Numbers, Narratives, and Nation: Media Representations of U.S. Latino Population Growth, 2000 and 2010

• In Event: 023 - Regular Session. Latino/as

Abstract

Increasing racial and ethnic diversity in the United States, driven in recent decades predominantly by Latina/os, is a major demographic trend occurring in the last half-century. Many people learn about U.S. Latino population growth and change from mainstream media outlets’ depictions of demographic trends. This study investigates how newspaper reporters writing for one highly-circulated English-language newspaper, the Los Angeles Times, describe and frame statistics about Latinos collected in the 2000 and 2010 censuses. Three theoretical frameworks, the sociology of quantification, the Latino Threat Narrative, and color-blind racism, are used to interpret the media coverage. Analyses of 173 L.A. Times articles suggest that journalists are engaging in rhetoric consistent with all three perspectives. For example, in line with the sociology of quantification perspective, statistics are used to rank order diverse racial/ethnic groups into hierarchies based on population size and, at times, disparities among groups are explained as arising from solely quantitative differences rather than historicized and much more complex sources of inequality. Consistent with the Latino Threat Narrative, reporters characterize Latino population dynamics using charged metaphors, highlighting the dislocating impacts of Latino growth on other groups, and emphasize themes of conflict and competition. Following the color-blind racism ideology, reporters and their sources often minimize the existence of race and racism, render invisible institutionalized racial discrimination involving White actors and institutions, and suggest that Americans have become color-blind. Given recent research linking media representations with attitudes, these representations have implications for Latinos and non-Latinos alike.

Author

• Eileen Diaz McConnell, Arizona State University