Summer Blog One

For an analysis of media coverage of Latinos, I chose to focus on three articles from the Seattle Times and three from the LA Times. I chose these two areas of coverage because I was curious to see if coverage differed between two typically “liberal” areas – but with only one of which containing a significant Latino presence.

The first article from the LA Times is headlined: Irvine Man Accused of Hate Crime Against Latinos. The fact that the editors chose to identify Latinos as victims in the headline demonstrates, I think, that they believe the race of the victims is significant, and even that racially motivated crimes might be a problem in LA. The story went on to further show this understanding in a well researched article that made a strong case that the crime was in fact a hate crime.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/06/irvine-man-accused-of-hate-crime-against-latinos.html

The second two articles from the LA Times also displayed a deep understanding of the Latino presence in Los Angeles by carefully and sensitively identifying Latinos when the distinction is significant to the story or community. One of the articles mentions a “Latino man” in its description of a homicide suspect, but not until a lower paragraph of the article. This shows that the editors believed that the fact the man was Latino mattered to his description, but not enough to label him “Latino” in the headline.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/06/homicide-report-17-killings-last-week-in-la-county-four-officerinvolved-shootings.html

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/immigration/la-me-0602-arizona-boycott-20100602,0,2153405.story

The three articles from the Seattle Times all deal with an alleged beating of a Latino man by Seattle police officers that was caught on tape. The first article covers backlash by the Latino community and with a calling by “Latino leaders” and civil rights groups for the officers involved to be fired. I found it interesting that the writer made the distinction between Latino and civil rights leaders. The second article details a probe into the incident by the police department. It quotes the mayor expressing concern about the incident and also a damning quote from the video by a police detective threatening to beat the victim. The third article is a letter from an editor of the newspaper expressing the paper’s determination to cover stories like this one that threaten minorities.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/northwestvoices/2011888815_seattlepoliceofficersrespondtovideoshowingabuseoflatinoman.html

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/theblotter/2011868728_police_expand_probe_into_offic.html

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2011895998_apwaseattlesuspectkicked.html

I found the coverage by both papers to demonstrate a significant understanding of the issues in each area involving Latinos. Both papers avoiding using specific descriptions like “Mexican” or “Cuban,” instead using the term Latino in all instances. Both papers also seemed to pay particular attention to certain stories specifically because they involved the victimization of minorities.