Political Shows Lack Latino Voices

*Here’s what works: I wrote a weekly opinion column for the San Antonio Light and later for the San Antonio Express News for a total of 20 years. I got the opportunity because another columnist, Carlos Guerra, helped me from within – the old bring-someone-up-with-you adage. Those fee Latino/as who already have a place on the Sunday morning shows can use their seats on the panels to apply needed pressure to get more Latino/as in the seats next to them. They can refuse to be “tokens,” demand more Latino/as, help the producers find them. It’s possible. VL


Latino_magazineBy Patricia Guadalupe, Latino Magazine

They’ve been called the front lines of political discussion, yet Sunday morning talk shows such as CBS’s Face the Nation, NBC’s Meet the Press, ABC’s This Week, and CNN’s State of the Union continue to lack a Latino presence.

These programs, say media observers, are where the news of the previous week is digested and analyzed, and where the stage is set for the following week’s news cycle. Several Latinos and Latinas have appeared and continue to appear on those shows, including Leslie Sánchez, Ana Navarro, Alex Castellanos, Maria Hinojosa, and María Cardona. Cardona, Sanchez and Navarro appear on CNN. Hinojosa and Castellanos can be seen on NBC.

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But media advocates say it’s hardly enough.

Media Matters issues reports on diversity in the media, and looked at Latinos on the Sunday political shows, finding that Latino guests on these shows are few and far between . . . READ MORE



[Photo courtesy NBC News]

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