collaboration with the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts (NHFA) and the National Association of Latino Independent Producers, found that decreased participation of Latinos in the media compared to previous decades. 

During the fifties of last century, when the Latino population was just 2.8 percent of the U.S., 3.9 percent of the leading roles in film and television were played by Latinos. However, in 2013 there were no Latino actor or actress playing a main character in the top 10 grossing films and 10 television shows most watched. 

The closest thing to a Latino lead role is currently the character played by Sofia Vergara in Modern Family, but the contract is not a main role. The character of Vergara, who plays a housewife from Colombia, is an example of what the authors of the report called "Latina with sexy accent," to illustrate one of the labels that are typecast actors and Latino actresses. 

The study, which combined multiple indicators and statistics, shows how the media construct a representation of English-speaking Latinos differed from reality, which becomes apparent when data from the United States Census taken into account. For example, the media represent Latinos just as artists but these constitute about 9 percent among creative professionals in the country. 

Thus, when Latinos depicted on the screen, often embody stereotyped roles. Between 2012 and 2013, about 18 percent of Latinos in film characters and 24 percent on television were linked to the crime, which represents an alarming increase compared to 6 percent of the characters in 1994. Moreover, the most common role assumed Latinos in television drama productions is the police. (36.6 percent). 

The report notes that this "confinement of Latinos in stories about crime ultimately produces limited to represent and understand lens" to this population, "the good Latin" or "Latin evil." 

"Latinos are consistently represented without much differentiation and the result is extremely limited," said the actor Esai Morales researchers, co-founder and actor NHFA Criminal Minds series. "I call the four H Hollywood: distributions and Latinos make overly hormonal, hysterical, hostile or humble characters. Too often, it is assumed to be more a condiment in history that center a figure. And that has to change, "he added. 

The situation for Latina actresses is not promising. While getting more roles than their male counterparts-the 67 percent of Latinos secondary characters are women-these vary little. A fact that illustrates this: 69 percent of all domestic servant roles are acted by Latinas. When Latina actresses reach the top ten films, play characters in fantasy stories (Zoe Saldana in Avatar) or animated (Cameron Diaz at Shrek Forever After). Moreover, the success of actresses like Diaz has had to do with that is rarely identified as Latino. 

Research note an increase of actors and actresses Afro-Latinos, but many of the roles they play are not Latinos, but African Americans, increasing their employment opportunities within the industry. 

The situation is not better in TV news in English. Stories about Latinos make up less than 1 percent percent of the news coverage and in most of them they appear to violate the law. Behind the Scene, Latino participation is particularly low. According to data from 2013, there were no drivers or Latino producers in any of the most watched news programs in the country in English. 

Although the Latino presence in the film is a bit higher than on television, Frances Negrón Muntaner, lead study author and director of CSER, indicated that the difference has to do with the global nature of the film industry, which captures the Latin American talent. 

"That explains, for example, the success of Alfonso Cuarón, who can work to a global audience. But in the case of national chains, managers are reluctant to bring in someone from outside or television in Spanish that does not have experience with production for the audience in English, "he added. 

The low number of Latinos in the English media contrasts with the profile of the consumer, is young Latino audience, buying a quarter of all cinema tickets and has a power consumption that exceeds one trillion dollars. To put the figures in perspective, the report's authors point out that "if Latinos will found a nation, its economy would be the fourteenth in the world." 

"The scale of the exclusion of Latinos in the media is amazing," said Negrón-Muntaner. "It would be like removing the references to the state of California, with 38 million inhabitants, of our mass culture.