Political Coverage in U.S Hispanic publications

Getting over stereotypes

We have news: as opposed to popular opinion, the Hispanic voter is not swayed primarily by a political party’s position on immigration. Although this might be news for some, it is not news to the country’s major Hispanic media outlets. In a recent study carried out by BODENPR, analyses showed that the leading Hispanic media outlets in the country cover politics much like general market publications do: focusing on the main political hot buttons: healthcare, education, the war in Iraq. It is not only about immigration.

The analysis took two of the country’s leading Hispanic dailies: McClatchy’s El Nuevo Herald based in Miami, FL and Impremedia’s La Opinion, based in Los Angeles, California, and examined how each publication approached the topic of political reporting – who are their main sources? what are the most covered topics?

The results of the analyses are as follows:

• Political topics cover the gamut. As mentioned above, the Hispanic voter is not only concerned with immigration – and media coverage of political issues is proof of it. The largest stereotype that exists within the Hispanic voter community is that the main political button for a Hispanic voter is the topic of immigration. The Hispanic voter is an American and like all U.S citizens is concerned with education for their children, healthcare as well as immigration topics, since it affects certain family members in the U.S and those they would like to bring in from abroad.
• Wire services are key. As opposed to the leading general market publications which house large teams of political writers, Hispanic publications rely heavily on wire services such as the Associated Press, EFE and MCT. Some of the articles are written by English language reporters and translated (and are the same ones that run in other major U.S dailies) and some are written in Spanish. El Nuevo Herald sometimes translates articles written by The Miami Herald, their sister publication, only proving that the South Florida Hispanic voter is concerned with some of the same issues that the general market voter is concerned with – only they would like their news in Spanish. The same goes for La Opinion, which translates English-language articles written by AP for example (or pulls the Spanish language version from the wire).
• Local press contacts are essential. Nevertheless, if a political group is aiming at securing positive local coverage, it is key to reach out to local political reporters or local desks. Visits and local announcements from politicians are assigned to specific reporters and never pulled from wire services. Some of the examples included, during the political campaign, McCain’s visit to South Florida promoting the preservation of The Everglades and Obama’s visit to Miami to meet with a group of Cuban exiles.  

If you would like additional information on how to reach the U.S Hispanic press please contact Natalie Boden, natalie@bodenpr.com, 305.323.4800.