Women have less presence in political programs … – El Diario NY

The shortage of Latinas affects the understanding of issues that impact them disproportionately, such as access to reproductive health services and wage inequality, according to the analysis

WASHINGTON in an election year in which issues dominate women, they have had less presence in programs political analysis in Hispanic television, according to a report released Monday by the group “Media Matters” .

An analysis between 3 January and 24 April last of the Sunday program “Al Punto” from Univision, and “Focus” Telemundo said a pattern in which women were far less represented than men in the list of invited experts .

in the case of “Al Punto” men appeared in the program at a rate more than three times higher than women, while “Focus”, the frequency of men was more than doubled.

in the quarter under review, 76% of those invited to the program “Al Punto” an hour, were men, while women formed 24%.

the “Focus”

program, half an hour, men were 68% of the guests, and women 32%.

This underrepresentation in the Sunday programs in Spanish is especially notorious, taking into account Latinas “are more involved politically than men” said Martia Teresa Kumar, president of the group “Voto Latino”, focused on mobilizing Hispanic voters.

“Silenced and marginalized”

women make up half the US population and yet are less likely to be included in the dialogue on public policy issues affecting all told this newspaper researcher “Media Matters for America,” Cristina Lopez .

“Some policies actually affect women disproportionately, specifically economic equality and access to reproductive health, and yet their voices are consistently silenced. Closing this gap in its representation in the media could improve the accuracy (coverage) and add a layer of depth to the political discussion “argued López.

Lack representation translates to stories, experiences and unique perspectives of women are simply being marginalized, creating a huge blind spot that affects the political narrative, “said the researcher.

This underrepresentation Latina is particularly alarming since it has also been the pattern in the media programs in English. In 2015, Latina formed just one percent of all guests on the Sunday talk shows in English , even though they are nine percent of the entire population in general.

when consulted, Daniel Coronell, vice president of news for Univision, today told this newspaper that the inclusion of women’s journalism “priority” of the company.

“we will review with much attention the study results. The representation of women has always been a priority for journalistic news Univisión . We will take the appropriate decisions so that every time are better represented, “Coronell said.