The Largest Latino Market in U.S. is nearly 50% Latino, yet Newsrooms Fail to Represent that Reality

CCNMA, the oldest Latino journalist association in the United States, conducted an audit of the L.A. market and found that TV and print newsrooms fall short in their representation of Latinos.

Los Angeles - CCNMA Latino Journalists of California concluded its 2022 audit of the largest Latino market in the United States  and found that English-language stations fail to represent the Latino community and have no Latino news anchors on their marque 11 p.m. weeknight newscasts.

“It’s not just the big 11 p.m. newscasts. Throughout the week English-language news stations fail to reflect the community they serve,” said Laurie Ochoa, CCNMA President. “The Los Angeles DMA is 48% Latino, with the vast majority being English-dominant bilingual, English-language newscasts over index on almost every other demographic except the largest one: Latinos."

During the audit, from January to June of 2022, CCNMA examined all five news stations in the Los Angeles market. The market, which covers five counties and more than 17 million people, is 48% Latino, 34% White, 13% AAPI, 6% Black and 1% other.

Even though Latinos are the clear majority, the three network owned and operated stations did not have a Latino news or weather anchor on their highly rated 11 p.m. weeknight newscasts.

KTLA, the Nexstar owned-and-operated station and number one station in the market, did not have a Latino news anchor on its 11 p.m. or 10 p.m. newscasts. KTLA has the smallest representation of Latinos on-air. Just 15% of its on-air staff identify as Latino. 

Of the 14 hours of news KTLA produces weekdays, only one hour is anchored by a Latino. A Latina anchors the weather desk for four hours during weekday newscasts.

Up until October 2022, one Latina anchored the weekend morning news desk. 

The audit found that 60% of KTLA’s on-air staff identifies as White, 15% Latino, 11.5% Black and 11.5% AAPI.

KTLA has added new Latino hires since October 2022, but declined to meet with CCNMA.

As for the network owned and operated stations, KNBC, the NBC O&O, has the largest Latino on-air representation in the English-language market. 31% of KNBC ’s on-air staff identify as Latino. (Recent 2023 Latino hires now puts that number at 34%)

Still, during its marque 11pm newscast, there is not a Latino on the news desk or in the field in a permanent role. In 2023, a Latino was promoted to the Monday-Friday Sports anchor desk.

Latinas anchor the morning news and weather desks.

All of KNBC’s weekend newscasts, morning and evening, are permanently anchored by Latinos on the news desk. A Latina anchors the weekend weather desk as well.

The breakdown of on-air staff at KNBC is 31% Latino (34% updated in May 2023), 28% White, 22% AAPI and 17% Black.

KNBC leadership met with CCNMA in 2023 and over several years to discuss representation. Leadership has made significant increases over the last decade, recently adding a Latina anchor to the afternoon line-up for the first time in more than a decade,

At 11pm, KCBS, the CBS O&O station, also does not have a single Latino presence on the news, weather or sports anchor desks. It does rotate Latino reporters throughout its 11pm newscast.

During the audit time period, KCBS also does not have a permanent Latino anchor on any of its afternoon weekday newscasts.

It does have three Latino and Latina news/traffic anchors during its morning newscasts and KCAL morning newscasts. 

KCAL has one permanent Latino anchor on its prime-time newscast.

The duopoly has tied KTLA with the smallest representation of on-air Latino talent at just 15%. The two stations on-air staff is 44% White, 22% Black, 19% AAPI and 15% Latino.

CCNMA has met with news leadership and hopes to continue our relationship to increase representation.

The ABC owned and operated station, KABC, also fails to represent Latinos on the anchor desk at 11pm. There are no Latinos on either the news, weather or sports desks at 11pm Monday-Friday.

KABC has two Latino anchors on weekday afternoon and early evening newscasts.

Latinos represent 29% of the overall KABC on-air staff. White on-air staff accounts for 42%, AAPI is 16% and 13% are Black.

CCNMA is expecting to meet with  leadership over the next several months.

KTTV, the Fox owned and operated station, has two Latino anchors during Monday-Friday newscasts. One of which anchors KTTV's marquee 10 p.m. newscast.

Latinos represent 28% of KTTV’s on-air staff while 34% are White, 19% are Black and 19% are AAPI.

CCNMA is expecting to meet with new leadership at KTTV over the next several months.

“It's astonishing that Latinos are not playing larger, critical roles in each of these stations at all levels,” said Mekahlo Medina, CCNMA executive director. “While our audit did not take into account Latinos in editorial management roles, our initial research indicates those numbers are also low. By adding more Latinos to the anchor desk and editorial roles, these stations have a great opportunity to authentically reflect the community they cover. It’s also smart business to reflect those consumers in the content they create. We, at CCNMA, are always willing to discuss the diversity issue and be a resource to help better fill the voids.” 

CCNMA has looked at the representation of the largest newspaper in the market, the Los Angeles Times. Prior to recently announced layoffs, the LA Times had 22% of its staff that identified as Latinos. After the announced layoffs, those numbers are now 20%. The owner of the Times, Patrick Soon-Shiong, has vowed to increase Latino representation to 25% by 2025.

CCNMA has recently met with leadership and they said they remain committed to the 25% goal. CCNMA will continue to work with them on reaching those goals in areas of growth for the organization. We also continued to push for parity in the largest Latino market in the country.

Our research also included a look at Latinos in the market which accounts for 17 million people. Of the 8.8 million who identified as Latinos, the vast majority, 84%, identified as Mexican, Mexican-American or of Mexican heritage. 10% identified as Salvadoran, 5% Guatemalan, 1% Puerto Rican and/or other.

More than 80% of Latinos say they are bilingual, English dominant–using English at least 51% of their day. The bilingual demographic represents 40% of all people in the market. 

Correction: July 15th 2023.

A previous version of the story stated the 11pm KNBC newscast did not have a Latino in studio. While during the audit period of Jan-June 2022, there were no Latinos in studio at 11pm, a Latino was promoted to the main Sports anchor desk in 2023.