African-Americans and Latinos make up about 60%
of Chicago's population. This research looks at how these groups
view local TV news coverage of their communities. A random telephone
survey of 340 blacks and bilingual Latinos reveals that only 35%
think their race or ethnic group is accurately portrayed on local
TV news. They rate local news as "good" in general, but say it
does only a "fair" job of covering their ethnic community. The
most common complaint, brought up by more than half the blacks
and nearly one-third of the Latinos is that TV news focuses on
the bad things in their community and rarely reports the good.
African-Americans are three times more likely than Latinos to
say local TV news hurts race relations in the city, though the
largest number said it makes no difference. The two groups watch
about the same amount of local TV news, averaging 5.6 days a week.
African-Americans are significantly more likely than Latinos to
have a favorite anchor and show a strong preference for black
anchors. While 80% of the Latinos surveyed also watch Spanish-language
local TV news, they watch it less often than English-language
stations.
Cynthia C. Linton, Medill
School of Journalism, Northwestern University
Robert K. LeBailly, Medill School of Journalism,
Northwestern University
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