Single Issue Syndrome: How Sunday Shows Undermine Hispanic Inclusion
As its moniker suggests, the ImmigrationProf blog focuses on immigration matters. Latinos as a group are concerned with immigration but, as this Media Matters report suggests, that is not the only issue about which the group cares deeply.
Media Matters analyzed discussions on seven English-language Sunday shows — ABC’s This Week, CBS’ Face the Nation, Fox Broadcasting Co.‘s Fox News Sunday, NBC’s Meet the Press, CNN’s State of the Union, and MSNBC‘s Up with Steve Kornacki and Melissa Harris-Perry — and the two most important Spanish-language Sunday shows — Telemundo’s Enfoque and Univision’s Al Punto. The analysis covered 18 weeks of shows, which included the peak of the 2014 midterm election season and its aftermath. These shows affect the political agenda and policy conversations — conversations that become increasingly important in election season.
This analysis highlights two symptoms of this single-issue syndrome on Hispanic inclusion. On English-language shows, Hispanic guests are treated as experts in only one subject, rarely invited to discuss issues other than immigration, and the Spanish-language shows prioritize immigration coverage over discussions of other issues that Latinos have identified as important to them.
KJ