We Speak Your Language: How Bilingual Journalism Is Practiced in the American West
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University of Nevada, Reno We Speak Your Language: How Bilingual Journalism is Practiced in the American West A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts in Journalism, Spanish, and the Honors Program by Natalie Van Hoozer Dr. Donica Mensing, Thesis Advisor May, 2018 UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA RENO THE HONORS PROGRAM We recommend that the thesis prepared under our supervision by NATALIE VAN HOOZER Entitled We Speak Your Language: How Bilingual Journalism is Practiced in the American West be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of BACHELOR OF ARTS, JOUNALISM AND SPANISH ______________________________________________ Donica Mensing, Ph.D., Thesis Advisor ______________________________________________ Tamara Valentine, Ph. D., Director, Honors Program May, 2018 i Abstract More Hispanics now live in the United States than ever before (Flores, 2017), with the total number of Hispanics in the U.S. projected to grow to 199 million by 2060 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2014). Spanish is the second most dominant language in the country after English (Gonzalez-Barrera & Lopez, 2013). These trends have prompted increased interest in bilingual Spanish-English journalism in the news media. The goal of this study was to analyze how bilingual journalists working in areas with high concentrations of English and Spanish speakers serve diverse audiences. The research question for this project is therefore: How are bilingual journalists responding linguistically and culturally to the needs of a growing bilingual Spanish-speaking audience? To address this question, in-depth interviews were conducted with 11 Spanish- English bilingual journalists in Los Angeles and San Francisco, two areas with large Spanish-speaking populations. Through these interviews, the reporting practices of journalists who work in print, broadcast and online media were identified. Participants consider bilingualism an important asset for reaching diverse audiences. They believe it is becoming more accepted and noted experiments in Spanglish to reach young Latino audiences. ii Acknowledgements I would first like to thank the journalists who took the time to be interviewed in- person for this project. My deepest gratitude goes to my thesis mentor Dr. Donica Mensing for completing this thesis journey with me. From the day we came up with the project concept all the way to defense, you have provided your insight and always been ready to talk things through. You exemplify positive, firm mentorship. I would also like to thank my family, Terri, Randy, and Samantha Van Hoozer, for helping me with transcriptions when I needed you the most. Many thanks to Janine Warner, David LaFontaine, and Shayne del Cohen for your help and guidance during my visits to your cities. To my international team, Agustina Almirón, Adriana Flecha and Melisa Prior, mil gracias, you made the completion of this project a reality. The travelling to Los Angeles, San Francisco and Austin, Texas, for this thesis project was made possible with the Honors Undergraduate Research Award. iii Table of Contents Abstract ........................................................................................................................... i Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................ ii List of Tables...................................................................................................................v Introduction .....................................................................................................................1 United States Newsrooms Today ..................................................................................3 Business and Political Spanish-English Communication...............................................6 Literature Review ............................................................................................................7 Spanish-English Bilingual News Consumers in the U.S................................................9 Bilingual Journalism .................................................................................................. 12 Methodology ................................................................................................................. 13 Results ........................................................................................................................... 19 Participant Profiles ..................................................................................................... 19 Bilingual Reporters’ Self-perceived Roles .................................................................. 22 The Bilingual Reporting Process ................................................................................ 24 Translation ................................................................................................................. 24 Medium-specific translation challenges. ................................................................. 30 Advantages of Bilingual Journalism ........................................................................... 32 Challenges to Bilingual Journalism ............................................................................ 33 Trends in Bilingual Journalism ................................................................................... 34 Future of Spanish-English Bilingual Media ................................................................ 37 Discussion ..................................................................................................................... 38 What Does it Mean to Be a Bilingual Journalist? ........................................................ 38 What is the Reporter’s Role in Covering Bilingual Communities?.............................. 39 Common Practices for Bilingual Reporting ................................................................ 40 The Purpose of Translation in Bilingual Spanish-English Reporting ........................... 41 A Need for Reporting in Spanish ................................................................................ 42 Should Spanish and English Be Mixed Together as “Spanglish”? ............................... 43 Limitations ................................................................................................................. 44 Future Research ......................................................................................................... 44 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 45 References ..................................................................................................................... 47 iv Appendix A: General interview questions ...................................................................... 53 Appendix B: Interview details ....................................................................................... 54 Appendix C: Annotated interview transcript .................................................................. 55 Appendix D: Screenshot of First Cycle coding organization .......................................... 65 v List of Tables Table 1: Description of Participants Interviewed for this Study………………………....21 Table 2: Languages Used by Reporters for Reporting and Publication………………… 26 1 Introduction The Hispanic population in the United States is increasing in size, economic influence and cultural impact. As of 2016, Hispanics made up 17.8% of the national population (U.S. Census Bureau, 2016a). By 2060, the Hispanic population of the U.S. is projected to be 119 million, or 28.6% of the nation’s population (U.S. Census Bureau, 2014). California has a population of approximately 15.3 million Hispanics (38.9% of the population), the largest Hispanic population in any state (U.S. Census Bureau, 2016b) and greater than the population of many countries in Central America. As the Hispanic population grows in the U.S., understanding the implications of growing diversity on employment, housing, education and public policy, as well as on social cohesion, equal rights and quality of life, becomes increasingly important. News is one primary way in which people learn about others and begin to develop opinions about public policy issues. However, information shared about, and to, the Latino community is not always accurate or even available (Reny & Manzano, 2016). Therefore, in order for society to better respond to the demographic changes happening with the Latino community in the United States, it is vital to have journalists who can operate in the middle space between English and Spanish, the two languages most related to the Latino community. Journalists are needed who can report on the full experience of life in a community, reporting in English on the news experiences of those who only speak Spanish and sharing news of an English-speaking community with those who primarily speak Spanish. Collecting stories from Spanish speaking audiences increases the number and type of sources seen in the news as well as expands the breadth of topics being covered, regardless of whether people are more fluent in English or Spanish. 2 Not all people who classify ethnically as Hispanic or Latino necessarily speak Spanish. However, the Hispanic population as a whole is tied linguistically and culturally to the Spanish language. By the year 2020, the population of Spanish speakers in the United States is expected to increase,