¿El Campeón de Los Hispanos? Comparing the coverage of Latino/a collective action in Spanish- and English-language newspapers

Original Artic le

¿El Campeon de Los Hispanos?Comparing the coverage of Latino /acol lect ive action in Spanish- andEngl ish-language newspapers

Dina Okamoto, Kim Ebert and Carla VioletUniversity of California, Davis, CA.E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract Newspaper coverage of Latino collective action events is criticalbecause it can shape how issues and problems are understood by policymakers andthe larger public. There is an assumption that English- and Spanish-languagenewspapers will report on these events in different ways, but few studies havesystematically explored these differences. In this article, we document and compare thecoverage of Latino protest and civic engagement in English- and Spanish-languagenewspapers. Focusing on four metropolitan areas in 2000, we find that both types ofnewspapers cover nearly the same number of Latino collective action events, andalthough Spanish-language newspapers provide more thorough and in-depth coveragethan English-language newspapers, the difference is slight. In fact, in somemetropolitan areas, general-market English-language newspapers report on moreevents and provide more extensive coverage than Spanish-language newspapers, asevidenced by the inclusion of contextual information about the larger structuralconditions that contribute to Latino organizers’ concerns or motivations. Our resultsshow that Latino collective action events are visible within English-languagenewspapers, which signifies that the American mainstream is expanding its bordersto include Latinos.Latino Studies (2011) 9, 219–241. doi:10.1057/lst.2011.21

Keywords: media coverage; collective action; English-language newspapers; Spanish-language newspapers; Latinos

r 2011 Macmillan Publishers Ltd. 1476-3435 Latino Studies Vol. 9, 2/3, 219–241www.palgrave-journals.com/lst/

Introduction

One function of Spanish-language newspapers is to influence dialogue in the public

sphere by providing alternative narratives to those found in the general-market

press (Gutierrez, 1977; Guzman, 2006).1 Many Spanish-language newspapers

market themselves as the mouthpiece as well as the main source of information for

the Latino community. For example, El Diario-La Prensa (New York) describes

itself as “el campeon de los hispanos.” The newspaper chronicles Latino events in

New York and also advocates for Latino rights, cultural recognition and political

representation (Lao-Montes and Davila, 2001, 29). Similarly, the stated goal of

La Opinion (Los Angeles), the largest Spanish-language daily newspaper in the

United States, is to be “y the preeminent, metropolitan news and information

source for all Latinos” and “the best partner for empowerment and development of

the Latino community” (La Opinion, 2010). Clearly, Spanish-language newspapers

pride themselves on providing accurate and favorable coverage of the Latino

community, and they operate under the assumption that English-language

newspapers do not pay ample attention to Latinos and their interests.

Scholarly research on mainstream or general-market media2 and public opinion

generally support this view. A nationally representative survey of Latinos revealed

that the majority of respondents held positive views about the coverage of US Latino

communities by Spanish-language media, but nearly half believed that English-

language media contribute to the negative image of the Latino population (Suro,

2004). Although it is not clear whether respondents were primarily referring to the

negative coverage in general-market newspapers, television or radio, the results

suggest that English-language media in any form are viewed with some concern by

the Latino population. Similarly, past research has argued that English-language

media offer an incomplete and often biased portrait of the Latino community

(DeSipio and Henson, 1997; Santa Ana, 2002; Guzman, 2006; Velez et al, 2008).

Despite the growth and popularity of Spanish-language newspapers in the United

States, few studies have systematically compared the coverage of Latinos in

English- and Spanish-language newspapers (Dulcan, 2006).3 Past studies have been

limited by their sole focus on English-language newspapers, making it difficult to

draw conclusions about the extent of coverage between the two types of news-

papers. Even though English-language newspapers in major metropolitan areas

may be targeting multiple audiences (including second- and later-generation

Latinos), there is still an expectation that Spanish-language newspapers will

provide better coverage than their English-language counterparts, though it is not

clear how coverage will vary and if the differences will be substantively meaningful.

In this article, we document Latino4 collective action events for the year 2000

in four metropolitan areas: Atlanta, Denver, Los Angeles and Miami. We com-

pare the coverage of these events by Spanish- and English-language newspapers in

Los Angeles and Miami. Because of the significant patterns of growth of the

Latino population in new destinations, we also present a preliminary comparative

1 Other prominent

functions of the

contemporary

Latino media

include selling

products to a

panethnic Latino

audience and

providing a source

of symbolic and

cultural continuity

for the

transnational

community they

serve (Rodriguez,

1999; Davila,

2000).

2 We use the terms

“mainstream” and

“general-market”

interchangeably to

refer to the

English-language

media in the United

States that is

widely consumed

by the general

public and is

targeted at a US

English-dominant

audience.

3 A few studies have

compared Spanish-

and English-

language television

coverage, but these

studies focus on the

coverage of politics

and elections, not

the Latino

community per se

(Fowler et al, 2009;

Hale et al, 2009).

4 Although we are

using the umbrella

term “Latino,” we

Okamoto et al

220 r 2011 Macmillan Publishers Ltd. 1476-3435 Latino Studies Vol. 9, 2/3, 219–241

analysis of the coverage by Spanish- and English-language newspapers in Atlanta

and Denver. We focus on Latino collective action – publicly enacted, group-based

efforts in pursuit of a common goal – because it is a useful way to understand the

incorporation of Latinos in the United States. From these data, we begin to

understand how Latinos are becoming part of the American mainstream by

invoking a shared minority status based on immigration status, citizenship, race/

ethnicity or language to challenge discrimination, affirm a cultural identity or

work with others to solve a community problem (Okamoto and Ebert, 2010a).

We also learn how and to what extent newspapers report on Latino events, which

influences how the larger public views the Latino population, and in turn can

affect the incorporation process. In this article, we focus on the coverage of

protest events where Latinos are the main organizers and participants, but we

also widen the net to include civic action, an understudied form of collective

organizing which captures the purposeful and community-oriented collective

efforts of Latinos (see Sampson et al, 2005).

Background and Conceptual Framework

Why does coverage matter?

If certain events are not reported in the media, then it is unlikely that the claims and

concerns associated with these events or the public representation of a particular

group will reach the public arena (Oliver and Maney, 2000; Okamoto, 2003).

Newspaper coverage of events provides a clear signal about what is considered

newsworthy and it shapes our collective sense of reality. When events are reported,

the extent of coverage and framing of events are likely to have an impact on the

opinions, interests and views of local residents, the larger public and policymakers.

Several scholars and journalists have examined the role of the mainstream media

and its coverage of the Latino community in regards to immigration policy and the

2006 immigrant marches against HR 4437 (Block, 2006; Hernandez, 2006; Hing

and Johnson, 2006; Benjamin-Alvarado et al, 2008). Surprisingly, little research has

focused on the media coverage of the active efforts of Latinos to improve and

celebrate their community through festivals, galas and demonstrations before 2006.

These forms of collective action are strategies that marginalized groups have used

to affect social change, improve neighborhood conditions and celebrate cultural

traditions. The coverage of these events shapes the image of the Latino population,

and can increase its visibility and influence in local and national arenas.

Media practices and the coverage of events

The routines and practices of professional newsrooms can affect the quantity

and quality of event coverage. Because newspapers face pressures to maintain or

recognize that

there are multiple

racial and national-

origin groups that

are considered

Latino in the

United States (see

Oboler, 1995). We

use “Latino” to

refer to both male

and female

persons.

Coverage of Latino/a collective action

221r 2011 Macmillan Publishers Ltd. 1476-3435 Latino Studies Vol. 9, 2/3, 219–241

improve their circulation numbers and capture the attention of their readers,

editors and journalists must make decisions about what stories and details

are newsworthy. The articles that are published reflect the priorities of the

newspaper and some scholars argue, the interests of corporate sponsors and

political elites (see Herman and Chomsky, 1988). Either way, what is published

often promotes certain ideas over others. Some articles may offer a limited

number of storylines or interpretations which do not advance a complex

understanding of the root causes of a particular event, shaping the public debate

about current issues and events (see Entmann, 2007).

Iyengar’s (1991) research on television news coverage of political issues

suggests that the type of coverage can influence public opinion. Drawing upon

experimental data, he found that when exposed to news frames that were event

oriented with a focus on concrete issues and details – episodic news coverage –

viewers were less likely to hold public officials accountable for generating a

particular problem and implementing a viable solution. Thematic news reports –

coverage which provides contextual information about an issue and focuses on

the larger structural conditions that contribute to the current situation – had the

opposite effect and increased attributions of responsibility to elected govern-

ment officials and to larger social structures and institutions. Iyengar argued

that the way in which a story or event is covered is important precisely because

it influences how people come to understand problems and issues.

In a study comparing different types of media and their coverage of public

demonstrations in Washington, DC, Smith et al (2001) utilized Iyengar’s

concepts of thematic and episodic news coverage. They discovered that less than

one-fourth of the news reports framed protests in thematic ways, and the

coverage of protests about controversial issues such as opposition to US policy

in Latin America was even less thematic. These findings provide some support

for the perspective that the mainstream media will provide episodic coverage for

those events that attempt to disrupt the status quo. The authors also found that

the presence of counter-demonstrators, arrests and violence produced reporting

on the details of the event rather than the systemic causes of the broader issue at

stake. Not surprisingly, episodic coverage produced a news spin that was less

favorable toward demonstrators than authorities. In general, this research

demonstrates that public events are reported in different ways, which may have

important consequences for the success of a movement.

Media framing and representation of Latino communit ies

Very few studies have paid attention to the framing of Latino collective action

events in new stories, but there is a growing body of research that investigates

how Latinos are represented in the mainstream media. These studies have found

that when Latinos are mentioned in news reports, they are portrayed in positive

Okamoto et al

222 r 2011 Macmillan Publishers Ltd. 1476-3435 Latino Studies Vol. 9, 2/3, 219–241

and negative ways (see Vargas, 1995; Coutin and Chock, 1997; Santa Ana,

2002; Flores, 2003). For example, in an analysis of articles published in the

Oregonian, Padin (2005) found that Latinos were portrayed as both assets and

liabilities. Latinos were associated with self-reliance and strong family values,

but newspaper articles also highlighted the group as a moral threat and social

burden. Similarly, Santa Ana and his colleagues (2008) examined how immi-

gration policy debates during the May Day demonstrations and the passage of

the Secure Fence Act in 2008 were depicted in general-market national

newspapers. They discovered that two conceptual metaphors, “immigrant as

criminal” and “immigrant as worker,” were used to describe the Latino popu-

lation. The first metaphor equated working in the United States without formal

documentation with gang activity and violent offenses, and the second meta-

phor emphasized that immigrants are dependable and responsible. We build

upon and contribute to this literature on representation by investigating the

extent and depth of the coverage of Latino collective action events in English-

and Spanish-language newspapers.

What patterns do we expect?

Indeed, past research has found that the general-market media offer inadequate

coverage of the Latino community. Public opinion and Spanish-language media

outlets share this viewpoint. But the question remains, do Spanish-language

newspapers provide more and better coverage of Latino collective action events

than the general-market press? If Spanish-language newspapers serve as

advocates for the Latino community, then we would expect them to cover a

greater number of civic and protest events where Latinos are the main

organizers and participants than English-language newspapers. Covering these

events provides visibility for Latino communities and their concerns, a vital role

for advocates. If Spanish-language newspapers provide an alternative, critical

narrative to those found in general-market press (Gutierrez, 1977; Guzman,

2006), then we would expect them to provide a deeper understanding about

the importance or consequences of a civic or protest event as it relates to the

Latino community. And if Spanish-language newspapers seek to distinguish

themselves from the general-market press, we would also expect them to

provide more attention to the voices and experiences of the Latino community

than English-language newspapers.

Data Collect ion and Coding Procedures

To address our research question about the coverage of Latino collective action

events, we gathered data on collective action events involving Latinos in 2000

from four Spanish-language newspapers, La Opinion in Los Angeles, El Nuevo

Coverage of Latino/a collective action

223r 2011 Macmillan Publishers Ltd. 1476-3435 Latino Studies Vol. 9, 2/3, 219–241

Herald in Miami, La Voz Nueva in Denver and Mundo Hispanico in Atlanta,

and four English-language newspapers, the Los Angeles Times, Miami Herald,

Denver Post and Atlanta Journal-Constitution. All of the newspapers in our

study report on news and events in major metropolitan areas, and many have

received prestigious journalism awards such as the Pulitzer Prize and the Jose

Ortega y Gasset Award.

We conducted a systematic search of full-text newspaper databases where

keywords such as immigrant, Latino, Hispanic, Mexican, Chicano, Puerto

Rican and Cuban appeared in any part of the text.5 Events that met the selection

criteria were public and collective with an immigrant- or ethnic-related claim or

purpose, where panethnic (Latino, Hispanic) and ethnic-specific (Mexican,

Puerto Rican, Cuban, Central American) Latino groups were the main

organizers and participants. These events were characterized by claims-making

(protest) as well as purposeful, community-oriented efforts (civic) to improve

conditions or celebrate the Latino community. We created an extensive

codebook that documents the data collection process as well as our coding

schemes, which is available upon request.

A careful examination of approximately 33,257 articles over the course of

1 year from the eight newspapers (15,683 were from Spanish-language

newspapers) yielded 386 articles which provided information on 297 events

that fit our selection criteria. We coded these articles according to whether they

exhibited thematic or episodic elements in their coverage. Following Iyengar

(1991) and Smith et al (2001), episodic coverage stresses the details of the event,

such as the number of people, groups who were present, and when and where

the event happened. Such articles provide little information about the

importance or consequences of the event as it relates to the Latino community.

Thematic coverage focuses on general issues raised by the event, contextualizes

the event for the reader and leads toward more systemic explanations of social

issues. Such articles focus on why the event happened as opposed to episodic

coverage which focuses on answering the “what” and “where” questions. In

other words, although episodic coverage informs readers what happened at an

event, thematic coverage conveys the meaning behind the event according to the

event organizers and participants, and tends to problematize current social and

economic arrangements. In general, thematic coverage is more likely to illus-

trate the importance of the collective events for the Latino community, provide

the Latino point of view and advance the interests and claims of Latinos.

Although the newspapers in our study represent the largest English- and

Spanish-language newspapers in their respective metropolitan regions, they

differ in their size, impact, ownership and audience (see Table 1). The

circulation numbers in Table 1 suggest that the English-language newspapers

are associated with larger print media operations with extensive staff and

financial resources compared to the Spanish-language newspapers. It would

appear that these differences make it difficult to compare the extent of coverage

5 Because La Voz

Nueva and Mundo

Hispanico are

weeklies, we read

all available

newspaper articles

instead of doing a

keyword search.

Okamoto et al

224 r 2011 Macmillan Publishers Ltd. 1476-3435 Latino Studies Vol. 9, 2/3, 219–241

Table 1: Description of newspapers, 2000

Atlanta Denver Los Angeles Miami

MundoHispanico

AtlantaJournal-

Constitution

LaVoz

Nueva

DenverPost

LaOpinion

LosAngelesTimes

ElNuevoHerald

MiamiHerald

CirculationDaily/weekly 52,000 266,907 27,659 254,058 121,026 773,884 86,898 240,223Sunday — 497,149 — 704,168 58,985 1,101,981 92,261 311,245

Established 1979 2001a 1974 1892 1926 1881 1977 1903

Owner CoxEnterprises

CoxEnterprises

Santa FePublishing

MediaNewsGroup

ImpreMedia

TribuneCompany

McClatchyCompany

McClatchyCompany

Delivery day Thursday Daily Wednesday Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily

Total codedarticles

19 17 11 21 73 57 88 100

aThe Atlanta Journal-Constitution formed as the result of a 2001 merger between the Atlanta Constitution, established in 1868, and the Atlanta Journal,published since 1883.

Covera

ge

of

Latin

o/a

collectiv

eactio

n

225

r2011

Macm

illan

Publish

ersL

td.

1476-3

435

Latin

oStu

dies

Vol.

9,

2/3

,219–241

between newspapers. But because our main focus is on the coverage of local

events in metropolitan areas, the problem of different newspaper sizes is not

paramount because all of the newspapers in our study cover local events. And as

these newspapers report on many of the same events, we are able to compare

differences in the depth of coverage of these events in the same locations.

In 2000, all of the newspapers in our sample were owned by large media

corporations with the exception of La Voz Nueva.6 Though different ownership

can shape which stories go to print, we argue that newspapers with corporate

ownership operate in similar ways and are generally comparable. One main

difference between the eight newspapers then is the fact that all are published

daily with the exception of La Voz Nueva and Mundo Hispanico, which are

weekly publications. Because of the potential unevenness of the comparisons

between large daily newspapers to smaller weeklies, we focus our comparative

analysis of event coverage on the newspapers in Los Angeles and Miami, which

are more or less equivalent in size and status.7 We also examine newspaper

coverage in Atlanta and Denver, which provides some insights into how

newspaper coverage in traditional gateways and new destinations might differ,

but treat this analysis as preliminary because of the differences in size, audience

and ownership between the English- and Spanish-language newspapers in these

metropolitan areas.

New Destinations and Tradit ional Gateways

We selected Atlanta, Denver, Los Angeles and Miami for our study because

although the Latino population is increasing in all of them, they represent

different types of Latino destinations in the United States (see Table 2). Los

Angeles and Miami are majority-minority metros, where minorities represent a

numerical majority. Mexican-Americans make up one-third of the total

population in Los Angeles. Cuban-Americans comprise 29 per cent and South

Americans, Puerto Ricans, Mexicans and other Latinos make up 28 per cent of

Miami’s population. Denver and Atlanta are both majority-white metropolitan

areas where the Latino population is mostly of Mexican descent.

These four metropolitan areas also vary in terms of the foreign-born

population. Los Angeles and Miami are both traditional immigrant gateways –

metropolitan areas with above average foreign-born populations every decade

since 1950 (Singer, 2004). At 51 per cent, the majority of Miami’s population is

foreign-born, whereas the foreign-born population in Los Angeles is 36 per cent

(Gibson and Jung, 2006). Denver and Atlanta, on the other hand, are new

immigrant destinations – metropolitan areas that historically have not been home

to immigrants, but experienced dramatic growth in their foreign-born popula-

tions from 1980 to 2000 (Singer, 2004). Over the 20-year period, the foreign-born

population increased by 259 per cent in Denver and 817 per cent in Atlanta, and

6 Although

ImpreMedia

specializes in

Hispanic news and

media (also

publishes La

Opinion), they are

partners with the

McClatchy

Company, which

publishes the

Miami Herald and

El Nuevo Herald.

7 To illustrate, there

were 14,691

articles in online

databases for the

year 2000 for

La Opinion and

122,855 for Los

Angeles Times.

This disparity in

the number of

available articles is

misleading, as our

keyword search

yielded 2892

articles for the

Los Angeles Times

and 4112 for

La Opinion.

Okamoto et al

226 r 2011 Macmillan Publishers Ltd. 1476-3435 Latino Studies Vol. 9, 2/3, 219–241

in 2000, comprised about 10 per cent of the total populations in both metro-

politan areas. The majority of the Latino population in Miami and Atlanta was

born outside of the United States (71 and 65 per cent, respectively), whereas just

under half of the Latino population in Los Angeles was foreign-born. The majority

(70 per cent) of Denver’s Latino population was born in the United States.

We focus on the year 2000 for our analysis because of its significance in the rise

of Spanish-language media and the increasing presence of Latinos in new

destinations across the United States (Waters and Jimenez, 2005). We also argue

that it is important to document and understand the activities in these

communities before the 2006 demonstrations, especially because scholars and

policymakers tend to assume that Latinos did not politically awaken until the

introduction of HR 4437. Nevertheless, the year 2000 was anomalous because it

was an election and decennial census year. The custody dispute over Elian

Gonzalez also reached a critical point in the year 2000, eventually involving the

United States and Cuban governments.8 We assert that these anomalies may have

possibly led to greater coverage of Latino collective action by the different types

of newspapers, which make broader and more thorough comparisons possible.

Results

What did the newspapers cover?

Table 3 illustrates that the issues surrounding public, group-based activities

involving Latinos in 2000 were related to politics, education, culture and a host

of other topics. Across the four metropolitan areas, 27 to 38 per cent of the 297

total events were protests, where Latinos expressed claims or grievances on

behalf of the group to challenge discriminatory acts and demand the expansion

of their rights. A demonstration of Latino activists, community leaders and

laborers in Atlanta which was organized to urge the local officials to revoke the

charges against Latino laborers accused of violating a local ordinance provides

an example (Verdes, 2000). Such change-oriented events included rallies,

boycotts, letter-writing campaigns, vigils and hunger strikes, and were often

Table 2: Selected demographic characteristics of metropolitan areas, 2000

Totalpopulation

Percentage offoreign-born

Percentageof Latino

Percentage offoreign-born

among Latinos

Percentage ofchange Latino

1990–2000

Atlanta 4,112,198 10.3 6.5 64.5 361.8Denver 2,109,282 11.1 18.8 32.4 88.3Los Angeles 9,519,338 36.2 44.6 49.2 26.8Miami 2,253,362 50.9 57.3 71.4 35.5

Source: US Census.

8 In November

1999, Elian

Gonzalez and his

mother fled Cuba

in a small boat.

Elian survived the

journey to Florida,

but his mother did

not. This set off a

custody dispute

between Elian’s

father, who lived in

Cuba, and Elian’s

maternal

grandparents, who

lived in Miami. In

June 2000, Elian

was forced to

return to Cuba.

Coverage of Latino/a collective action

227r 2011 Macmillan Publishers Ltd. 1476-3435 Latino Studies Vol. 9, 2/3, 219–241

Table 3: Characteristics of Latino collective action events covered by newspapers

EventCharacteristics

Totalevents

Atlanta Denver Los Angeles Miami

AtlantaJournal-

Constitution

MundoHispanico

Metrototal

DenverPost

LaVoz

Nueva

MetroTotal

LosAngelesTimes

LaOpinion

Metrototal

MiamiHerald

ElNuevoHerald

Metrototal

Type

Civic 200 11 14 25 11 11 19 43 51 68 68 45 88

Protest 97 6 5 9 10 0 10 14 22 25 32 43 53

Topic

Business 10 2 2 4 0 1 1 1 1 2 0 3 3

Census 5 2 0 2 0 0 0 2 2 2 1 0 1

Community 34 1 4 5 8 5 10 7 9 15 3 1 4

Crime,enforcement

7 0 0 0 5 0 5 1 1 2 0 0 0

Culture 98 2 1 3 2 1 3 25 30 37 44 31 55

Education 9 0 0 0 1 2 3 3 3 4 2 0 2

ElianGonzalez

57 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 3 36 37 54

Health 3 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 1

Labor 6 1 1 2 0 1 1 1 3 3 0 0 0Politics,

legislation

50 9 9 16 5 0 5 12 17 19 5 8 10

Religion 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 3 1 1 1

Transnational 14 0 1 1 0 0 0 2 3 3 7 7 10

Total events 297 17 19 34 21 11 29 57 73 93 100 88 141

Okam

oto

etal

228

r2011

Macm

illan

Publish

ersL

td.

1476-3

435

Latin

oStu

dies

Vol.

9,

2/3

,219–241

targeted at local authorities or the federal government. For example, one of the

largest protests occurred in Miami, where nearly 100,000 people took to

the streets to express their dissatisfaction with the US government’s handling of

the Elian Gonzalez case (Whoriskey, 2000).

Civic events comprised the majority of collective action events involving

Latinos across the four metropolitan areas (ranging from 62 to 74 per cent). The

aim of these events was either to celebrate the Latino community through art

events, commemorations, ceremonies, festivals and parades, or to improve

community conditions through neighborhood projects, volunteer efforts and

workshops (see Okamoto and Ebert, 2010b). Examples include Fiesta Broad-

way in Los Angeles, which celebrates the diversity of the local Latino

community (Salinas, 2000) and a labor orientation event organized by local

Latino leaders to increase the knowledge of Atlanta’s Spanish-speaking

community about their rights as workers (Brown Rodriguez, 2000b).

For the most part, civic and protest events lasted a day or less. Some events,

however, lasted for weeks. One such event was a campaign organized by the

Miami Colombian community to gather signatures to petition the US federal

government to legalize undocumented Colombian residents (Travierso, 2000).

Although this campaign was organized by an ethnic-specific group, most events

were organized by the pan-Latino community. For example, around 100 Latino

educators, students and activists participated in a protest of a ballot initiative

that would eliminate Colorado’s bilingual education program, and this event

took place in conjunction with “La Promesa 2000,” a conference organized by

the Colorado Coalition of Hispanic School Board Members to publicize

educational programs for the Hispanic community (Medina, 2000).

In sum, the newspapers in our sample document an active Latino community

whose civic and political participation are vital to the representation of Latino

interests. These collective efforts represent the ways in which Latinos are

forming a community in the United States and the coverage of these events by

the general-market press has significant implications. We now turn to our

comparison of the extent and depth of the coverage of such events by Spanish-

and English-language newspapers.

Comparing Spanish- and Engl ish-language newspaper coverage

Table 3 shows the distribution of event coverage across Spanish- and English-

language newspapers in the four metropolitan areas. Because Spanish-language

newspapers are more exclusive in their coverage of the Latino community than

English-language newspapers, it was expected that they would have reported on

more events involving the Latino community than English-language news-

papers. Our data show that this is not the case. In total, Spanish- and English-

language newspapers covered nearly same number of events across the four

Coverage of Latino/a collective action

229r 2011 Macmillan Publishers Ltd. 1476-3435 Latino Studies Vol. 9, 2/3, 219–241

metropolitan areas (191 and 195 respectively), but not always the same events.

Of the 297 unique events in our sample, 89 were covered by both newspapers

in the same metropolitan area and the remaining 208 events were covered

exclusively by one newspaper.

When comparing the extent of coverage within each metropolitan area, our

data show that English-language newspapers covered more Latino collective

action events than Spanish-language newspapers in Miami and Denver. The

Miami Herald reported on 100 events whereas El Nuevo Herald covered 88

events. Part of this discrepancy is due to the Miami Herald’s extensive coverage

of cultural events initiated by Cubans as well as other Latino groups compared

to El Nuevo Herald’s sole focus on Cuban-initiated events. For example, the

Miami Herald reported on the Dominican Restoration Day Festival, where

thousands celebrated the country’s liberation from Haiti in 1844 (Ross, 2000).

Although El Nuevo Herald did not report on the Dominican event, it did

cover more protest events than the Miami Herald (43 and 32 respectively). The

differential coverage here reflects El Nuevo Herald’s focus on the protests

regarding the Elian Gonzalez case. Both Miami newspapers covered nearly the

same number of collective action events about the Elian Gonzalez case, but of

these, El Nuevo Herald reported on 33 protests compared with Miami Herald’s

26. To illustrate, El Nuevo Herald covered the January demonstrations of

dozens of Cuban ex-political prisoners who protested the federal government’s

plans to return Elian Gonzalez to Cuba (Utset and Ferreira, 2000). The Miami

Herald did not report on this demonstration, but the newspaper covered

meetings where the mayor urged protesters to cancel the planned demonstration

at Miami International Airport (Lynch et al, 2000). In other words, the Spanish-

language newspaper in Miami reported on more politicized events regarding the

Elian Gonzalez case than the English-language newspaper, suggesting that

El Nuevo Herald’s coverage of the case catered to Miami’s Cuban community, a

population that was more invested in the case than non-Cuban communities

(see Guzman, 2006).

In Denver, the difference between the newspapers’ coverage stems from the

fact that La Voz Nueva is a small, weekly publication with fewer resources and

less space to report on Latino events, but it is also related to La Voz Nueva’s

coverage of only civic events. For example, La Voz Nueva tended to report on

events such as a ceremony to honor students who had successfully completed a

bilingual language program or a fundraiser for the local community center

(Staff, 2000). In contrast, the Denver Post ran articles on civic and protest

events (see Table 3). Five of the 10 protests covered by the Denver Post were

about the killing of Ismael Mena, a Mexican immigrant who was mistakenly

shot by the police after they entered his home. Hundreds of protesters from the

Latino community participated in rallies, marches and vigils to demand the

elimination of no-knock raids and hold police accountable for their actions

(Chronis, 2000; Gehring, 2000; Wallace, 2000). The Mena killing was a high

Okamoto et al

230 r 2011 Macmillan Publishers Ltd. 1476-3435 Latino Studies Vol. 9, 2/3, 219–241

profile case and while La Voz Nueva published three articles on the topic, none

covered the protests involving the Latino community. The remaining protest

events reported in the Denver Post involved demonstrations against a proposed

amendment which would eliminate bilingual education in public schools, a

protest of poor working conditions at the local university by Latino laborers

and a rally in support of amnesty for undocumented immigrants.

In sum, the type of events that are prioritized by editors, reporters and

newspapers may help to explain some of the discrepancy in the extent of coverage

between English- and Spanish-language newspapers in Miami and Denver.

El Nuevo Herald was more focused on protests regarding the Elian Gonzalez case

that were initiated by Miami’s Cuban community, whereas the Miami Herald

reported on more civic events involving Cuban and non-Cuban Latino com-

munities alike. La Voz Nueva seemed to shy away from controversial political

pieces in favor of portraying the Latino in a positive light through reporting on

civic events, whereas the Denver Post covered more protests initiated by Denver’s

Latino community. Overall, we find that there is variation across metropolitan

areas in terms of the number of articles in English- and Spanish-language

newspapers, which report on Latino collective action, but we do not yet know

whether and how the depth of coverage differs. We turn to this discussion next.

How did they cover the events?

If Spanish-language newspapers provide an alternative narrative for the Latino

community, we expected that they would have a higher proportion of thematic

coverage of events than English-language newspapers. Our data support this

assumption, but the differences are not large: 77 per cent of Spanish-language

articles and 74 per cent of English-language articles were coded as thematic (see

Figure 1). This finding demonstrates that both English- and Spanish-language

newspapers tend to provide detailed background information about events and

locate them within a broader social context. In fact, we find that nearly all of the

newspapers provided a greater proportion of thematic than episodic coverage.

When comparing English- and Spanish-language newspapers in each metropo-

litan area, however, we discover that the pattern of our results is driven by Miami

and Los Angeles, traditional gateways where the majority of the events occurred.

In these metropolitan areas, Spanish-language newspapers had a higher

proportion of thematic coverage of events than English-language newspapers.

Coverage in tradit ional immigrant gateways: Los Angeles and

Miami

All four newspapers in Los Angeles and Miami had a relatively high proportion

of thematic coverage of events, but a greater proportion of the articles from

Coverage of Latino/a collective action

231r 2011 Macmillan Publishers Ltd. 1476-3435 Latino Studies Vol. 9, 2/3, 219–241

El Nuevo Herald and La Opinion contextualized the events and provided

extensive background information. The difference between the English- and

Spanish-language newspapers in these metropolitan areas was primarily due to

the different ways that the newspapers covered cultural events. La Opinion’s

coverage tended to focus on the importance of these events for the Latino

community whereas the Los Angeles Times was more likely to provide short

descriptions of such events. To illustrate, both newspapers covered the

Contemporary Latino Masters’ art show in Los Angeles. La Opinion’s coverage

emphasized that an art exhibit featuring Latino artists was important for the

Latino community in terms of cultural representation and preservation, and

noted the significance of the event by linking it to an historic period and

movement that shaped Latino culture and identity (Arroyo, 2000). The reporter

interviewed most of the featured artists to discover how they viewed the exhibit,

and this allowed the artists to discuss the significance of the event for themselves

and the Latino community. In contrast, the Los Angeles Times provided the

details of who, what, when and where but did not explain the broader context

within which to understand the significance of the art show for the Latino art

community or the Latino population in general (Ollman, 2000).

Similarly, another Los Angeles Times article reported on the Latino

International Film Festival in an episodic way, noting what films would be

Figure 1: Relative share of thematic coverage of all articles by newspaper.

Okamoto et al

232 r 2011 Macmillan Publishers Ltd. 1476-3435 Latino Studies Vol. 9, 2/3, 219–241

featured and what time they would be shown (Munoz, 2000). On the other

hand, La Opinion’s coverage of the event was thematic. In addition to providing

extensive information about the most anticipated films at the festival, the article

reported on a demonstration across the street from the film festival that brought

attention to a new film that portrayed indigenous people of Mexico in a

negative light (Arroyo, 2000).

Although we found that La Opinion had a higher proportion of thematic

coverage than the Los Angeles Times, we decided to take a closer look at the

thematic events in both newspapers to understand how this coverage might

vary. By examining first quotes and other aspects of content, we discovered that

when the Los Angeles Times reported on events thematically, the articles tended

to cover events from multiple points of view and in greater depth which

provided a more complex understanding of the background and context within

which civic and protest events had occurred. For example, both newspapers

covered the Latino Vote 2000 Symposium, an event designed to encourage

young Latinos to be active participants in the political process. La Opinion

focused on the politicians attending the event rather than the students who were

the spotlight of the event itself. In fact, the first quote of the La Opinion article

was from Assemblyman Antonio Villaraigosa, noting the importance of Latino

youth for the future of the country and for the voting process (Infante, 2000). In

contrast, the Los Angeles Times article provided extensive quotes from the

students that illustrated their point of view. The first quote of the article

was from a 19-year-old Latina who was surprised that she shared something

in common with the politicians speaking at the event: being first in their families

to attend college. The remainder of the article focused on the Latino speakers

of the symposium, the Latino organizations involved and how the event encou-

raged young Latinos to make a difference in their communities (Kondo, 2000).

We found the same trend when comparing the thematic coverage of the

Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald. For example, both newspapers covered an

October 2000 rally where hundreds of participants representing Colombia,

Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and El Salvador, among several nationalities,

joined a multicity rally and demanded unconditional amnesty. Although both

newspapers extensively covered the event, the Miami Herald provided more

background information including a list of measures proposed by the amnesty

supporters, multiple photos of participants at the event, information about a

possible opposition campaign, and quotes from event sponsors, organizational

representatives and participants (Matus, 2000; Yanez, 2000). This pattern of

results suggests that English-language newspapers operate much like Spanish-

language newspapers, as they provide thematic coverage for the majority of

Latino civic and protests events, but differ in that their thematic coverage is

more thorough and provides multiple points of view, which tends to be

supportive of the goals of the organizers and participants in the protest and civic

events.

Coverage of Latino/a collective action

233r 2011 Macmillan Publishers Ltd. 1476-3435 Latino Studies Vol. 9, 2/3, 219–241

Coverage in new destinations: Atlanta and Denver

In contrast to the coverage in traditional gateways, the English-language

newspapers in new destinations had higher proportions of thematic articles than

Spanish-language newspapers (see Figure 1). In fact, the Atlanta Journal-

Constitution coverage looks more like the four newspapers in Los Angeles and

Miami, with 76 per cent of its coverage coded as thematic compared with 53 per

cent for Mundo Hispanico. In Denver, we find that not only is the proportion of

thematic coverage higher in the English-language newspaper (Denver Post), but

the Spanish-language newspaper (La Voz Nueva) is the only newspaper among

the eight to have provided more episodic than thematic coverage.

Much like what we discovered for Los Angeles and Miami, when English-

and Spanish-language newspapers covered events thematically, the English-

language newspapers provided more contextualizing information and details

from different perspectives than Spanish-language newspapers, which is quite

possibly due to differences in their size, resources, audience and readership. For

example, in Atlanta, both newspapers reported on a daylong forum on

immigrant worker rights that took place downtown. The coverage from the

Atlanta Journal-Constitution focused on the AFL-CIO and its decision to bring

undocumented immigrants into unions and support amnesty (Osinski, 2000).

The first quote was from a labor leader who advocated for providing undocu-

mented workers with legal status because “it would end the widespread practice

of employers threatening to report to federal immigration authorities any

undocumented workers who seek to organize.” The article provided quotes

from immigrant laborers, details about the abuses they faced in the workplace

and background information about local industries that depend on immigrant

labor. Such coverage also points to the how and why, and often challenges the

status quo or at the very least, reports on events that promote goals which are

counter to the status quo.

Mundo Hispanico’s coverage of the same event focused on the testimonies

from immigrant workers and the economic exploitation and physical abuses

they faced (Brown Rodriguez, 2000a). The first quote was from an immigrant

who worked as a carpenter in crews of undocumented laborers where he

described the harsh conditions that he and his co-workers had to endure. Union

leaders and members were referred to but none were interviewed or quoted for

the article. Instead, the focus was on the immigrants and their experiences

regarding their hardships and unfair treatment, how they joined a union despite

the disapproval by their boss and what they planned to discuss at the next

meeting with labor leaders in August. Given the audience and size of Mundo

Hispanico, it is not surprising that its thematic coverage of the protest solely

provides the Latino perspective.

In Denver, the higher proportion of thematic coverage between English- and

Spanish-language newspapers was due to the interplay of uneven coverage of

Okamoto et al

234 r 2011 Macmillan Publishers Ltd. 1476-3435 Latino Studies Vol. 9, 2/3, 219–241

protests across the two newspapers and the different functions of the

newspapers. The Denver Post ran articles on 10 protest events related to

tensions with city officials, employers and the state whereas La Voz Nueva

covered no protests. Because the coverage of protest events in our sample tends

to be more thematic than the coverage of civic events, the discrepancy between

the two newspapers is closely tied to these overall patterns. In other words,

because La Voz Nueva did not cover protests, they had fewer opportunities to

cover events thematically.

The pattern of coverage in Atlanta and Denver is also important because

Latino collective action events could be more threatening to the native com-

munity in areas where Latinos are relative newcomers. Past research on new

destinations generally shows that immigrants residing in these areas are

expected to remain invisible rather than publicly displaying their cultural

traditions, attending town hall meetings and challenging the status quo

(Sizemore, 2004; Rich and Miranda, 2005). This is notable because Atlanta

and Denver are new immigrant destinations where the Latino population is

smaller in size and less politically powerful than in Los Angeles and Miami.

Spanish-language newspapers in new destinations could be more cautious and

shy away from delving into the background origins of events because Latinos in

these areas (and the media which represent them) are in a more precarious

position compared to Latinos in traditional destinations.

Furthermore, the lower proportions of thematic coverage in the Spanish-

language newspapers in Atlanta and Denver can also be explained in part by the

fact that weekly newspapers function differently than daily newspapers. These

weekly newspapers tend to devote space to events such as fundraisers, awards

ceremonies and workshops, serving as local news outlets as well as bulletin

boards announcing opportunities and displaying the good works of the Latino

community. The coverage of these events did not provide extensive background

information for why such services are needed or what it means to the

community to attend and organize particular events because the Latino

population understands the issues regarding the importance of free courses on

labor laws, the opening of a health-care center or bilingual education in schools

for the Latino community, and they do not need to be articulated when

reporters are dealing with limited space.

The Visibi l i ty of Latino Col lective Action

Spanish-language newspapers are understood by scholars and the broader

public to provide accurate and favorable coverage of the Latino community, and

English-language newspapers are often viewed as not paying ample attention to

Latinos and their interests. In our comparison of English- and Spanish-language

coverage of collective action events where Latinos are the main organizers and

Coverage of Latino/a collective action

235r 2011 Macmillan Publishers Ltd. 1476-3435 Latino Studies Vol. 9, 2/3, 219–241

participation, we find that (1) English- and Spanish-language newspapers cover

nearly the same number of Latino collective action events; and (2) although

Spanish-language newspapers provide more in-depth coverage of these events

than English-language newspapers overall, the difference is slight, and in

metropolitan areas where Latinos are an established presence, English-language

newspapers typically offered deeper investigative reporting of Latino protests

and civic events. These results challenge conventional wisdom about newspaper

coverage, and suggest that the American mainstream is expanding its borders to

include Latinos.

One reason why we did not see larger overall differences in the extent and

depth of coverage between English- and Spanish-language newspapers is

because all of the English-language newspapers in our sample are the largest and

most established in their metropolitan areas. Because these newspapers serve a

broader audience, they must provide extensive coverage to satisfy their diverse

readership. In particular, the Los Angeles Times and Miami Herald are more

than just English-language newspapers because they are located in metropolitan

areas where Latinos constitute half or more of the total population. Thus, these

newspapers cater to a very diverse audience – more diverse than newspapers in

most other metropolitan areas and more diverse than the Spanish-language

newspapers in the same metropolitan area. These newspapers offer key

information and details for the English-speaking population, which may not

understand the issues, concerns and history of the Latino community, and they

must also provide fair and detailed coverage for the growing bilingual

population as well as the established Latino population who are part of their

readership.

Although our data revealed that Spanish-language newspapers provided a

slightly larger proportion of thematic coverage of Latino collective action events

than English-language newspapers, this pattern did not hold within new

destinations. We discovered that in Denver and Atlanta, English-language

newspapers had higher proportions of thematic coverage of Latino events than

Spanish-language newspapers. These patterns reflect the different audiences,

functions and resources of the newspapers. Spanish-language newspapers

in these locations were smaller than their English-language counterparts and

thus, less likely to have formally trained journalists on staff and the resources

needed to follow up on emerging stories. Although they reported on local news,

the Spanish-language newspapers also served a different function than the

general-market English-language newspapers: by providing the news in Spanish,

they served to aid in the acculturation process for new immigrants and to help

maintain a shared cultural identity among new and established Latinos by

reporting on events such as ceremonies, festivals and commemorations which

serve to reinforce and celebrate ethnic identities. This was evidenced by the

coverage of community events to improve the conditions of new immigrants and

the established Latino community and the episodic coverage, which provided

Okamoto et al

236 r 2011 Macmillan Publishers Ltd. 1476-3435 Latino Studies Vol. 9, 2/3, 219–241

facts about when and where a workshop, fundraiser or community event was

taking place. It is not surprising then that these newspapers were less likely to

provide thematic coverage than English-language newspapers within the same

metropolitan areas.

Initially, we were concerned that our coding of episodic coverage would

simply reflect the fact that smaller newspapers have less space and shorter

articles, but we soon found that an article does not have to be lengthy to discuss

reasons why an event happened and its significance for the Latino community.

We realized that although coding thematic and episodic coverage was an

effective way to capture how a newspaper framed a collective action event, we

needed to further examine how events are reported by focusing on who is

quoted in the articles and whose voice is privileged. When we investigated the

articles in this way, we discovered that when the Los Angeles Times, Miami

Herald, Denver Post and Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported on events

thematically, the articles tended to be more complex and covered events from

multiple points of view and in greater depth compared to their Spanish-language

counterparts. This is a key finding because while episodic coverage informs

readers what happened at an event, thematic coverage tends to problematize

current social and economic arrangements, which can influence how the larger

public understands the role of larger social structures and institutions in

contributing to a problem and who is ultimately responsible for finding a

solution.

Overall, our research shows that Latino collective action events are visible

within English-language newspapers, which signifies that the mainstream is

expanding its borders to include Latinos. The English-language newspapers in

our study reported on Latino protests and civic events, providing comparable if

not better coverage than their Spanish-language counterparts in the same

metropolitan area. The Spanish-language newspapers in the traditional

gateways provided somewhat better coverage than their English-language

counterparts, but the general-market press offered complex, thorough coverage

of Latino protests and civic action that often challenged the status quo and

advocated for the Latino community. This coverage brings visibility to the

claims and concerns of Latino communities, and also has the potential to

increase broader understanding of the Latino population among the larger

public and positively influence political attitudes toward immigration. At the

same time, while English-language newspapers provided comparable coverage

of Latino collective action, it is important to point out that they still do not

fulfill the vital function of Spanish-language newspapers to provide news to the

non-English speaking Latino population.

Because we treat our analysis of the newspaper coverage in Atlanta and

Denver as preliminary, future research should collect additional data on the

patterns of coverage in new destinations. It would also be worthwhile to expand

the comparison to newspapers in New York and Texas to ascertain if the

Coverage of Latino/a collective action

237r 2011 Macmillan Publishers Ltd. 1476-3435 Latino Studies Vol. 9, 2/3, 219–241

patterns in Los Angeles and Miami are similar to other traditional gateways. In

addition, although we argue that the thematic coverage of events involves

deeper, more investigative coverage of events that tends to support the goals of

the organizers and participants in the collective action events in our sample,

such coverage does not directly address the fact that protestors could still be

portrayed in a negative light. Scholars should further analyze how Latinos are

portrayed as protesters and civic actors to achieve more conclusive findings.

Finally, while we made assertions about why newspapers might cover events

differently, we can only explore the range of possibilities with our current data.

We encourage scholars to conduct interviews with editors and journalists to

gain insights into who is actually doing the reporting, what kinds of events

are reported on, how ownership affects editorial decisions and what journalistic

practices might advantage the reporting of certain types of events over others

to gain a better understanding of how news and our sense of reality are

constructed.

Acknowledgement

This research is supported by funding from the American Sociological

Association, National Science Foundation and Russell Sage Foundation.

About the Authors

Dina Okamoto is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of

California, Davis. Her research focuses on understanding group formation

and boundary change in the United States, which has broader implications for

immigrant incorporation as well as intergroup conflict and cooperation. Her

current projects examine the civic and political incorporation of immigrants in

new destinations in the United States, the conditions under which Asian-origin

groups organize and act upon a panethnic identity and the role of community-

based organizations in the lives of immigrant youth.

Kim Ebert is Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology and

Anthropology at North Carolina State University. Her research examines the

role of racial-political organizations in challenging and maintaining racial and

ethnic inequalities. In another project, funded by the Russell Sage Foundation,

she and Dr. Dina Okamoto use an original longitudinal data set to analyze

immigrant collective action in US new immigrant destinations. Extending this

project, she is examining the relationship between immigrant collective action

and residential patterns of established residents in the Research Triangle.

Okamoto et al

238 r 2011 Macmillan Publishers Ltd. 1476-3435 Latino Studies Vol. 9, 2/3, 219–241

Carla Violet completed her BA in Sociology and a minor in Spanish from the

University of California, Davis in 2008. She plans to pursue a Master’s degree in

Urban Planning. Her research interests include the impact of social change

organizations for youth and sustainable economic growth in urban cities. After

completing her MA, she will focus on community development projects and

the revitalization of inner cities through the principles of “smart growth.” Carla

currently works in Oakland as a contracts manager for Energy Solutions, an

energy efficient consulting firm.

References

Arroyo, B. 2000. TRAZAN sentimiento latino: Doce artistas locales presentan lo mejor desus trabajos en ‘The Contemporary Latino Masters’ en The Modern Art Gallery.La Opinion, 10 September: 1F.

Benjamin-Alvarado, J., L. DeSipio and C. Montoya. 2008. Latino Mobilization in NewImmigrant Destinations the Anti-HR 4437 Protest in Nebraska’s Cities. Urban AffairsReview 44: 718–735.

Block, M. and D.J. Spanish. 2006. Organizes Immigration-Reform Protests. NPR-AllThings Considered, 28 March.

Brown Rodriguez, A. 2000a. Escuchan a obreros: Trabajadores dan testimonios sobre laexplotacion a que son sometidos. Mundo Hispanico, 27 April: 3.

Brown Rodriguez, A. 2000b. Orientan a trabajadores hispanos. Mundo Hispanico,23 March: 6.

Chronis, P.G. 2000. Denver Police Squelch Protest Over Fatal Raid. The Denver Post, 22February: A1.

Coutin, S.B. and P.P. Chock. 1997. Your Friend, the Illegal: Definition and Paradox inNewspaper Accounts of US Immigration Reform. Identities 2(1–2): 123–148.

Davila, A. 2000. Talking Back: Hispanic Media and US Latinidad. Centro Journal 12: 37–47.

DeSipio, L. and J.R. Henson. 1997. Cuban Americans, Latinos, and the Print Media:Shaping Ethnic Identities. The Harvard International Journal of Press/Politics 2: 52.

Dulcan, E. 2006. A Content Analytic Comparison of News Frames in English- and Spanish-Language Newspapers. Master’s Thesis, University of Missouri, Columbia.

Entmann, R.M. 2007. Framing Bias: Media in the Distribution of Power. Journal ofCommunication 57: 163–173.

Flores, L.A. 2003. Constructing Rhetorical Borders: Peons, Illegal Aliens, and CompetingNarratives of Immigration. Critical Studies in Media Communication 20: 362–387.

Fowler, E.F., M. Hale and T. Olsen. 2009. Spanish-and English-Language Local TelevisionCoverage of Politics and the Tendency to Cater to Latino Audiences. The HarvardInternational Journal of Press/Politics 14: 232.

Gehring, K. 2000. Vigil for Mena. The Denver Post, 1 March: B9.

Gibson, C. and K. Jung. 2006. Historical Census Statistics on the Foreign-Born Populationof the United States: 1850–2000. Washington, DC: US Census Bureau. PopulationDivision, Working Paper no. 81.

Gutierrez, F. 1977. Spanish-Language Media in America: Background, Resources, History.Journalism History 4: 34–41.

Coverage of Latino/a collective action

239r 2011 Macmillan Publishers Ltd. 1476-3435 Latino Studies Vol. 9, 2/3, 219–241

Guzman, I.M. 2006. Competing Discourses of Community: Ideological Tensions BetweenLocal General-Market and Latino News Media. Journalism 7: 281.

Hale, M., T. Olsen and E.F. Fowler. 2009. A Matter of Language or Culture: Coverage ofthe 2004 US Elections on Spanish-and English-Language Television. Mass Commu-nication and Society 12: 26–51.

Herman, E.S. and N. Chomsky. 1988. Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy ofthe Mass Media. New York: Pantheon Books.

Hernandez, D. 2006. How Media & Immigrant Advocates Built the Protest. Against theCurrent 21: 7.

Hing, B. and K.R. Johnson. 2006. The Immigrant Rights Marches of 2006 and theProspects for a New Civil Rights Movement. Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties LawReview 42: 99–138.

Infante, V. 2000. Estudiantes discuten valor del voto latino. La Opinion, 26 October: 4B.

Iyengar, S. 1991. Is Anyone Responsible?: How Television Frames Political Issues. Chicago,IL: University of Chicago Press.

Kondo, A. 2000. Young Latino Leaders Urge Students to Vote in Election; Politics:They Strike a Chord with Audience in Recounting Stories at Registration Rally.Los Angeles Times, 26 October: B12.

La Opinion. 2010. History of La Opinion: Adelante! Today and Beyond. La Opinion –2010 Media Kit. http://www.laopinion.com/mediakit/about/history/page_05.html,accessed 23 June 2010.

Lao-Montes, A. and A.M. Davila. 2001. Mambo Montage: The Latinization of New York.New York: Columbia University Press.

Lynch, M., K. Branch and J. Tafani. 2000. Panelas Urges Demonstrators to Stay Calm. TheMiami Herald 8 April: IA.

Matus, A. 2000. Claman por una amnistıa para trabajadores indocumentados. El NuevoHerald 16 October: 4A.

Medina, J. 2000. English-Only Foes: Plan Cheats Kids Educators, Parents Protest atConference. The Denver Post, 2 July: B5.

Munoz, L. 2000. Women Emerging as the Stars of Latino International Film Fest. LosAngeles Times, 17 July: F1.

Oboler, S. 1995. Ethnic Labels, Latino Lives: Identity and the Politics of (re) presentationin the United States. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.

Okamoto, D.G. 2003. Toward a Theory of Panethnicity: Explaining Asian AmericanCollective Action. American Sociological Review 68: 811–842.

Okamoto, D.G. and K. Ebert. 2010a. Beyond the Ballot: Immigrant Collective Action inGateways and New Destinations. Social Problems 57(4): 529–558.

Okamoto, D.G. and K. Ebert. 2010b. Social Citizenship, Integration, and CollectiveAction: Immigrant Civic Engagement in the U.S. Presented at American SociologicalAssociation Meetings, Atlanta, GA.

Oliver, P.E. and G.M. Maney. 2000. Political Processes and Local Newspaper Coverage ofProtest Events: From Selection Bias to Triadic Interactions. American Journal ofSociology 106: 463–505.

Ollman, L. 2000. Art Reviews; Hutton’s Emersonian Notion Can Lead to Daydreaming.Los Angeles Times, 15 September: 20.

Osinski, B. 2000. Labor Forum Backs Illegal Immigrants – The AFL-CIO Now WantsUndocumented Workers to Have a Union Card. Atlanta-Journal Constitution, 30 April: G1.

Okamoto et al

240 r 2011 Macmillan Publishers Ltd. 1476-3435 Latino Studies Vol. 9, 2/3, 219–241

Padin, J.A. 2005. The Normative Mulattoes: The Press, Latinos, and the Racial Climate onthe Moving Immigration Frontier. Sociological Perspectives 48: 49–75.

Rich, B. and M. Miranda. 2005. The Sociopolitical Dynamics of Mexican Immigration inLexington, Kentucky, 1997 to 2002: An Ambivalent Community Responds. InNew Destinations: Mexican Immigration in the United States, eds. V. Zuniga andR. Hernandez-Leon. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.

Rodriguez, A. 1999. Making Latino News: Race, Language, Class. Thousand Oaks, CA:Sage Publications.

Ross, K. 2000. Dominicans’ Music Salutes Traditions. The Miami Herald, 14 August: IC.

Salinas, A. 2000. Viva la celebracion! A partir de la 11:00 de la manana inicia la FiestaBroadway en el centro de Los Angeles. La Opinion, 30 April: 1F.

Sampson, R.J., D. McAdam, H. MacIndoe and S. Weffer. 2005. Civil Society Reconsidered:The Durable Nature and Community Structure of Collective Civic Action. AmericanJournal of Sociology 111: 673–714.

Santa Ana, O. 2002. Brown Tide Rising: Metaphoric Representations of Latinos inContemporary Public Discourse. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.

Santa Ana, O., S.L. Trevino, M.J. Bailey, K. Bodossian and A. de Necochea. 2008. A Mayto Remember. Du Bois Review: Social Science Research on Race 4: 207–232.

Singer, A. 2004. The Rise of New Immigrant Gateways. Washington, DC: The BrookingsInstitution Center on Urban and Metropolitan Policy.

Sizemore, D.S. 2004. Ethnic Inclusion and Exclusion: Managing the Language of HispanicIntegration in a Rural Community. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography 33: 534–570.

Smith, J., J.D. McCarthy, C. McPhail and B. Augustyn. 2001. From Protest to AgendaBuilding: Description Bias in Media Coverage of Protest Events in Washington, D.C.Social Forces 79: 1397–1423.

Staff. 2000. Departamento de adquisicion del ingles celebra los estudiantes del ano. La VozNueva, 24 May: 8.

Suro, R. 2004. Changing Channels and Crisscrossing Cultures: A Survey of Latinos on theNews Media. Washington, DC: Pew Hispanic Center.

Travierso, M. 2000. Reunen firmas para solicitar que se legalice el status de losColombianos. El Nuevo Herald, 6 February: 2A.

Utset, J. and R. Ferreira. 2000. De la protesta cıvica al jubilo popular. El Nuevo Herald,9 January.

Vargas, L. 1995. Genderizing Latino News: A Content and Textual Analysis of a LocalNewspaper’s Coverage of Latino Current Affairs. School of Journalism and MassCommunication. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina.

Velez, V., L. Perez Huber, C. Benavides Lopez, A. de la Luz and D. Solorzano. 2008.Battling for Human Rights and Social Justice: A Latina/o Critical Race Media Analysisof Latina/o Student Youth Activism in the Wake of 2006 Anti-Immigrant Sentiment.Social Justice 35: 7–27.

Verdes, P. 2000. Protestan por detencion de trabajadores. Mundo Hispanico, 10 August: 3.

Wallace, S.B. 2000. Rally Demonstrates a Disdain for Police. The Denver Post, 6 February: B6.

Waters, M.C. and T.R. Jimenez. 2005. Assessing Immigrant Assimilation: New Empiricaland Theoretical Challenges. Annual Review of Sociology 31(1): 105–125.

Whoriskey, P. 2000. Otros grupos apoyan a Reno. El Nuevo Herald, 30 April: 1A.

Yanez, L. 2000. People Call for Amnesty, New Lives Immigrants’ Rally Echoes US Trend.The Miami Herald, 16 October: 1B.

Coverage of Latino/a collective action

241r 2011 Macmillan Publishers Ltd. 1476-3435 Latino Studies Vol. 9, 2/3, 219–241