Who is this audience anyway?

How we in public media see the Hispanic viewer and listener deserves examination.

Public media has long dreamed of appealing to Latino/a/e/x audiences. For years, Hispanic audience development has been the subject of debate. In some cases, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and other entities have funded projects. And then there are the countless public television and radio engagement experiments.

The start of 2022 feels like the right time to look at demographic trends. Knowing the movements can help us to be successful.

ICYMI

You’ve likely read the brochure already about the Hispanic demographic boom.

Today, the Census Bureau estimates 19 percent of the nation is of Hispanic origin. That is around 62.1 million Americans. 📈 In 2010, Hispanics were 16.4 percent of the population.

Also, some areas of the nation have figures that are more pronounced. Axios looked at what Hispanic population expansion has meant in specific regions. East Coast, Deep South and Midwest cities are higher than the national average.

Given the Trump Admin’s efforts to rig the Census, Latino/a/e/x population numbers may in truth be higher. 🔢

Some 2021 research and a new Nielsen study present new thinking about Latino/a/e/x audiences. Please amble through the findings for what speaks to you. Five categories of interest in the data, and beyond, for me:

• Language trends

• Intermarriage and Latinidad

• Youth’s rise

• Mobile and digital adoption

• Latino/a/e/x identity

Language trends

English usage among Latino/a/e/x communities increased significantly over less than 20 years. 🕬 English’s rise corresponds with assimilation and the decline in immigration. Its effect is stunning. In 2016, the Los Angeles Times reported on how growing numbers of second- and third-generation Hispanic kids are, in fact, monolingual English speakers.

🚨 A few more statistics are noteworthy. 🚨

• In the top 25 cities, Spanish usage is in decline.

• Even among undocumented immigrants, English is now more used than ever before.

• While immigration itself is decreasing, Asians outnumber Hispanics among new immigrants today.

I don’t intend to dwell on Spanish here as the be-all of Hispanic life. It isn’t. Nor is this siding with public media leaders who quietly suggest Spanish is unimportant. How language and cultural issues fit into our vision needs excavation. ⛏️

Intermarriage influence

Family molds identity and culture. 👪 Statistically, parents in mixed-race marriages are less likely to use Spanish with their kids. And, given college-educated, middle-class Latinos are far more likely than Anglos or Black people to intermarry, this cultural wave is worth noting. Also of interest, more young Latino/a/e/x people label themselves as multiracial, and not Hispanic.

On background. KQED did a segment on mixed-race kids that is worth hearing.

If the Latino/a/e/x growth numbers looked impressive, consider the rise of multiracial children. In 2010, nine million Americans were classified as multiracial. In 2020, that figure was 33.8 million. This is a 276 percent increase. ⬆️ Are we thinking of this when we speak about the Latino/a/e/x experience?

Youth and content

The Census has reflected how young the Latino/a/e/x community is today. According to Nielsen, almost 60 percent are under 34. Now, the bad news. 💩 Nielsen says 55 percent feel streaming services offer content most relevant to their identity. Awesome if you’re Netflix. Maybe less awesome if one is not watching such trends in content. Or if one isn’t considering the cultural lives of those under 34. 😮

My point is not to shut out our loyal audience in favor of one who may not care for us. 👉🏾 But public media should be thinking about Latino/a/e/x youth and how we engage.

Mobile strategy

Latino/a/e/x communities are on smartphones a lot. Scarborough Research found Hispanics are on mobile more than other Americans. Pew backed this up.

💡 For public media, relevance and understanding where people are looms large. Attracting diverse audiences is also a conversation about platform. What are you providing as a mobile-first experience? Is content presented with that audience in mind?

Identity: complicada

Finally, the complexity of the boom is the thing. 👓 The Pew Research Center observed as much in September. This is a big topic given the upcoming elections.

Geography, generation, class and acculturation shape Hispanics' embrace of a Latino identity. These matters are important for public media when considering outreach.

Zoom in. Public media should examine local Latino/a/e/x population growth and some of the dimensions above to shape their strategy. 👈🏾

Similar strife in Asian America is probed by Jay Caspian Kang in his book, The Loneliest Americans. 📙 National differences and income inequality, he argues, has made ethnic solidarity difficult. The late Noel Ignatiev traversed related themes in his 1995 work, How the Irish Became White, to some debate. Kang has similarly sparked controversy over his analysis. Yet the issues are worth discussing.

What we’ve tried

Public media has attempted many things to serve these audiences. ✨ What common initiatives have you heard of? Off the top of my head:

• Increased coverage of immigration

• Spanish/bilingual programming

• Translating content into Spanish

• Translating social media into Spanish

• Job postings with NAHJ to find staff

I do not know what is missing on this list. What do you think? What is working? What’s not? Comment or hit reply. 📨

La próxima ⌛

The next OIGO is in your inbox Feb. 18. 📥 Samantha Guzman, executive editor at Decibel from Austin PBS, joins us. Guzman and her team have been doing deep listening. Their longform journalism centers itself in communities for prolonged periods. The results are stunning. Next OIGO, Guzman shares her story and how the work comes together.

Your interview recommendations and article leads are welcome. You’ve offered many good ideas. Please keep them coming. 💪🏽

-- Ernesto

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Cafecito: stories to discuss ☕

• Stations rely on Nielsen for audience numbers. But a lack of Portable People Meter wearables may impact their delivery. 👀 One can expect Scarborough data might also be affected. Scarborough is where public media gets its demographics breakdowns. AllAccess has more.

• Southern Idaho community licensee KBWE, known as Voz Latina, made news with its health programming. 🏥 The show is hosted by a clinic manager, who volunteers at the station.

• Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX with the National Security Archive have just released After Ayotzinapa, a three-part series for which Adonde Media is developing a Spanish language version. 🔊 It tells the story of 43 students who disappeared following a police assault and the families' quest for justice. Of note, the program includes Omar Gómez Trejo, the man tapped to prosecute the crime.

• Conservative Latino/a/e/x talk radio is an enigma to some. Alex Perez deftly uses its specter to come for tropes of the Hispanic community, including around misinformation. 🧐 Anti-Communist, hard right radio, Perez points out, is a very old story. How patriotism has morphed, been mischaracterized, and is crossing generations bears notice.

• Felicidades a Valeria Fernández. 🥳 She was recently chosen as an Emerson Collective fellow. Out of the fellowship, she is launching Altavoz Lab, a program to train and support Latino/a/e/x reporters.

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El radar: try this 📡

• Look into curanderismo in town. 🧪 Depending on where you grew up, curanderas y curanderos were community institutions. These neighborhood first-responders had everything from homemade medical treatments to faith healing at their disposal to fix up whatever bothered you – from back pain to broken hearts. Texas Public Radio’s Fronteras last week did a two-part series (1, 2) on curanderismo and its place in Hispanic culture. The photos are old and folksy, but curanderas are very much around and active today. This might be an interesting story to tell.

• Ask about local Internet access gaps. 🖥️ Speaking of Decibel, the team rolled out a report Jan. 24 on this topic. In Del Valle, a heavily Latino small town not far from Austin, Internet speeds are low to almost nonexistent. “It’s really shocking that we’re so close to a tech hub and that we’re having to come sit outside a library just to be able to do basic internet stuff,” says one source.

• Consider adding gender to fact checks. ☑️ In Ecuador, female fact-checkers say combatting stereotypes that promote violence against women is crucial to getting to the truth. The nation's debate over abortion rights has offered avenues to debunk common myths. The Knight Center has details.

• See how Latino/a/e/x employees are faring. ⚕️ The Medill study on the emotional effects of the pandemic on journalists is getting coverage. But, the demographic sample demands review. 87 percent of respondents are white, and only about four percent are Hispanic. Considering health disparities, investigating this topic is important.

• Find your station’s “origin stories.” 💬 Carlos Cabrera-Lomelí, a reporter/producer at KQED and KQED en Español is among those profiled in Origin Stories. This project allows people to share the effect public media has had on them, and how they found their way. The station is accepting submissions until Feb. 25. The best stories may get a visual representation (comics!).

Gracias a tu apoyo. This newsletter continues to grow with your help.