Guest Post: Elizabeth R. Miller, Senior Program
Associate, The Overbrook Foundation
Earlier this month I attended New America Media’s
2nd Annual National Ethnic Media Expo & Awards Conference in Atlanta. On the second day, I listened as Sergio
Bendixen,
president of Bendixen & Associates, and one of the preeminent
experts in Hispanic public opinion research, shared findings from a
survey showing an explosive growth in the number of consumers of ethnic
media. According to Bendixen, over the last four years, ethnic media
have picked up 8 million new readers, viewers and listeners.
What’s
significant about this? Mostly it means that ethnic media (defined
primarily as African-American, Hispanic and Asian-American) now reach
nearly 57 million people in the United States -- more than one-quarter
of the adult population. What’s particularly surprising is that this
major increase in audience numbers is occurring just as mainstream
media, especially metropolitan dailies, are struggling to keep their
readers, viewers and listeners.
The challenge facing mainstream media (and by extension people who work in communications, too)
is how to continue to reach people without knowing with certainty how they get
their information these days. Is it from print and broadcast outlets? Or the web? What about iPhones and Blackberries, just to name a few
options? As a result more and more traditional news providers are doing
the best they can to both hold on to their "old ways" while also trying
to make the new technologies work for them.
Perhaps because
they’re enjoying such a phenomenal growth for their “traditional”
products, there seems to be less of a rush among ethnic news media
organizations to the internet, Web 2.0, social media, and other
experimental production and distribution channels and business models.
Yet, these conversations are taking place, and ethnic media – like
their mainstream counterparts -- are asking whether to adopt Twitter,
and make iPhone applications and text messaging platforms as part of
their offerings. But even without them, ethnic media are proving that
by providing quality in-depth news and reporting, they still can
successfully reach large audiences.
As a result, people in
foundations who see ethnic audiences as key to their work should not
overlook the reach of these newspapers, and television and radio
stations. As an example, Bendixen also pointed in his talk that
Asian-Americans prefer Asian language media because of what they
consider to be a lack of in-depth reporting in more mainstream news
outlets about their home countries. Similarly, ethnic media appear to
have an inherent trust in and appreciation for their readers, listeners
and viewers, something I would guess is declining for growing numbers
of mainstream media outlets.
Another reason foundations
should pay more attention to ethnic media is that they, like the sector
they serve, are largely progressive, and are helping foster public
discourse in a way that’s almost become foreign to the
mainstream news media. Thus, if we fail to recognize the importance of
America’s growing ethnic media sector, we similarly will miss an
opportunity to engage a crucial -- and also fast growing -- sector of
the American public.
Elizabeth R. Miller
is a Senior Program Associate at The Overbrook Foundation, whose
mission is to improve the lives of people by supporting projects that
protect human and civil rights, advance the self-sufficiency and well
being of individuals and their communities, and conserve the natural
environment.
Comments