Horowitz’s new study, “FOCUS Latinx Volume 3: Social, Cultural, and Political Shifts” revealed that climate change (67%) and racism against people of color (65%) are the issues Hispanic/Latinx Americans of voting age are most concerned about. They also are worried about the state of our democracy, expressing concern about the U.S. becoming more authoritarian (61%), the breakdown of the checks and balances system (59%), and the impact of corporate America’s financial influence on politics (57%).
Importantly, Hispanic/Latinx Americans are also concerned about bias in the news and the news media’s role in the spread of information and disinformation to the American electorate. Two in three (64%) Hispanic/Latinx Americans of voting age say they are concerned about the media’s ability to shape perceptions and opinions, and three in four (73%) agree that it is “important to hear different voices and perspectives… so they can form their own opinions about things.” However, the majority also feel that there are “very few sources of unbiased news and information anymore” (65%), and they want to see accountability in this regard: Two in three (63%) do not believe that mainstream news is doing enough to fight disinformation and fake news, and fully 3 in 4 (74%) think news organizations should be held accountable when they spread misinformation.
Despite concerns about mainstream media’s efforts to provide truly unbiased coverage of current events and news, TV news and other mainstream sources continue to be an important source of information among Hispanic/Latinx Americans, though certainly not the only one. About half (51%) frequently use TV news to get information on current events (about on par with the total market); the same percent (51%) frequently use a combination of social media, online media outlets, and blogs to get that kind of information. However, while most (68%) younger Hispanic/Latinx consumers (ages 18-34) use social and digital platforms for the latest news and information (higher than their older counterparts), they are much less likely to rely on TV news.
The Horowitz study findings suggest that representation in the news media is an important way for news organizations to gain the trust and loyalty of Hispanic/Latinx audiences. A majority – 62% of Hispanic/Latinx consumers – believe it is important for news organizations to hire journalists who represent the cultural and ethnic people in the communities they cover, but a smaller percent (51%) agree that the news on TV is currently doing a good job representing the diversity of their communities, underscoring the continued need for media organizations to consider diversity and representation when hiring journalists and on-air talent. Also, less than half of Hispanic/Latinx consumers believe that the news on TV gives equal coverage to positive and negative stories about their communities, pointing to the need to consider implicit biases in the way stories about communities of color are covered by mainstream news outlets.
“Hispanic Heritage Month is all about celebrating the incredible contributions Hispanic/Latinx Americans have made to the United States on all fronts: Culturally, socially, politically, economically, in business, in our military, in popular culture, and overall, in helping shape the fabric of the United States of America for hundreds of years ,” noted Adriana Waterston, EVP and Insights & Strategy Lead, Horowitz Research, a division of M/A/R/C Research. “It is also a time for corporations, the media, and those in positions of political influence to consider how they are stepping up to address the ongoing and ever-evolving needs and concerns of Hispanic/Latinx Americans, whose political, cultural, and economic influence will only continue to grow.”
“The news media in particular has some important work to do to better serve the needs of Latinx and other diverse audiences,” added Nuria Riera, Horowitz’s EVP of Research. “This is why we developed our proprietary JADE™ Score (Journalism Audit for Diversity and Equity), a completely unique and innovative audit tool to measure the quantity and caliber of on-air diversity and give guidance to news teams on how to improve when it comes to representation and inclusion,” she concluded.