2004 Annual Report - Ethnic Media Audience

How do those ethnic groups use their native-language media? In summer of 2002, New California Media polled 1,000 adult Californians of various ethnicities - 300 Asians, 300 Middle Easterners, 200 Hispanics and 200 African Americans. The data, among the most extensive gathered in this area, provide an interesting look at which media various ethnic groups trust most and which have the biggest reach within each group.

The findings are twofold. First, all of the four ethnic groups examined here - African Americans, Asians, Hispanics and Middle Easterners - tend to trust English-language media outlets more than native-language ones. Hispanics are the most likely to find their native-tongue outlets trustworthier than English-language, though that is still the minority. Among Hispanics, 39 percent find the English-language media most credible while 23 percent say this of the Spanish-language media (38 percent did not answer). Among Asians and Middle Easterners, the gap is wider. Nearly 60 percent of Asians say English-language media are the most credible, while only 15 percent say this of the Asian. Similarly, more than four-in-ten Middle Easterners say they trust the English-language media the most, compared with just 15 percent who say this of news outlets in their own language.⁶ For all three ethnic categories, the number of those not answering is unusually high.

Which Media Are Most Credible, by Ethnic Group, 2002

Survey of 1,000 Californians*

Design Your Own Chart

New California Media/Bendixen & Associates, ’’Justice and Journalism,’’ survey, July/August 2002

*Question: Who do you think holds more credibility?

The higher trust among Hispanics may have something to do with the size and scale of Hispanic outlets. Farthest along of the native-language media in terms of development and size, these outlets may have more of a professional look and feel.

The second main finding concerned how much different ethnic groups turned to their native-language media. In every category Hispanics relied more heavily on their native-language media than the other groups. For instance, 41 percent of Hispanics read mostly the Spanish-language newspapers, compared with 30 percent of Asians who read newspapers mostly in their languages and 15 percent of Middle Easterners. A mere 5 percent of African Americans relied mostly on newspapers targeted at American blacks.⁷

Types of Newspapers Various Ethnic Groups Primarily Read, 2002

Survey of 1,000 Californians*

Design Your Own Chart

New California Media/Bendixen & Associates, ’’Justice and Journalism’’ survey July/August 2002

* Question: Which newspapers do you mostly read...?

It is also important to note that the other ethnicities are more likely than Hispanics to read both their native-language and an English-language newspaper. If the percent who read in their native tongue and those who read in both their native tongue and English are combined, the other ethnicities are closer in line with Hispanics - and Asians actually report a slightly higher percentage. Fully 56 percent of Asians read a newspaper in their native language or read both native-language and English newspapers. That is true for 53 percent of Spanish speakers.⁸

This reliance on ethnic media, however, varies by technology. In television and radio, Spanish-speaking audiences are by far the most likely to use native-language outlets, even when one adds in respondents who say they use both native-language and English outlets.

Language in Which Various Ethnic Groups Mostly Watch TV

Survey of 1,000 Californians*

Design Your Own Chart

New California Media/Bendixen & Associates, ’’Justice and Journalism’’ survey July/August 2002

* Question: Do you mostly watch television in ...?

Radio Stations Various Ethnic Groups Mostly Listen To, 2002

Survey of 1,000 Californians*

Design Your Own Chart

New California Media/Bendixen & Associates, ’’Justice and Journalism’’ survey July/August 2002

* Question: Do you mostly listen to English radio or native radio?

There are, of course, many possible reasons for this disparity. Hispanic audiences have more media aimed directly at them.⁹ In many areas, they have more than one newspaper to read in Spanish and two networks that broadcast only in Spanish. There is also the possibility that, particularly in border states, many of the respondents to the poll spent time in both the United States and Mexico and, without the need to learn English, they simply rely on Spanish media.

Whatever the reason though, one thing is clear: the Spanish-language media market is large and growing.