Among the various ethnicities, the Spanish-language media stand out for their remarkable growth and for having solid national figures that are measurable. Numbers from recent years show a newspaper market that is quickly maturing and a television market that is booming.
Some trends among the Spanish-language media are particularly worth highlighting:
Circulation of Spanish-language dailies has more than tripled since 1990.
Ad revenues of Spanish-language dailies have grown more than sevenfold since 1990.
Beyond simple population growth numbers, the Spanish-language media have one important element helping their explosive growth. Unlike other ethnicities, these news outlets benefit from the fact that language, in addition to culture, define their target demographic group. Hispanics who trace their origins to many different countries all share Spanish as a common language (other than the relatively few who speak Portuguese, mainly those whose backgrounds are Brazilian). This is a huge advantage over, say, the Asian media, in which the target readership comes from different nationalities and ethnicities that speak different languages. Spanish-language publications can be read by people from Mexico, Puerto Rico, Cuba and the countries of Central America, South America and the Caribbean. In fact, the ethnic backgrounds and experiences of readers can be quite different even as they all read the same "ethnic" newspaper. It is not ethnicity that determines audience; it is language. That is why, for instance, Telemundo and Univision can be national networks, even though they are broadcasting to an audience with varied national backgrounds - a heavily Cuban community in Miami, a more Puerto Rican community in New York, and a predominantly Mexican community in Los Angeles.
But that defining characteristic also means the Spanish-language media can vary greatly from city to city depending on the ethnic background, income and education of the audience. The Project for Excellence in Journalism's Local TV News Study in 2002 found different news depending on location. In Miami, for instance, the news had a Caribbean flavor, with a distinct focus on Cuba. In New York, with a very diverse Hispanic population, the news was more cosmopolitan in attitude, with a focus on Puerto Rican and Dominican issues. Stations in the southern United States and Los Angeles had a particular interest in Mexican border issues.1 [1]
What this means for the future of national Spanish-language media is unclear. While advertisers have an interest in trying to reach the entire population (that large block of same-language consumers is, in fact, its primary appeal), there may be questions around programming. What is "news" is guided by more than the language. The issues of the day for a Puerto Rican in New York might be very different than the issues for a Mexican in Texas. How those gaps will be bridged remains to be seen.