More women, minority reporters on TV
Women and minority reporters have become a great force on broadcast network evening news programs, according to a study released in late February.
Minority reporters made up 14 percent of stories on the ABC, CBS and NBC evening newscasts in 2002, according to the Washington-based Center for Media and Public Affairs study of 12,179 stories. Women reported about 29 percent of those stories.
The CMPA study, which has been released annually since 1990, reported these numbers to be record highs, although minorities also reported 14 percent of stories in 1999. In 1990, the study’s first year, 13 percent of stories were reported by women and 7 percent by minorities.
The most visible female reporter, with 123 evening news stories last year, was NBC’s Andrea Mitchell. The only two black reporters to make it into the top 50 most visible reporters were ABC’s Pierre Thomas and CBS’ Byron Pitts. Two Asian-American reporters, Joie Chen of CBS and John Yang of ABC, made the top 50 busiest reporters list.
Hispanic publications offered free Web sites
Free Web sites will be offered to member newspapers and other publications through a partnership with Hispanic PR Wire and the National Association of Hispanic Publications (NAHP).
Of NAHP’s 214 publications, more than half currently have no Web site, according to Robert Armband, the association’s vice president of marketing and associate publisher of La Raza in Chicago.
“What’s keeping them from going online is, first, the cost of buying software … and second, the time it takes to keep the system maintained. With this Hispanic Digital Network, we’ll give them a manual en espanol, a program easy to get familiar with, and enough tech support that our publishers will feel comfortable migrating online.”
Hispanic Broadcasting to buy radio station
Spanish-language radio station company Hispanic Broadcasting Corp. will buy a radio station that serves the Sacramento, Calif., area for $24 million in cash. Sacramento is one of the fastest growing Hispanic population areas in America.
The company already owns and/or operates 63 radio stations, in English and Spanish-language formats. The leading media company that targets U.S. Hispanics, Univision Communications Inc., is working to acquire Hispanic Broadcasting Corp.
The proposed radio station acquisition by Hispanic Broadcasting Corp. includes a broadcasting tower in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. The tower is leased by the company. The deal should close within the second quarter of 2003.
Procter & Gamble runs prime-time ad in Spanish
A Crest toothpaste ad, for Crest Whitening Plus Scope, was the first Spanish ad by Procter & Gamble Co. during a prime time, general-interest national broadcast. The ad ran during the Grammy Awards and featured a young Hispanic couple and a tag line in English.
Hispanics are now the largest and fastest-growing minority group in America. The ad is part of a continuing effort by P&G to reach the Spanish-speaking market.
“We’re constantly looking for ways to reach out to our Latino market,” said Felisa Insignares of P&G’s multicultural external relations. “We need to make sure we communicate with these consumers who have different levels of acculturation.”
The ad, which includes the tag line in English – “white teeth and fresh breath … in any language” – had aired on Spanish-language television. The English tag line was added for general-market viewing, and was not included in the Spanish-language television version.
The commercial, advertising analysts said, was a daring move for the consumer products giant based in Cincinnati. “The most important factor is that (P&G) has concluded that they are not going to insult English-speakers,” said Arturo Villar, publisher of Hispanic Market Weekly.
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