Ethnic Media 

Some of the largest growth to occur in all categories examined in 
the PEJ report has taken place in the ethnic and alternative media. 

Coming up with a comprehensive look at ethnic media is difficult. 
According to the report's authors, data are limited, and language 
barriers complicate data collection. There are not one or two ethnic 
media outlets, but dozens speaking different languages or dialects. 
Another problem for data collection: many of the ethnic media outlets 
are operated locally, or as small regional operations, making data 
collection difficult. 

But the available data show ethnic media outlets are growing rapidly. 

As the report's authors point out, the nation's ethnic population has 
skyrocketed in the past two decades, and the number of people not 
speaking English at home has grown by 48 percent to 47 million. From 
1980–2000, the percentage of people in the U.S. identifying 
themselves as non-white grew from around 17 percent to more than 24 
percent. During that same time, the Hispanic population doubled. 

That explosive growth in the Hispanic population is reflected in the 
growth of Spanish-speaking media. According to the report, 
circulation of Spanish-language daily newspapers has more than 
tripled in the past 15 years, and ad revenues have grown more than 
sevenfold during that same time. Similar growth has occurred in 
Spanish radio and TV. Such growth has attracted larger companies, 
making Hispanic outlets the only ethnic media to show a high level 
of ownership consolidation. 

Hispanic media have shown the greatest growth in the ethnic category, 
but other ethnic media are also doing well. The report notes growth 
in African-American and Asian media outlets, primarily newspapers. 
But it also points out that unlike Hispanic media, which can address 
its audience in just one language, the Asian press must deal with a 
wide number of languages and dialects. This language barrier, the 
authors indicate, could make it difficult for a national Asian news 
outlet to become viable. 

The same difficulties found in trying to quantify ethnic media, 
including multiple languages, may provide barriers to increased 
environmental coverage. Another factor is the character of the news 
content offered. In many of the ethnic papers, for instance, much of 
the news is focused on events in the home country, leaving less room 
for local environmental news.