Methodology

This study by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism (PEJ) and Pew Hispanic Center (PHC) [1] analyzed news coverage of Hispanics during a six month time period, February 9 – August 9, 2009. The analysis is based on coding conducted as a part of PEJ’s weekly News Coverage Index (NCI). [2]

During this period, PEJ researchers coded 34,452 stories as a part of the NCI. These stories span across five media sectors, including newspapers, online, network TV, cable TV, and radio. The universe of stories was coded by a team made up of 17 trained coders, a coding administrator, and a senior research methodologist. Read the complete methodology of the NCI. [3]

In addition to the main variables that are a regular part of the NCI, we added variables to track significant mentions of four separate demographic groups. We began coding for significant mentions of Hispanics, Africans and African Americans on February 9 and Asians and Muslims on February 16, 2009.

The Universe

PEJ monitors 55 different news outlets each week Monday–Friday, and Sunday newspapers, including:

Tracking Demographic Groups

In order to track stories in which certain demographic groups had a significant presence, PEJ devised a comprehensive set of rules.

Significant Mention

I. Hispanic Presence

Definition: This applies to stories that are 25% or more about a Hispanic person, group or organization.

SPECIFIC TERMS AND NATIONALITIES TO CODE FOR:  

II. African/ African-American Presence (excluding Obama)

Definition: This applies to stories that are 25% or more about an African American/African person, people or organization.                             

SPECIFIC TERMS AND NATIONALITIES TO CODE FOR:  

ALL countries (with only one exception, see below) on the continent of Africa, including those in North Africa, are automatically considered as African, i.e.:

The islands of the Seychelles, Madagascar and Mauritania are also African.

The exception is Egypt: for Egypt to be considered as African under this variable, the story must explicitly mention Egypt, Egyptians or Egyptian organizations as African – such stories are likely to be rare.

III. Asian/ Asian-American Presence

This applies to stories that are 25% or more about an Asian person, people or organization.                         

SPECIFIC TERMS TO CODE FOR:

Certain ethnicities are automatically considered Asian if their country of origin is mentioned. These ethnicities and nationalities are:

Other ethnicities are sometimes considered Asian, but sometimes considered as part of a different group. For these ethnicities, there must be something explicit in the story linking them with an Asian culture or ethnicity. These include ethnicities/countries such as:

IV. Muslim Presence

This applies to stories that are 25% or more about a Muslim person, people or organization.

TERMS TO CODE FOR (Include but not limited to):

The religious identity of certain groups and organizations can be assumed. These groups and organizations include:

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