Adam J. Segal's Blog

Client News: NBC 12 Richmond reports "Black farmers continue to wait for justice"

2010-04-27T22:39:00.002-04:00

HBO Documentary: Making the Crooked Straight (April 14 at 8:00 pm on HBO2)

2010-04-03T21:08:00.001-04:00

Kathleen Christensen, Ph.D. Discusses New Book "Workplace Flexibility" on C-SPAN's Washington Journal

2010-02-06T19:39:00.003-05:00

Kathleen Christensen, Ph.D., the co-editor of the new book Workplace Flexibility: Realigning 20th-Century Jobs for a 21st-Century Workforce (coming April 2010, Cornell University Press), was on C-SPAN's Washington Journal to discuss the book and the important issue that is getting attention in Washington and around the nation. Christensen's co-editor is Barbara Schneider, Ph.D.

You can watch the video below. The book is available for pre-orders from Cornell Press and Amazon.com.

Client News: National Chanukah Menorah on NBC Nightly News 12.13.09

2009-12-13T21:34:00.003-05:00

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

And local WJLA-TV ABC7 coverage in Washington, DC

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Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

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www.thedailyshow.com

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Client News: Author Amy Dean on C-SPAN to Launch New Book A New New Deal

2009-10-06T11:12:00.000-04:00

C-SPAN | Washington Journal | Labor Day, September 7, 2009
Amy Dean spoke about her book A New New Deal: How Regional Activism Will Reshape the American Labor Movement which looks at the American labor movement, and the efforts to revitalize activism and organized labor. She also responded to telephone calls and electronic communication.

Adam Segal Featured in PR Week's 40 Under 40 for 2009

2009-08-03T19:37:00.003-04:00

I'm honored to announce that I have been included in PR Week's coveted 40 Under 40 list for 2009 that has just been published in the August issue.

In the 40 Under 40 feature PR Week says: "With the many challenges and changes facing the PR industry, talent has never been more important. Whether it's handling a crisis, launching a new product, or winning new business, there are many ways for individuals to make contributions."

The full 40 Under 40 feature is available to subscribers on PR Week's website.

Dr. Jane L. Delgado Featured in Hispanic Magazine's "Women Running the World"

2009-07-13T17:37:00.000-04:00

Dr. Jane L. Delgado, President and CEO of the National Alliance for Hispanic Health is featured in Hispanic Magazine's "Women Running the World" cover story in the July issue now available. The profile focuses on Dr. Delgado's work on Latino health issues, health care policy and environmental policy.

Network TV Coverage of a Heart Health Initiative by the National Alliance for Hispanic Health

2009-05-22T16:34:00.002-04:00

The Rescuers: Heroes of the Holocaust on News8

2009-04-27T15:49:00.001-04:00

The Rescuers: Heroes of the Holocaust on News8

Client News: "A Sea Change" on C-SPAN's Washington Journal

2009-03-21T20:44:00.003-04:00

Filmmakers Barbara Ettinger and Sven Huseby, creators of the powerful documentary film "A Sea Change" which focuses on the issue of ocean acidification, appeared on C-SPAN's Washington Journal, the live national public affairs show, this morning for a half hour segment. Watch the video below and join the "A Sea Change" group on Facebook.

"A Sea Change" Has Giant DC Premiere + Media Attention

2009-03-15T00:17:00.000-04:00

Today's World Premiere of "A Sea Change: Imagine A World Without Fish" - the powerful new documentary film on ocean acidification - was a spectacular event. More than 650 people packed into the Baird Auditorium at the Natural History Museum and many additional people had to be turned away because all the seats and standing room was filled. The theater manager told us it was the largest audience she had ever seen in the auditorium. At the conclusion "A Sea Change" received a huge 5 minute standing ovation!

Check out this awesome coverage of "A Sea Change" from NBC4, the top-rated local TV station in the Washington, DC market. The segment is reported by veteran environmental reporter (and NBC4 news anchor) Wendy Rieger.

The 2050 Group hired by Niijii Films to promote "A Sea Change," the major new documentary feature film

2009-03-01T13:32:00.006-05:00

The 2050 Group, LLC has been hired to publicize "A Sea Change" the powerful new documentary feature film that explores ocean acidification and the impact of CO2 emissions on the fish in the oceans.

"A Sea Change" will have its world premiere at the Environmental Film Festival in the Nation's Capital on Saturday, March 14 at 3:30 pm in the Baird Auditorium at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC. The premiere is FREE!

You can watch the trailer here:

Join the Facebook page for "A Sea Change" here:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=24335660013

CNN: Katrina documentary 'Trouble the Water' vies for Oscar

2009-02-20T09:59:00.001-05:00

CNN has an extensive article online today about "Trouble the Water" which has been nominated for an Academy Award for Documentary Feature. And the the Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles has an article about "Trouble the Water" director/producer Tia Lessin in its special Oscar edition.

Watch the CNN video here:

Video from #obamaweb Event at JHU

2009-02-04T09:12:00.004-05:00

As promised, here is the video from the "Internet Technology in the Obama Age: Helping People Change Government" the inaugural event of the Johns Hopkins University Internet and Mobile Communication Project held at Hopkins in DC on Monday, January 26, 2009.

The event received lively attention on Twitter with people posting using the #obamaweb hash-tag. I (@adamsegal) moderated the event with panelists Greg Elin of Sunlight Fdtn. (@gregelin), Adam Conner of Facebook (@adamconner), Jose Antonio Vargas of The Washington Post (@joseiswriting) and Joe Trippi the author/blogger and Democratic consultant(@joetrippi).

Below are embeds of the six video clips in order that comprise the complete event coverage. Sorry, the video was just too large to post in one segment.

Please feel free to share your comments here.

Part 1 of 6

Part 2 of 6

Part 3 of 6

Part 4 of 6

Part 5 of 6

Part 6 of 6

A huge shout-out to Jason Unger who created and edited this video to make it accessible online.

MICHAEL STEELE ELECTED TO LEAD THE RNC

2009-01-30T16:07:00.003-05:00

MEMBERS OF THE REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE HAVE CHOSEN MICHAEL STEELE (Fmr. MD Lt. Gov.) AS CHAIRMAN. HISTORIC MOMENT, FIRST AFRICAN AMERICAN TO LEAD THE REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE.

GOOD FOR THEM. RIGHT MAN FOR THE TIMES.

Internet Technology in the Obama Age: Helping People Change Government

2009-01-28T12:04:00.003-05:00

This past Monday (Jan. 26th) I hosted a terrific panel event for the Johns Hopkins University Internet and Mobile Communication Project. The event titled "Internet Technology in the Obama Age: Helping People Change Government" was held at the JHU campus in Washington, DC and featured the following speakers:

• Joe Trippi - Joe Trippi and Associates
• Jose Antonio Vargas - The Washington Post
• Adam Conner - Facebook's Washington DC Associate for Privacy and Global Public Policy
• Greg Elin - Chief Evangelist, Sunlight Foundation

We're working on getting the video from the entire event online. And I'll embed the video when it's available.

In the meantime, here is a flash presentation with photos from the event. You may also view them on Flickr here.

TV One Nears 5 Year Anniversary, Coverage of Inauguration

2008-12-29T11:47:00.004-05:00

It's a pretty amazing accomplishment. TV One, the all-cable TV network aimed at the African American population, is nearing it's 5 year anniversary. The students in my ethnic marketing and political communication course at Johns Hopkins University 5 years ago were really excited about this new network and I think it has lived up to a lot of expectations my students shared - most obvious among them was that TV One be a true alternative to BET offering much more programming for people and age-groups uninterested in BET's programming.

The Associated Press has an informative article on the wire now about how TV One and BET are planning to cover the inauguration next month of the first African American President of the United States.

Both are planning extensive coverage for Jan. 20, when Barack Obama is sworn in as the nation's 44th president. While it will be followed as a news event, network executives said the installation of the first black president will be as much a celebration as a story.

Multichannel News appears to have reported on the BET and TV One inauguration plans first.

While final programming lineups were still being finalized at press time, executives from both networks say they're planning unprecedented, around-the-clock coverage of the day-long festivities surrounding the Jan. 20 swearing in of Barack Obama as the nation's 44th and first African-American president.

Washington D.C.-based BET will air a live, four-hour block of ceremonies coverage beginning at noon, according to senior vice president of news and public affairs Keith Brown. In addition, the network will offer primetime, post-inauguration coverage, as well as an inauguration special as part of its popular music-video show 106 & Park.

Also of note, TV One recently announced it's HD channel.

NBC Nightly News and Today Show Carry National Menorah

2008-12-22T10:40:00.006-05:00

The 2050 Group promoted the National Menorah Lighting in Washington, DC for the third year running. And delivered spectacular results. The event was carried on the NBC Nightly News last night and this morning the event was placed onto NBC's Today Show, the best rated national network morning program in America. It also landed on hundreds of TV stations, news websites and in newspapers across the nation.

Here's the entire NBC Nightly News broadcast. See last segment:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

And here's the entire NBC Today show program including the segment with the menorah lighting:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Here's a clip from last night's event from CBS News. The menorah was lit by White House Chief of Staff Joshua B. Bolten and Rabbis Abraham Shemtov, Levi Shemtov and Nachman Holtzberg:

WKRG.com

Ahhh the memories. Here's a flashback to National Menorah 2006 lit with honored guest Ambassador Susan C. Schwab the United States Trade Representative:

WebMD Magazine Names Jane Delgado 2008 Health Hero

2008-11-11T11:45:00.004-05:00

WebMD Magazine announced the 2008 WebMD Health Heroes awards today. Pick a copy of the November/December issue of WebMD the Magazine and you'll see it includes a full-page profile of Jane L. Delgado, the president and CEO of the National Alliance for Hispanic Health for her vision and drive to inspire others to action.

Hispanic Health Pioneer Empowers Urban Children to Clean Up Their Environment

Jane L. Delgado, Ph.D., launched a program for children who live in urban areas called the Health and Environment Action Network. Dr. Delgado's goal is to help clean up some of the nation's dirtiest cities, to give children in these areas a better future. Her program, which launched in 2007, distributes mobile environmental monitors to children in cities including Detroit and Brooklyn. The children use the devices to track area pollutants and the information is reported online at HEANaction.org. Dr. Delgado is also the director of the National Alliance for Hispanic Health in Washington, DC, where she heads up programs to improve the health of Latino youths and families across the country.

Hispanics Have Huge Impact

2008-11-05T23:00:00.001-05:00

Newsweek:

Hispanic voters didn't just leave their mark on this year's presidential election. They decided it. Four states with sizable Hispanic populations that went for Bush in 2004—Florida, Colorado, New Mexico and Nevada—all turned blue this time around, adding 46 crucial electoral votes to the Democratic candidate's winning tally.

Miami Herald:

Obama is first Democrat to win Florida's Hispanic vote.

OBAMA BLOWOUT - TWO-THIRDS OF HISPANICS VOTED FOR OBAMA

2008-11-04T23:17:00.001-05:00

According to the CNN Exit Poll: "Two-thirds of Latino voters nationwide voted for Barack Obama, while 30 percent picked John McCain. In 2004, President Bush captured 40 percent of the Latino vote."

Obama at 78% Support Among Latinos

2008-11-04T09:30:00.002-05:00

Reuters story out this AM shows Obama reaching his own record-high level of support among Hispanics. Florida, Nevada, New Mexico and Colorado will be impacted by this if the numbers are correct.

The Univision/Reuters/Zogby poll released on Tuesday said that 78 percent of a sample of 1,016 Latino likely voters favored Sen. Obama, with 13 percent supporting McCain, an Arizona senator.

The poll, which was conducted between October 30 and November 2, found that 54 percent of respondents said the economy and jobs were the most important issue in deciding who to vote for, followed by health care and immigration, with 12 percent and 11 percent respectively.

RNC Ad - Tormeta

2008-11-03T17:40:00.001-05:00

Obama and McCain to be Profiled on Univision's Sabado Gigante

2008-10-30T17:32:00.004-04:00

Presidential candidates and Senators Obama and McCain will be profiled and will appear, in pre-taped interviews, on Univision's Sabado Gigante this Saturday, November 1st. Further evidence of increasingly aggressive Hispanic outreach efforts in the closing days of the campaign. Here's the announcement in Spanish.

Obama Leading 69-25 Among Hispanics

2008-10-30T16:41:00.001-04:00

CNN's John King says Obama leads among Hispanic voters 69-25 and that they have pushed Nevada in solid Democrat column.

Hispanic Democrats Outnumber Hispanic Republicans in Florida for First Time

2008-10-29T18:08:00.002-04:00

The just found it's way into my in-box:

The Pew Hispanic Center today released a fact sheet about Hispanic registered voters in Florida. Final 2008 general election voter registration figures from Florida, along with recent data from the U.S. Census, show significant changes in both the political leanings and the demographics of Latinos in the electoral-rich Sunshine State. This year more Hispanics in Florida are registered as Democrats (513,252) than as Republicans (445,526). As recently as 2006, the reverse was true: among Latino registered voters in Florida, more were Republican (414,185) than Democratic (369,906).

Do we need any more evidence that Hispanic political demographics have undergone enormous shifts?

Miami Herald Reports on Obama's Spanish-language TV Strategy, Quotes Adam J. Segal

2008-10-28T21:47:00.004-04:00

I'm quoted in a Miami Herald article by reporter Casey Woods about Obama's Spanish-language TV strategy reaching out to Hispanic voters. A similar version of the piece offered up to McClatchy newspapers cites my research with the Hispanic Voter Project at Johns Hopkins University.

Not sure how I missed this. Obama's half hour commercial is also going to run on BET and TV One, two cable channels that reach critical supporters in the African American communities nationwide.

Obama Leading McCain 61 to 29 Among Hispanic Voters

2008-10-28T17:30:00.004-04:00

According to the Gallup Poll, Obama leads McCain among Hispanic voters 61% to 29%.

I think this is actually a slightly conservative estimate. But we'll know more in just one more week. Though I caution, the national exit polls don't always reflect Hispanic vote share correctly and may be upgraded or downgraded within hours, days or weeks as occurred in 2004 when NBC News downgraded Bush's share of the Latino vote from 44% reported on Election Day to 40% after further analysis.

Here's another new Obama ad, "Rising Above," running on Spanish-language television:

Astonishing: Univision Poised to Nearly Double Political Ad Spending Receipts

2008-10-27T16:43:00.007-04:00

Wow. Given the shocking amounts of money (record-breaking) poured in political TV advertising this is not without context. But I find this prediction, that Univision will have nearly doubled political ad spending receipts.

"Univision Communications, the media giant with two broadcast networks, a Web portal and multiple radio stations, expects to sell as much as $20 million in political ads during the second half of 2008 and around $37 million for the entire year, Chief Financial Officer Andrew Hobson told investors in a second-quarter conference call. During the previous presidential election cycle, Univision garnered $16.2 million worth of political ads."

According to USA Today, the AFL-CIO has Spanish-language radio ads on the air.

National Journal reported on a Spanish-language radio ad the Obama campaign has been running.

New Obama Ad, Plan for 30 Minute Ad on Univision Network

2008-10-27T16:31:00.007-04:00

Obama ad released today - candidate speaks in Spanish during the entire 30 second spot, wow

Also today... the Obama campaign announced half-hour network ad on Univision. Here's the Washington Post's Ed O'Keefe: The "Barack Obama campaign will air a Spanish-language version of its 30-minute infomercial on Wednesday night on Univision, the highest-rated Spanish language television network."

Did he really? Obama says McCain's attacks are "loco."

Maybe a reference to McCain attacks in Spanish brochure for "serious Christians."

Recent Spanish-Language TV Ads from the Presidential Candidates

2008-10-26T09:07:00.004-04:00

Recent positive Obama ad "Opportunidad" and get out the vote (GOTV) video aimed at Latino voters in Nevada

McCain's latest Spanish-language TV attack/negative ads "Riesgo" (Risk) and below that is "Fraudulent"

And a negative "documentary" web video asking Latinos of Chicago "Where is Obama?"

And previously, Obama's negative/attack ads "Dos Caras" (a repost on this blog) and "No Hay Mayor Obligacion" which ran in Florida, New Mexico, Nevada and Colorado

OBAMA HITS BACK AT MCCAIN ON IMMIGRATION, IN SPANISH

2008-09-17T17:01:00.002-04:00

The Washington Post has an extensive report on this new spot and the context.

McCain's Latest Spanish-Language TV/Web Spot Slams Obama on Immigration

2008-09-15T18:10:00.006-04:00

The Washington Post reports on the McCain immigration ad here.

Wow. The New York Times Editorial Board asks: What’s Spanish for “Lies”?. The Times says the McCain spot is "fraudulent."

Meanwhile, I'm quoted in recent stories about Hispanic outreach by the presidential campaigns including today's edition of the Las Vegas Review-Journal and the Las Vegas Sun from Sunday.

Minority Media and Convention Coverage

2008-08-31T19:36:00.001-04:00

The New York Times has a lengthy piece on how minority media organizations and foreign media have been covering the presidential conventions.

Adam Segal Featured on JHU's Great Ideas Podcast

2008-08-25T19:20:00.004-04:00

I had the honor of serving as the guest scholar on the latest edition of the monthly Johns Hopkins University Great Ideas Podcast. It's a huge honor to be asked to participate in this podcast.

August 2008: Adam Segal, who teaches in the Master of Arts in Communication program in the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences Advanced Academic Programs, is watching two key developments in this year's presidential campaign: outreach to Hispanic voters and increased use of interactive technology to market candidates.

In related news, I finished grading the massive stack of final papers for the students in my Internet Strategies course at JHU in Washington, DC this summer!

"TV One-Dimensional" Politically

2008-08-21T20:25:00.003-04:00

Michael E. Ross has a really interesting column today on TheRoot.com about cable TV network TV-One's decision to only cover the Democratic convention, where the Party will nominate its first African American presidential nominee, and the criticism it has received.

On a recent broadcast of "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," the host launched into his opening monologue with customary snark. But instead of riffing on a celebrity, he detoured and took on Johnathan Rodgers, the CEO and president of the black cable network TV One. Rodgers had recently announced that his channel planned to cover only the Democratic National Convention, which begins in Denver on Monday, and not the Republican convention, in Minneapolis-St. Paul in September.

Hispanic Athletes Are 4% of Olympians

2008-08-20T20:09:00.007-04:00

Associated Press reports "Hispanic growth not reflected on US Olympic squad"

an Associated Press review found only about two-dozen Hispanic athletes on the nearly 600-member U.S. team - roughly 4 percent. By contrast, African-Americans, who make up 13.5 percent of the population, hold more than 120 spots on the team. More than half the 126 U.S. track-and-field athletes are black; only two - distance runners Leonel Manzano and Jorge Torres - are Hispanic.

Meanwhile, Telemundo is raking in millions of viewers during the Olympics, reports MediaWeek:

NBC-owned Hispanic broadcast network Telemundo, over the first 10 days of Summer Olympics coverage from Beijing, has drawn a total of 12 million unique persons, already surpassing the audience for the entire run of coverage for the 2004 Summer Olympic games on Telemundo, by 12 percent.

AOL has a Spanish-language blog, Fanáticos, devoted to the Olympics with coverage of the Hispanic American athletes.

Jacoby: The myth of the white minority

2008-08-20T17:32:00.002-04:00

This is an interesting one...

Jeff Jacoby's column in the Boston Globe: "The myth of the white minority"

Here's an excerpt:

But there was another problem with all this coverage of how white America is becoming a minority: The Census Bureau never said it.

You can see the numbers for yourself on the Census Bureau website. In a spreadsheet titled "Projections of the Population by Race and Hispanic Origin for the United States: 2008 to 2050," the bureau forecasts a rise in the number of whites from about 243 million today to 325 million at midcentury - an increase of 82 million. A related spreadsheet gives the percentages: Whites today account for nearly 80 percent of the US population. In 2050, they'll constitute 74 percent - still a very hefty majority.

So what explains the persistent drumbeat about the impending white minority? A statistical distortion: the exclusion of Hispanic whites. If only non-Hispanic whites are counted, the white population today amounts to 66 percent of the total, and will hit around 46 percent by 2050.

Let me know what you think about his view.

RISE UP MAGAZINE REACHES MILESTONE: 7 SUCCESSFUL ISSUES

2008-08-14T17:35:00.002-04:00

If you have not yet had the chance the check out Rise Up Magazine, you must.

I found the cover story two weeks ago on "Melting Pot Metros and the Ever-Evolving American Dream" to be quite interesting and was amazed how timely it was given today's news from the U.S. Census Bureau showing the accelerated demographic shifts that are occurring in the U.S.

Strangely, the website for Rise Up lists The Washington Post as a participating paper but I've yet to see it inserted in the paper. Here's the full list of papers Rise Up says it places its magazine in:

- Atlanta Sunday Paper
- Chicago Sun-Times
- Chicago Tribune
- Cincinnati Enquirer
- Kansas City Star
- Los Angeles News
- Louisville Courier
- McComb Enterprise
- New York Daily News
- Philadelphia Media News
- St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- Washington Post

U.S. BECOMES MAJORITY MINORITY BY 2042

2008-08-13T19:52:00.017-04:00

Newsday has apparently broken a strict embargo from the U.S. Census Bureau (a top national news organization was holding for 12:01 am but may now release). This is very news worthy info - though no shock to many of us.

The most important point is the rapid Hispanic population growth and the fact that the projections move the date of this dramatic demographic shift a full EIGHT YEARS SOONER than the last estimates.

Looks like I may need to change the name of my PR and multicultural marketing agency from The 2050 Group to The 2042 Group or maybe something safer like... well you get the point.

These demographic changes, in the coming decades, will mean enormous changes in minority political and economic/consumer strength not to mention that they could result in significant social/cultural changes. How corporations and the government reach minority communities will obviously become more important aspects of their work.

Excerpts from the Newsday report:

In a new report out Thursday, the U.S. Census Bureau projects the nation will become much more diverse by midcentury, with minorities forecast to become the majority population by 2042, experts said.

and another excerpt from the report on Newsday.com:

The Census Bureau projects that minorities, now roughly one-third of the nation's population, will become the majority by 2042, and grow to 54 percent by 2050. Hispanics are projected to nearly triple their numbers -- rising from an estimated 46.7 million today to just under 133 million by 2050, out of a projected total U.S. population of 439 million.

The black population is expected to rise from 41.1 million, or 14 percent of the nation's population today, to 65.7 million, or 15 percent by 2050. The Asian population is projected to rise from 15.5 million people now, or 5.1 percent of the U.S. population, to 40.6 million, or 9.2 percent, by 2050.

UPDATE: Drudgereport is now linking to the Newsday article as its top story.

UPDATE2: I shortened the excerpt. Anyone who reads this should go to the Newsday site to read the complete article. Perhaps others will have posted by the time you read this.

UPDATE3: Presumably four hours early, Associated Press has posted its story. Perhaps a longer version will post soon. In the meantime, here's the headlines from The Washington Post page with the AP story: "White Americans no longer a majority by 2042."

UPDATE4: CNN.com has a lengthy story on this new report and deals with the role immigration and birth rates play in the estimates.

UPDATE5: The New York Times and other national news organizations are reporting on these data this morning. I found this comment on the rapid demographic changes in the Times piece to be interesting:

“No other country has experienced such rapid racial and ethnic change,” said Mark Mather, a demographer with the Population Reference Bureau, a research organization in Washington.

UPDATE6: And this USA Today story quotes a Pew spokesperson on the impact immigration has had on these new numbers:

Jeffrey Passel, senior demographer at the Pew Hispanic Center, says the earlier projections were low because they underestimated immigration. "We've measured a much higher immigration in the '90s," he says. "In this decade, those high levels continued."

Award-Winning Film "Trouble the Water" to Open in Washington, DC Next Month

2008-08-05T10:13:00.003-04:00

The 2050 Group has been hired to promote the DC opening of the film "Trouble the Water," the Sundance 2008 Grand Jury Prize Winner for Documentary. This is a good summary of the film:

The film tells the story of an aspiring rap artist and her streetwise husband, trapped in New Orleans by deadly floodwaters, who survive the storm and then seize a chance for a new beginning. It’s a redemptive tale of self-described street hustlers who become heroes that takes you inside Hurricane Katrina in a way never before seen on screen.

Check out the trailer:

And join the "Trouble the Water" group on Facebook.

eMarketer Report Shows Huge Growth in Hispanics Online

2008-07-31T18:22:00.002-04:00

MediaWeek reports on a new report showing significant growth in the number of Hispanics that are online.

In 2008, eMarketer estimates there are 23 million Hispanics online, about 52% of the US Hispanic population, but widening cultural and language fragmentation makes reaching them a challenge. And as the population grows, so will the problem. By 2012, nearly 30 million US Hispanics will be online. Many of them will be native-born Hispanics rather than immigrants.

OBAMA/DNC TO INVEST $20 MILLION IN HISPANIC OUTREACH

2008-07-29T11:14:00.009-04:00

The Washington Post's Shalaigh Murray reports today on "$20 million investment in Hispanic voter mobilization" by the DNC and Obama for America.

The DNC put out an advisory saying they will, this afternoon, "hold a conference call to discuss the historic and unprecedented announcement that the Democratic campaign will commit $20 million to mobilizing Hispanic voters."

Since when does the DNC have a massive cash-flow to invest in what essentially has become a Democratic Party base vote this cycle? Sure the Obama campaign has already invested millions in Hispanic voter outreach starting in the primaries. But this announcement makes me wonder if when they say $20 million they really mean something else. Perhaps the fact that most Democratic fundraising dollars are going to the Obama and DNC operations, instead of the shadowy 527s of yesteryear, means this is the total consolidated effort on the Democratic side. Still, it would represent well more than double any previous effort. Yes, as the advisory say, it would be "historic."

What's the McCain campaign/RNC to do now?

UPDATE: 4:10 pm

AP put out a big national story on the wire about this announcement.

The campaign said the $20 million will be spent on registering and mobilizing voters, advertisements and online organizing.

I've received calls from reporters with La Opinion and South Florida Sun-Sentinel about this effort, a little evidence of the excitement this announcement is stirring up.

UPDATE: 5:15 pm

The Obama campaign is really playing up the historic-money angle, according to the DNC press release:

The unprecedented $20 million commitment to engage and mobilize Hispanics will include voter mobilization, voter registration, online organizing, community outreach and paid advertising. Part of the effort will also include "Camp Obama" trainings around the country, which will empower Hispanics with the organizing tools and information they need to engage and turn out voters in their home neighborhoods and states. Both the Obama campaign and the Democratic National Committee also have Hispanic staff involved at every level of the campaign, from field organizers to senior roles.

Senator Barack Obama's campaign has already spent more on Hispanic outreach than any presidential campaign before it, and now the Obama campaign and the Democratic National Committee will join together in this unprecedented initiative to continue promoting engagement and mobilization among Hispanic voters and build on already overwhelming Hispanic support for the Democratic party and Senator Obama.

And this comes as no surprise, Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) members applaud the $20 million announcement.

UPDATE: 7:40 pm

Obama campaign and DNC have been citing my Hispanic Voter Project research. See this from NBC News First Read blog.

The New York Times blog "The Caucus" cites our research in a post about today's announcement:

The D.N.C. and the Obama campaign will jointly finance the effort. They noted that the $20 million sum was more than double what the Bush and Kerry campaigns spent altogether on Hispanic outreach during the 2004 election, according to a Johns Hopkins University study.

Politico: The McCain-Latino disconnect

2008-07-28T10:25:00.003-04:00

Politico newspaper/website columnist David Paul Kuhn has a stinging piece out today about McCain's difficulty in attracting Latino voter support. He argues that a new poll, building on the evidence from other recent national polls, demonstrates McCain is in deep trouble with Hispanic voters and in particular religious Hispanic voters. Here's his basic premise:

While he earned the support of about seven in ten Hispanics in his last Arizona Senate race, a Pew Hispanic Center poll released Thursday shows that just 23 percent of Latinos intend to vote for McCain in the presidential contest, barely half of the four in ten Latino voters who exit polls showed voted for President Bush in 2004.

Kuhn quotes me in this piece, giving me the "kicker quote" as it's commonly referred to:

“You begin with the anti-immigrant legislation that came out of the House and jump started a level of activism in the Latino community that we had not seen ever,” said Adam Segal, director of the Hispanic Voter Project at Johns Hopkins University “and you add to that the favorable political environment for Democrats in general,” and it’s hard, he said, to see McCain’s numbers among Hispanics improving.

“This cycle is extremely favorable to Obama and the Democrats,” Segal, who then paused before emphasizing “extremely.”

Pew Hispanic Center: Hispanics Support Obama over McCain by Three-to-One

2008-07-24T10:26:00.006-04:00

As I've predicted, Sen. Obama is dominating the early process of wooing Hispanic voters ahead of the November election. Today the Pew Hispanic Center added to a pile of data showing Obama with a commanding, early lead.

Hispanic registered voters support Democrat Barack Obama for president over Republican John McCain by 66% to 23%, according to a nationwide survey of 2,015 Latinos conducted by the Pew Hispanic Center, a project of the Pew Research Center, from June 9 through July 13, 2008.

The next point they make is a little overstated in my opinion, but you can judge for yourself:

In addition to their strong support for Obama, Latino voters have moved sharply into the Democratic camp in the past two years, reversing a pro-GOP tide that had been evident among Latinos earlier in the decade. Some 65% of Latino registered voters now say they identify with or lean toward the Democratic Party, compared with just 26% who identify with or lean toward the GOP. This 39 percentage point Democratic Party identification edge is larger than it has been at any time this decade; as recently as 2006, the partisan gap was just 21 percentage points.

CNN.com has it as top news story at the moment. They quote one of the lead authors of the Pew analysis:

"He now appears to be even more popular than Hillary Clinton among Latinos," Lopez said.

And the Associated Press has a piece out on the wire on this poll already.

Obama Spanish-language Radio Ad + McCain Hispanic Outreach

2008-07-23T22:17:00.005-04:00

I'm in a Politics Magazine online piece today about ethnic targeting in the presidential campaign. And I'm quoted in tomorrow's Washington Times article that reports on a new Spanish-language radio ad put out today by the Obama campaign. MSNBC distributed the transcript of the Obama ad around noon today. And click here for the audio from the Obama campaign's Latino section from its web page.

In related news, today in DC I bumped into Juan Hernandez the well-publicized volunteer Hispanic outreach coordinator for the McCain campaign today. I joked with him that Newsweek should have its reporters walk around with me to save them trouble of trying to reach him by phone. Click the link. It'll make more sense.

And in other news, Texas Governor Rick Perry has appointed a friend and colleague of mine Hope Andrade to be Secretary of State for the State of Texas. Congratulations Hope! This is a towering accomplishment. She has become the first Latina to hold this important position. Hope will be the State's chief elections officer, among many other important duties.

Philadelphia Inquirer Story on Immigration Issue in '08 Campaign

2008-07-21T23:31:00.001-04:00

I'm quoted in today's Philadelphia Inquirer story on immigration and the 2008 presidential campaign.

Excerpt:

Obama was leading McCain among Hispanic voters nationwide 59 percent to 29 percent, according to a July 2 Gallup poll. The margin was larger in a more recent New York Times/CBS News poll.

"The political environment in the country is advantageous to Democrats right now, and Hispanic voters reflect that - they're very concerned about the economy and the war in Iraq," said Adam J. Segal, a marketing consultant who is director of the Hispanic Voter Project at Johns Hopkins University. Immigration is a "complicating factor for Republicans," Segal said.

As a group, Hispanics have been trending Democratic in modern elections, though Bush was able to cut into the party's usual margin in his 2000 and 2004 victories. Hispanic support for Democrats solidified in the 2006 congressional elections, when many GOP candidates took a hard-line stance against illegal immigration.

NPR: Campaign Ads Look to Reach Hispanic Voters

2008-07-20T21:15:00.003-04:00

NPR continues its extensive coverage of the Hispanic vote with this somewhat old-news story that ran on Weekend Edition today. What I liked most about this piece was the excerpts from interviews with some non-talking heads, you know the real voter types. I also liked the fact that it dispels some lingering myths about Hispanic community uniformity. Listen here.

Can Groups Register Two Million New Latino Voters For the Election?

2008-07-20T00:00:00.002-04:00

A coalition of Latino groups says they're going to aim to register 2 million new Hispanic voters in time for the November election. I really hope this can become a reality, but given all the promises in past cycles, and the huge goal set this time, I am not yet convinced it will. One of the biggest obstacles is mobilizing people to spend months walking the streets to register new voters. It's a massive undertaking that political organizations and unions are effective at but Hispanic groups have not yet mastered.

Reuters reports:

U.S. Hispanic activists laid out plans on Friday to register 2 million new Latino voters to boost the clout of the United States' fastest-growing voter bloc in the November presidential election. Organizers representing more than 100 grass-roots Hispanic organizations from a dozen states met in Los Angeles to fine-tune a drive to get Latinos to sign up and vote in the November 4 election.

Adding to the story, the Ventura County Star reports:

An alliance of groups at Latino Congreso, led by the Southwest Voter Registration & Education Project, is using the event to launch a voter registration drive. It wants to register 1 million to 2 million new Latino voters by the November election, to bring the nationwide total to 12 million registered voters.

Antonio Gonzalez, president of the project, said the group will register voters in about 20 states and is prepared to spend $5 million. The effort will focus on swing states and areas with competitive congressional races.

According to the Latino Congreso site:

The National Latino Congreso is convened by the Hispanic Federation (HF), the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA), League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), the National Alliance of Latin American and Caribbean Communities (NALACC), the National Day Labor Organizing Network (NDLON), the National Hispanic Environmental Council (NHEC), Southwest Voter Registration Education Project (SVREP), and the William C. Velasquez Institute (WCVI).

Visit www.latinocongreso.org

Obama Campaign Pledges to Smash All Hispanic TV & Radio Spending Records!

2008-07-18T09:32:00.004-04:00

According to The New York Times article on Obama, McCain and the Hispanic vote: “We’re going to spend more money on Latino TV and radio than has ever been spent on a presidential campaign, and by a lot,” Cuahtemoc Figueroa, the director of Mr. Obama’s Latino vote effort, told members of La Raza on Sunday.

Wow. This is significant. Not only did the Obama and Clinton campaigns combine to smash primary records, this is a firm commitment to spend more and do more on Hispanic voter outreach. If this doesn't put enormous pressure on the McCain to step up and spend more, I don't know what will.

Obama is going to win the Hispanic vote this cycle, no doubt. The question is whether he can increase Democratic support to historic levels? They're clearly aiming to achieve that.

Visit the Hispanic Voter Project at Johns Hopkins University website to put this in context.

Excerpt from McCain Speech to National Council of La Raza

2008-07-14T22:46:00.002-04:00

Senator John McCain strongly defended his record on immigration before the national conference of NCLR (Sen. Obama spoke yesterday). Said Obama's criticisms in speeches to Hispanic groups were wrong. Strong statement in this excerpt provided by the Associated Press.

McCain supports the DREAM ACT.

McCain then took questions five from the audience. Smart. And he strongly defended NAFTA.

Enrique Morones got the mic and asked a pointed question on immigration of Sen. McCain.

Newsweek.com reports McCain kept answering questions from the audience even when NCLR staff took mics away from audience members. Good for him.

"But it was what happened after the speech that was the most notable moment of the day. McCain, who continues to talk up his idea of joint town halls with Obama, decided to take questions from the audience after his remarks. After fielding several questions, many not so friendly, McCain was about to take another when he was interrupted by one of the organizers, who announced over the PA system they were out of time. As he often does when his own staff tries to wrap up an event, McCain shook off the intrusion like a pitcher defying his catcher and took the next question. But NCLR reps, trying to keep the event on time, just wouldn’t be stopped. While McCain was answering the question, one of the organizers took away the microphone audience members had been using to talk to McCain. When the senator finished his answer and saw the microphone was gone, a look of annoyance flashed on his face. And then, McCain simply threw his own microphone into the audience, calling for one last question. It’s a move that’s patent McCain. In the run up to Super Tuesday, McCain often rebelled against his staff, who packed his schedule with quick airport rallies rather than his preferred town halls."

CBS Early Show Reports on Obama, McCain Speeches to NCLR

2008-07-14T17:04:00.001-04:00

Excerpt: Obama Speaks at NCLR in San Diego

2008-07-13T17:01:00.001-04:00

Obama and McCain in S.D. for Latino Conference

2008-07-13T09:18:00.003-04:00

The two presumptive major party presidential candidates continue their pursuit of the Hispanic vote with speeches in a major conference in California. Senator Barack Obama speaks to the National Council of La Raza conference today in San Diego. Senator John McCain speaks tomorrow.

The Los Angeles Times reports on a speech yesterday by L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to NCLR, an Obama supporter.

McCain's Speech Makes Big News; Commitment to Pass Comprehensive Immigration Reforms

2008-07-09T10:04:00.004-04:00

Last night I posted my thoughts about the Obama and McCain speeches to LULAC. Here's how two reporters who were actually there in the room saw it!

First, The New York Times found McCain's comments about immigration reform to be quite newsworthy. Giving it a feel-good headline: McCain tells Hispanic group of his commitment to immigration reform

Second, Dana Milbank of The Washington Post had a funny review of the Obama and McCain LULAC speeches, summing it up by calling both big panderers. Parity of pandering. He had at least one McCain quote that made McCain's speech seem quite personal (somewhat in contrast to my perception that Obama had a more personal speech).

Milbank also posted an awesome, humorous video from the LULAC event to the WPost site that mirrors the column in the paper today. Check it out here!

Obama's Powerful, Personal Speech to LULAC

2008-07-08T23:37:00.003-04:00

I don't care what you thought was going to happen with Obama and the Hispanic vote during the Democratic primaries (many of you thought the strong Clinton support meant Obama couldn't earn Hispanic support in the general election). Polls have proven skeptics of Obama's support in the Hispanic community wrong quite rapidly.

Today he took another step forward in taking up the title of the candidate for the Hispanic community. He gave a powerful, personal speech. He demonstrated he knows Hispanic community organization issues, knows LULAC (a pillar organization in the community for decades) and that he's ready to lead the nation with the Hispanic community in mind each day. That's powerful not only for a Democratic politician, but also for an African American politician.

Check out his speech from today and the audience's response. Powerful. Personal. Real.

I've carefully examined the speeches of both candidates today. And I shared some of my thoughts briefly in a big interivew on XM Satellite Radio's POTUS '08 this afternoon.

McCain's speech was much less personal, and really a recitation of policy proposals and priorities he has put out the last few weeks and months. He had some personal thoughts in the closing paragraphs, but the difference was stark.

The Hill posted excerpts from McCain's speech. They sound good, but gosh I don't see the personal passion and excitement. Maybe I just don't know McCain well enough. Check it out here and judge for yourself:

I'd love to help McCain develop a more powerful, personal message to the Hispanic community-based organizations and the community more generally. He deserves to be able to communicate better with this community, one he cares about.

Sure the Hispanic community cares about the same issues as the general electorate, but they also want to know how candidates connect to Latinos as a community and personally. And the way Obama speaks about immigration seems much more natural, less parsed. McCain has got to do better when he speaks to NCLR (La Raza) in San Diego about a week from now.

I'd love to expand upon these quick thoughts, and I hope to in the near future.

NPR: Through Ads, Candidates Vie For Hispanic Voters

2008-07-05T22:05:00.002-04:00

I made the cut and landed in this NPR radio "Weekend Edition Sunday" and web story "Through Ads, Candidates Vie For Hispanic Voters." Jed Alpert, CEO of NYC-based Mobile Commons, made the cut as well. The piece is reported by NPR veteran journalist Martin Kaste. Text available now, audio probably becomes available after it airs on Sunday. Good stuff.

Related to this story, see Barack Obama's Spanish-language TV ad from the Puerto Rico primary. Obama speaks in Spanish to the camera. Powerful.

Obama will win Hispanic vote in November

2008-07-03T15:54:00.003-04:00

I've been saying for a while that Obama's support among Hispanic voters is quite natural and have predicted (quite safely of course) he'll win the Hispanic vote. Since 2006 it's been pretty safe to talk about the Hispanic vote as a base-vote constituency of the Democratic Party. Sure the GOP is going to fight like heck for support in the Hispanic community. But let's not fool ourselves, at least at the presidential level, Dems start with a giant advantage.

With that said, there's a lot of evidence from past election cycles that essentially shows that when Dems win 70 % of the Hispanic vote they win the White House and when the GOP scores 40 % they win. The ground in the middle is where this all gets fun. And that's the segment, beyond the Hispanic conservatives, that McCain is going to go after.

Baltimore Sun's Katie Fretland reports on Gallup poll showing Obama with a massive 30-point advantage over McCain among Hispanics.

Gallup's Jeffrey M. Jones reports that McCain faces a struggle to attract the support of the Hispanic community given the "consistent and solid support" for Obama recently.

"Some political experts assumed Obama's struggle to attract widespread Hispanic support in the primaries would carry over into the general-election campaign against the Republican candidate." Jones reports. "But Hispanics have become a reliable Democratic voting bloc, and have so far shown little difficulty in transferring their loyalties from Clinton to Obama... Hispanic voters could be crucial in key swing states such as New Mexico, Colorado, and Florida."

Polling experts say Obama leading McCain Thanks to Hispanic Voters

2008-06-30T12:25:00.004-04:00

Mark Feierstein and Ana Iparraquirre from polling shop Greenberg Quinlan Rosner had a post on Huffington Post Saturday afternoon about Obama's strong support among Hispanic voters. It's a topic I have blogged about here and helped media to understand in recent weeks. It's good to know more public opinion pros feel the same way:

In fact, Obama is running well ahead of John McCain among Hispanics, and significantly better than John Kerry did against George Bush in 2004. Obama's leads in national polls are due to his strong advantage (about 35 points) among Latinos. Take out Hispanics, and the race is effectively tied.

And they argue McCain doesn't have much of a shot at winning the Hispanic vote:

The gains that Republicans made among Latino voters in 2000 and 2004 were erased in 2006, and there are few signs that McCain is in a position to win them back. The Republican brand name has been so severely damaged that it would be difficult for any Republican to retain much support among Hispanics this year.

And this:

But Obama has an attractive profile for Hispanic voters. They are particularly impressed with his background as an urban community organizer and early opposition to the Iraq war.

Candidate Address NALEO, McCain Tells Hispanics: "You Can Trust Me"

2008-06-28T22:07:00.003-04:00

Senators and presumptive presidential party nominees John McCain and Barack Obama both spoke to the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials today in Washington, DC. I would have been there had it not been the Sabbath. But I hear that it was quite an eventful day with a throng of media and party loyalists - though mostly Democrats - in the audience.

Here's a wrap-up of some of the coverage:

The New York Times Caucus blog reports McCain tells the group "You can trust me" and pledges to solve the full immigration problem (not just borders). McCain was heckled by anti-war group. McCain said: "I’ll be your partner when I’m in the White House." And Obama said: "We are all Americans. Todos somos Americanos" and "I will be your partner in the White House and I will be your champion in the White House."

From USA Today's OnPolitics blog:

"At least 9.2 million Latino voters will cast ballots in November," the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) Educational Fund predicts in a report it released today (which can be downloaded here -- fair warning, it's a large pdf).

Obama's campaign posted his speech to NALEO to YouTube:

AP posted part of McCain's speech to YouTube:

The NALEO conference gave media an extra reason to focus on the Hispanic vote including this piece from Cox News. Here's an excerpt:

Nationwide, the number of Hispanics eligible to vote increased from about 14 million in 2000 to 17 million in 2006, according to the Pew Hispanic Center, a nonpartisan research group in Washington. However, registration among Latinos has traditionally been low. In 2004, about 16 million Latinos were eligible to vote, but only 7.6 million cast ballots. The NALEO projection of 9.2 million Latino voters is similar to other estimates. A higher estimate came this month from NDN, a liberal public interest group in Washington. It predicted that a record 11.9 million Hispanics will vote in this year’s presidential contest, 59 percent more than in 2004.

Hispanic Voter Registration

2008-06-27T14:55:00.001-04:00

Miriam Jordan of the Wall Street Journal reports on State Farm Insurance's sponsorship of a major national Hispanic voter registration drive. Here's a little hype about the program from Jordan's article:

State Farm, one of the country's top home and auto insurers, will inject $1 million into the "Ya Es Hora" (It's About Time) campaign. The drive -- backed by the largest Spanish-language broadcast and print media in the U.S., and spearheaded by a nonpartisan outreach group, the National Association of Latino Elected Officials Educational Fund -- could influence the agenda and outcome of the 2008 election.

Hispanics and Mobile Marketing Campaigns

2008-06-26T09:39:00.004-04:00

VentureBeat and CNET writer Jake Swearingen quotes me in a news story about the growth of mobile use and marketing strategies in the Hispanic consumer market. The story appeared, among other places, on The Industry Standard website.

Swearingen reports:

For companies looking to make a move into mobile advertising, it might be good to a get a few bilingual Spanish speakers on staff. While money has already been following Hispanics online for a while, with Hispanic consumer spending expected to top $1 trillion by 2010, and use of mobile phones exploding within the Hispanic market, expect more and more mobile marketing targeted at Hispanics in the coming months. A March 2008 Pew/Internet study found Hispanics leading in nearly every single category of mobile phone usage, in some cases by double digits.

And later quotes me:

Hispanic mobile use has given advertisers a way to engage with an audience that has at times been hard to reach. Adam J. Segal, president of Washington, DC-based multicultural PR firm The 2050 Group, notes, “Until the recent explosion in mobile, Hispanic consumers were difficult to reach in massive numbers if Univision radio and television didn’t match marketing priorities. Hispanics are highly connected, receptive to mobile marketing efforts, and way over-index in many of the key categories that jive well with mobile.“ To that end, two companies, HipCricket and ImpreMedia, have both inked deals this week to engage Hispanic users over cell phones.

I connected the reporter with Jed Alpert the CEO of dynamic tech shop Mobile Commons which is leading cutting-edge mobile communications campaigns for a very long list of serious clients, primarily in the non-profit and political sector.

John McCain and Closed-Door Meeting with Hispanics

2008-06-25T10:31:00.003-04:00

ABCNews.com and The Washington Post today report on Rep. Tom Tancredo's criticism of Sen. John McCain, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, for meeting with Hispanic leaders behind closed doors and apparently leaving some indication that he's still committed to comprehensive immigration reform.

I really only have one question. Did Tancredo really ever believe that John McCain had turned his back on the immigrants who have made our country more prosperous? Probably not, so this is most likely a publicity stunt to get the immigration issue back into the political spotlight, and it's working.

Sure politics shifts the focus and tone and impact of legislative proposals, but as far as I know McCain never said he'd abandon his support for broader immigration reforms beyond border security efforts. With that said, it's possible his thinking on "path to citizen" has evolved, but it's not entirely clear what his proposal would look like.

Watch his Memorial Day ad which replays a powerful clip from the New Hampshire primary.

I think McCain met privately with Hispanic leaders because he wanted to have an honest, open dialogue on issues that are important to the community.

Let's look at his campaign website, review the videos and transcripts from the primaries, and I think we'll see a candidate who maintains a commitment to finding solutions for the workers that are already in this country. No doubt this is a difficult issue to resolve, but McCain is committed to resolving it nonetheless.

"He's one John McCain in front of white Republicans. And he's a different John McCain in front of Hispanics"

2008-06-20T09:19:00.002-04:00

Associated Press reports on a private meeting Senator John McCain, the Republican presumptive nominee, held with Hispanic community leaders and Hispanic Republicans in Chicago. Question: why did the McCain camp invite a member of the Minuteman Project to participate in a Hispanic community meeting, even if the person was Hispanic?

"He's one John McCain in front of white Republicans. And he's a different John McCain in front of Hispanics," complained Rosanna Pulido, a Hispanic and conservative Republican who attended the meeting.

Pulido, who heads the Illinois Minuteman Project, which advocates for restrictive immigration laws, said she thought McCain was "pandering to the crowd" by emphasizing immigration reform in his 15-minute speech.

The Power of BET

2008-06-19T18:22:00.003-04:00

AdAge magazine (reporting under the Madison+Vine section) has an intriguing report on the influence and money-making abilities of the BET Awards as well as the shrinking media landscape for reaching African American consumers, as one industry player puts it. Viacom has been emphasizing BET's strong future prospects.

AdAge's Andrew Hampp reports today (June 19):

The BET Awards, airing June 24 on BET, have emerged as the de facto Super Bowl for the African-American audience. With integrated sponsors such as Procter & Gamble, Target, Dodge and Verizon banking more of their TV and digital dollars than ever on BET's weeklong coverage of the event, it's a testament to the network's growth as a destination for young black audiences as well as to just how depleted the rest of the TV universe's diversity resources have gotten in recent years.

In other news, Fmr. Rep. JC Watts is leading a team to create the Black Television News Channel.

RiseUp Magazine

2008-06-19T11:46:00.004-04:00

A husband-wife team is launching RiseUp, a magazine devoted to diversity and racial dialogue in America. According to Newsweek's coverage: "RiseUp, a new weekly magazine that will be inserted in Sunday newspapers beginning June 22. Printed in Kansas City, the magazine is expected to initially reach 4.5 million readers."

I find this very exciting. I hope this magazine helps report on and contribute to the amazing national discussion on race, ethnicity and American diversity at this important time.

According to the magazine's website:

RiseUp is a weekly newspaper magazine insert, which will address race relation issues, and be distributed through major metropolitan daily and weekly newspapers in the top 15-25 metropolitan areas. The primary goal of RiseUp is to provide an ongoing forum with information and tools to improve race relations. The magazine will address important issues affecting the nation and its racially diverse and ethnic communities. RiseUp will cover, in-depth, timely topics in the areas of health, education, politics, business and cultural uniqueness.

Kos Conventional Wisdom on Hispanic Vote Was Wrong

2008-06-18T14:47:00.003-04:00

Kos blogs today that the conventional wisdom (CW) that Obama will have trouble with Hispanic voters is wrong. He cites data, new and old, suggesting "Obama [is] poised to absolutely crush McCain."

Blacks Around the World Find Hope, Joy in Obama Candidacy

2008-06-17T10:27:00.004-04:00

Obama is apparently inspiring people of color all around the world. See today's New York Times article about the phenomenon in France. This is a theme the Times has been carrying in a lot of its coverage, including this June 5 piece on the Black community in the U.S. But is Obama in step with African views on social issues. I found this interesting column in the International Herald Tribune.

Google and Yahoo! Propose 10-Year Deal for Advertising

2008-06-12T22:26:00.002-04:00

The Associated Press and other news organizations reported today on the huge announcement that Yahoo! will rely on Google advertising on its sites to boost its own profits. This is a gigantic announcement even though the various search engine companies have at times relied upon or partnered with each other.

According to the AP:

Yahoo Inc.'s efforts to revive takeover talks with Microsoft Corp. have reached a dead end, prompting the Internet pioneer to hire online search leader Google Inc. to handle some of its advertising sales.

It's still unclear to me whether this means Google keyword ads and other ads will come to dominate all of Yahoo! sites. If so, it kind of makes sense because the Google advertising system milks more profit out of every advertising dollar spent, at least that's my impression.

I have always found Google to be the better advertising system with the greatest return.

Here's the Google press release. This is as if the Los Angeles Lakers were now authorized to use all of the resources of the Boston Celtics. Two top competitors now working together, profiting more from the relationship. It's a win-win for these guys. But you have to wonder what's next? Perhaps a Google takeover of Yahoo!

And here's excellent analysis from BusinessWeek.

Obama Launches fightthesmears.com

2008-06-12T09:38:00.003-04:00

TIME.com reports that Sen. Barack Obama's campaign has launched an online anti-rumor war-room, "a Web-based rumor clearinghouse, located at fightthesmears.com, in which it hopes all the shady stories about Obama's faith, his family and his rumored connections with controversial figures can go to die."

The rules of Internet campaigns are being re-written again in 2008. Obama saw the enormous success of online fundraising and voter mobilization and now wants to see this technology and community put to use to stamp out lies in the blogs, emails and even in traditional/mainstream media.

Supporters may find this unified effort empowering.

NBC/WSJ Poll Shows Obama With Huge Lead Among Hispanics

2008-06-12T03:43:00.004-04:00

Even as some Hispanic Democrats are putting pressure on Sen. Barack Obama today and as Sen. John McCain grabs attention for some Spanish-language ads, the NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released in the paper this AM shows Sen. Obama with a commanding lead over Sen. McCain among Hispanic voters (62-28%). McCain faces a significant uphill climb among Hispanic voters in this political environment. The survey finds Obama with an 6-point national advantage among all voters (47-41%).

WSJ reporter Jackie Calmes reports:

Some good news for the likely Democratic nominee: Despite suggestions during the nomination contest that many Hispanics and Hillary Clinton supporters wouldn't support him, the poll shows both groups overwhelmingly do.

More Calmes:

To Sen. Obama's advantage, the Journal/NBC poll results seem to debunk two widely held conclusions from the Democrats' nomination contest. Exit polls of Democratic voters suggested many of Sen. Clinton's supporters wouldn't vote for Sen. Obama in November if he is the Democratic nominee. In particular, pro-Clinton Hispanics were generally thought to be cold to Sen. Obama.

In the poll, however, voters who chose Sen. Clinton in the primaries said by a 3-to-1 ratio, 61% to 19%, that they plan to vote for Sen. Obama over Sen. McCain in November. "Hillary's embrace of Obama really made a difference," Mr. Newhouse says.

By 62% to 28%, Hispanic voters support Sen. Obama. "That does not bode well for Republicans" in the Southwest, the Republican pollster added, in swing states such as Nevada, New Mexico and Colorado, where Hispanic voters are numerous enough to tip the result. Sen. McCain, who comes from a state with a large Hispanic population and has favored liberalizing policies toward illegal immigrants, has hopes of matching Mr. Bush's record of winning more than 40% of Hispanic voters.

Gebe Martinez Column Cites Hispanic Voter Project

2008-06-11T22:25:00.007-04:00

Veteran Capitol Hill Writer/Reporter Gebe Martinez has full-page column on Spanish-language media and the 2008 presidential campaigns' outreach to Hispanic voters in today's Politico.

It's a very nice piece and it cites my latest research for the Hispanic Voter Project at Johns Hopkins University including the fact that a record of more than $4 million was invested in Spanish-language TV advertising beyond the first half of the presidential primary season.

If I had to provide one critique it would be that the article is so long it's a shock Gebe didn't get around to quoting anyone from Barack Obama's campaign or strategists close to his efforts at the campaign or within the Democratic Party.

Image linked from the article at Politico.com.

McCain/GOP Launch Huge YouTube Advertising Push for User-Generated Video

2008-06-11T17:25:00.003-04:00

McCain manager Rick Davis issues a call for user-generated videos for GOP convention:

and here's the first submission, the most exciting 18 Hispanic Republican in America (ok, kidding):

Three Hundred Thousand and Counting, Pro-Obama and Anti-War Video on YouTube

2008-06-11T17:09:00.003-04:00

I can't get over the power of these pro-Obama videos that are pulling in hundreds of thousands of views. Here's Andres Useche's "Si Se Puede Cambiar."

I gave an interview to Hispanic Business Magazine today about the Latino vote in 2008 and mentioned this type of messaging.

I'm really trying to understand who's going to jump on YouTube and other sites with pro-McCain videos that has this kind of artistic, mass appeal. Is it possible nobody will?

The McCain campaign is posting supportive testimonials like these, but they help to further underscore the challenge the campaign faces in the age of YouTube and an excited electorate with more young people than in recent presidential campaign cycles:

Podemos con Obama

2008-06-07T22:24:00.004-04:00

"Podemos con Obama" is a must-see. Seriously, it's stuff like this that leads me to believe that technology and young people are going to help Obama dominate the Hispanic vote in the general election. A quarter-million people have already seen this video in the week since it was posted.

The pro-Obama music video features Paulina Rubio, one of the leading Spanish pop-artists (her music is great and she performed at a major event I produced in 2004 at the Democratic Convention in Boston, so I thought it was great she was included)

Thanks to NDN for posting on this video.

Obama Has Wide Lead Over McCain Among Hispanic Voters

2008-06-06T09:57:00.007-04:00

A new poll shows presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama with an enormous lead over John McCain among Hispanic voters. Before accepting it as gospel, it's worth asking how accurate and representative this Gallup poll is.

Regardless, I have no doubt Obama is going to win the Hispanic vote in 2008, the real question is by how much.

Here's Peter Wallsten's article in the Los Angeles Times today about the new poll.

Karl Rove had a column in the Wall Street Journal aimed at exposing weaknesses of the two leading candidates. One section suggests Obama is in trouble with Latinos. But given the new Gallup poll, the following excerpt from Rove's column may not be relevant:

"Mr. Obama's support among Latino voters was a tepid 34% in the 13 primary contests with an appreciable number of Hispanics. He carried a majority of the Hispanic vote in only one state – his home state of Illinois, which he won by the slim margin of 50%-49%."

McCain's New Radio Spot Aimed at Hispanics in Nevada and New Mexico

2008-06-05T22:51:00.003-04:00

I received a bunch of calls today from reporters asking about McCain's outreach to Hispanic voters. The calls were spurred by the McCain campaign's release of a new :60 Spanish-language radio. It's always smart politics to release these things early in the primary season because it gives political writers something to focus on early and then re-report on throughout the season.

The spot's ok, not amazing. But it does get out a centrist message and takes on the Democrats on some of the issues they debated in the primary season. Nevada and New Mexico were chosen for obvious reasons; they'll be important for McCain to win in November if he's going to win the White House.

Telemundo Yanks Cada Dia

2008-06-03T23:24:00.002-04:00

I always felt great about placing a client on Telemundo's morning program "Cada Dia." But it never felt nearly as good as placing a client on Univision's AM show "Despierta America."

The biggest reason should be obvious, Despierta's viewership was larger (perhaps as much as 8 to 10 times) on most days. And Despierta inspired far more phone calls to client organization hotlines than Cada Dia.

Yet I was really saddened to hear the Cada Dia bubble has been burst. Cada Dia was lively and a hybrid of sorts bringing the fun and culture of Spanish-language TV along with the news and celebrity of NBC's Today Show format.

But money drives almost everything in television and Cada Dia was not bringing in the big advertising bucks.

The Los Angeles Times had a fairly thorough report on the matter, recently:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fi-telemundo31-2008may31,0,2707858.story

Marketing y Medios reports on a complete realignment in news that goes far beyond just that one major program:
http://www.marketingymedios.com/marketingymedios/noticias/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003810307

Layoffs:
http://www.laobserved.com/archive/2008/06/adios_cada_dia.php

Obama and the Hispanic Vote

2008-06-03T22:56:00.003-04:00

Sen. Barack Obama is going to run hard for the Hispanic vote and this is going to be a very exciting general election. I told Bloomberg news that I think Obama will win the Hispanic vote in this era of solid Hispanic support for the Democrats.

But John McCain is going to work just as hard and is probably the Republican best positioned to peel away Hispanic votes from the Democrats.

But tonight's speech by Obama and the massive crowd are reminders that something unique is happening in the political arena and this momentum may very well bring along many people in the Hispanic community who previously supported Senator Clinton.

Here's Sen. Obama's final Spanish-language TV spot of the primary season:

Spanish-language TV News Under the Microscope

2008-05-11T23:37:00.005-04:00

La Opinion interviewed me for this piece that ran last week. Topic: Spanish-language TV networks/stations and their news coverage. In my interview, I argued that for the most part Spanish-language TV stations do a great job with their news programming, providing major news coverage of local, regional, national and international events. And that basic idea came across in the piece published May 1st. Incidentally, The Washington Post published a major column on the front of today's Outlook section (the Sunday stand-alone opinion section) by Joe Mathews, a fellow at the New America Foundation. He argues that in Los Angeles and other media markets, the best local news programming is on the Univision and Telemundo stations. The piece makes the point that the Spanish-dominant viewers of these programs are therefore better informed. It was terrific placement and I think much of the argument he makes needs to be heard by the traditional media and policy makers. Sure, Spanish-language TV stations have not always done a perfect job meeting FCC requirements for use of the airwaves, but to ignore the outstanding news reporting that comes from Spanish-language media would do a disservice.

A production of The 2050 Group

2008-05-08T15:53:00.001-04:00

HEAN National Bike to Work Day 2008 Preview
The Health and Environment Action Network is a project of the National Alliance for Hispanic Health

McCain Launches Hispanic Voter Outreach Effort, Spanish Website

2008-05-05T18:59:00.002-04:00

Senator John McCain's presidential campaign kicked off its general election Hispanic voter outreach today on Cinco de Mayo, the popular Mexican holiday. New site; http://www.johnmccain.com/espanol/

Committed Hispanic outreach is a good sign and means there will be a nice competition with the Democratic nominee (either Obama or Clinton) come this summer, even if the Dems start with a huge advantage.

McCain spoke in Phoenix and his campaign headquarters was decked out for a launch event. Lots of encouraging signs about the importance of this outreach effort within the campaign.

Media eats it up:

Associated Press reports (http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iNxTApa2sQRu0Xx99P3jt2bEXw7gD90FL4OO0):

"Republican John McCain on Monday said the focus on illegal immigration during the Republican primary race harmed his party's image among Hispanics."

CNN reports (http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/05/05/mccain/):

"The senator from Arizona used Cinco de Mayo as a launching pad for a new Spanish-language Web site on Monday, and he emphasized his stance on immigration and border security as he tried to court the Hispanic vote."

"McCain also pledged to attend the National Council for La Raza's convention in July, the largest national Hispanic civil rights organization which seeks to improve opportunities for Hispanic-Americans."

Drudge gave it top-billing, wow (http://www.drudgereport.com):
http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSN0541135620080505?feedType=RSS&feedName=politicsNews&rpc=22&sp=true

Other coverage:

CBS News blog (http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2008/05/05/politics/fromtheroad/entry4072857.shtml):
"John McCain said today that Hispanic voters are tailor-made for the Republican message..."

Boston Globe blog:
http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2008/05/mccain_courts_h.html

The Hill:
http://thehill.com/campaign-2008/mccain-courts-hispanic-voters-2008-05-05.html

U.S. Hispanic Population Continues to Rise Rapidly

2008-04-30T22:20:00.003-04:00

I just did an interview with CNN Radio (national) about a U.S. Census Bureau report released tonight.

New data just released by the Census shows a Hispanic population that continues to grow quite rapidly. Hispanics, now the nation's largest minority population at 45.5 million, account for a huge percentage of overall U.S. population growth and this means America's future success will become more and more dependent on how well this population succeeds. The Hispanic population grew at 3.3% which is just slightly below the reported growth rate of 3.4%. Hispanics are now 15.1% of the U.S. population.

There are huge implications for this steady growth. Growth of the Hispanic, Asian and Black populations in the U.S. mean that by the year 2050, perhaps sooner, the U.S. will be a majority minority nation. Today a third of the U.S. population is minority and, if memory serves me well, some states like California and Texas now are already majority-minority.

Interestingly, today the National Alliance for Hispanic Health sought to draw attention to the fact that more than 15 million Hispanics are without health insurance. As the population continues to grow it will become more and more important that the U.S. government find a solution to this massive number of uninsured Hispanics.

I could write for hours on this, but simply put, we're going to need to meet the educational needs of this community to help ensure the U.S. continues to lead the global economy.

Putting my PR and corporate strategy hat on for a minute, continued growth of the Hispanic population (well over a million new Hispanics each year) continues to expand the Hispanic consumer market. And it doesn't take a genius to tell you that when a population continues to grow, the potential to serve the population and profit continues to grow.

Here are some of the first new clips on this Census data release:

The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/01/washington/01census.html

The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/30/AR2008043003397.html

Star Tribune (from wire services)
http://www.startribune.com/nation/18435529.html

AP story with quotes from NCLR, NALEO and friend Larry Gonzalez:
http://news.ktar.com/?nid=6&sid=823800
Excerpt: "Some Hispanic advocacy groups predict about 10 million Hispanics will show up at the polls, motivated by the usual concerns about the economy, health care and the war and an added catalyst of dismay over attitudes from anti-immigration movements."

Impact felt from Boston to McAllen:
http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2008/04/hispanics_called_fastest_growi.html
http://www.themonitor.com/news/car_10385___article.html/hike_light.html

More...

Here's the Census bureau fact sheet for Cinco de Mayo (May 5th):
http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnw/20080429/pl_usnw/u_s__census_bureau_facts_for_feature__cinco_de_mayo

DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES SET RECORD SPENDING ON UNIVISION, TELEMUNDO STATIONS IN PRIMARIES

2008-04-11T10:53:00.001-04:00

Initial Findings: Spanish-Language Advertising in the 2008 Presidential Campaign

The two leading Democratic presidential candidates spent millions of dollars on Spanish-language television ads, setting records for individual and combined Democratic expenditures in a presidential primary season. By combining original research, interviews and news reports, the Hispanic Voter Project at Johns Hopkins University estimates that the Democratic presidential candidates spent more money – at least $4 million – on Spanish-language television advertising this cycle, outpacing total spending in 2000 and total primary spending in 2004.

“Three factors have likely contributed to increased spending on Spanish-language appeals: a front-loaded calendar and extended process featuring states with large Hispanic populations, a very competitive Democratic contest, as well as record candidate fundraising and overall spending,” according to Adam J. Segal, founder and director of the Hispanic Voter Project at Johns Hopkins University.

The two remaining Democratic candidates, Senators Hillary Clinton (NY) and Barack Obama (IL) have continued to create and
air Spanish-language ads as the Democratic primary contests have dragged on, with attention now turned to Pennsylvania
(where both campaigns are airing Spanish-language TV spots) and eventually Puerto Rico.

Meanwhile, Republican candidates also aired Spanish-language ads during the primaries and the campaign of likely party
nominee’ Sen. John McCain (AZ) recently released its first general election Spanish-language TV spot.

This information is the result of a research project that involved interviews with TV station managers, visits to TV stations to
review the public political files, as well as Internet and news media research. The findings were released late yesterday at the
“Understanding the Hispanic Vote in 2008” Conference sponsored by the Center for Politics and Governance at the LBJ School at The University of Texas at Austin.

The full report is now available online in PDF form at http://advanced.jhu.edu/government/hvp

The Big Give

2008-04-07T11:10:00.002-04:00

I think the ABC/Oprah show "The Big Give" is great and I try to watch every week.

But its biggest failing is that is has done virtually nothing to help build and promote the public movement that its always touting.

Why is there no update/report on what people are doing now that they have been inspired by the show?

There are zero interactive qualities to the weekly show and the program website. Perhaps the second season will incorporate all that, but I think ABC should learn from some recent movements that have take off people the public has been engaged as a partner.

If thought this brief from the Chronicle of Philanthropy was interesting:
http://philanthropy.com/news/prospecting/index.php?id=4270

Diversifying Campaign '08 News Commentary

2008-04-03T11:21:00.003-04:00

Like most political strategists and researchers in Washington, DC I have noticed the huge cast of commentators on CNN and other networks this campaign season. Felicia R. Lee of The New York Times had a nice summary and analysis of the diversification of commentators/contributors in the paper this week.

She writes: "All the commentators appear when the networks need them, but are on television more than guest pundits from the outside. While a few are unknown to general audiences, they all come with extensive résumés that mostly include backgrounds in journalism, politics, academe, nonprofit organizations or business."

No doubt there has been a shift, and I have liked it and I bet it has helped secure larger and more diverse audiences, but I am left wondering if the very best minds are making it through to TV this season.

Here's the NYT story: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/02/arts/television/02pund.html?ex=1364961600&en=8ace7ab52b934216&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

Are We Nearing Record Spending on Spanish-Language TV Ads in Dem. Primaries?

2008-02-24T22:47:00.003-05:00

A couple months ago a reporter with a major national news organization called to ask what I thought about the fact so little had been spent on Spanish-language TV advertising in the months before the presidential primaries, given how much growth we had seen in recent cycles. He or she reminded me of a press release I distributed years ago that screamed record spending. My reaction was that it was way too early to assume a decline and that the story is probably best written after the primaries were held in states with huge Hispanic populations.

Well we're nearing that point. I was excited to see Ira Teinowitz's (of Advertising Age) scoop on this subject. His story, out tonight, reports:

"Hispanic Spending in Texas to Surpass $2 Million"

AND

"Together, the candidates spent nearly $2 million advertising to Spanish-speaking Hispanics in California, and broadcasters are saying spending ahead of the March 4 Texas primary could top that."

AND

"TNSI Campaign Media Analysis Group reports that before Texas, a total of $2.6 million had been spent on Hispanic media. Texas already has seen $400,000 and the broadcasters said total spending is fast moving up."

Wow. It's nice to have access to these data.

I'll have to look back at my records before I can say for certain, but gosh this seems huge. Is it evidence of record spending in the Democratic primaries yet? Hmmm, perhaps.

Regardless, this seems to predict it will reach record levels by the time the Texas primary is held during the first week of March (on the 4th).

A side topic is the campaigns' choices of media consultants. Teinowitz points out the Obama campaign chose a Texas-based consultant, perhaps providing unique state-specific insights.

Visit my Hispanic Voter Project page for data from past cycles:
http://advanced.jhu.edu/academic/government/hvp/

Asian American youth voters

2008-02-18T16:07:00.002-05:00

TIME blogger points out interesting ad/viral video on Asian American youth voters. Highly targeted and gets right to the point. I like it and hope it helps.

http://time-blog.com/work_in_progress/2008/02/hot_asian_actors_want_you_to_v.html

HISPANIC PR MONOPOLY?

2008-01-03T11:06:00.001-05:00

Is PR Newswire headed for a Hispanic PR monopoly? Is this is a sign of the continued emergence of the Hispanic economy or the Latinization of business?

Today, PR Newswire announced "its acquisition of Hispanic PR Wire, LatinClips, and Hispanic Digital Network."

I have used these services, at times, for the major clients of my agency, The 2050 Group, so I know them well.

For PR Newswire clients who want to reach Hispanics and Hispanic media I think this will be great because when they use the Spanish distribution service (which presumably will combine the strengths of the two services) they'll likely reach more people, and more of the right people, than ever before.

But for Hispanic PR Wire, LatinClips and clients of other services, I would be surprised if we didn't see a nice hefty price increase in the near future. These services have been pretty effective.

PR Newswire is really cleaning up in this narrow industry. Again, I use their services and they're great. But it looks like they're headed for monopoly status in both general public affairs news distribution as well as the Hispanic/Spanish news distribution. Who knows if that's good or bad at this point.

With all this said, nothing beats actually having terrific media contacts at Hispanic/Spanish-language media organizations and a press list of only those journalists who actually want to receive your news.

Web Campaign 2.008

2007-10-21T19:46:00.000-04:00

The publiser of "niche social networking communities," Community Connect Inc., has been busy promoting its new clients and alliances. CCI claims 19 million members on its sites. As a PR professional I certainly appreciate the effort the company is making and I am impressed with the reputation some of its properties have achieved.

CCI says Senator Barack Obama approached the firm about its work and subsequently arranged for profiles to be placed on each of its major websites (BlackPlanet.com, MiGente.com, AsianAve.com, GLEE.com, and Faithbase.com). Now here's the impressive result:

"Since the profiles went live on October 5, 2007, the success of the campaign has become evident with Senator Obama's profiles garnering over 200,000 friends. In one week, his profile on BlackPlanet.com garnered more friends than his MySpace and Facebook profiles."

I'll be really interested in seeing what those sites can achieve during a general election effort. I believe Facebook and some of these other social networking sites can provide a massive two-way connection between people and the campaigns. Am I naive enough to believe that Obama will have a connection to hundreds of thousands of people? Of course not, but imagine if his campaign staff connected with these people and moved them to action (donation, volunteer, recruit, etc.). New tools on Facebook are popping up everyday, and lots of them have political and campaign '08 tie-ins. I hope the people and the campaigns find ways to make use of them.

Univision's Meet the Press

2007-08-30T19:21:00.001-04:00

Next Month Univision television Al Punto (To the Point) the new Sunday morning "newsmaker discussion program" hosted by our friend Jorge Ramos the prolific author and anchor of the network evening news program "Noticiero Univision." (I know an intelligent, well-spoken and respected expert who'd be terrific for a regular panel of discussants!)

Univision is hosting a bash to launch the show at a prime location in DC. The program itself is likely to attract presidential candidates and leading figures in Washington.

The promotional website has a nice promo video which I presumed was utilized during this year's up-front presentation in New York.

Univision is scheduled to host a historic presidential forum series. The first is with the Democratic candidates on Sunday, September 9th in Miami. The Democratic candidates participating in the forum, in alphabetical order are: Senator Joe Biden, Senator Hillary Clinton, Senator Chris Dodd, Senator John Edwards, Senator Mike Gravel, Congressman Dennis Kucinich, Senator Barack Obama and Governor Bill Richardson.

The Republican forum will be held Sunday, September 16. John McCain has said he will particiate, though Univision has not announced the participants yet.

Here's my analysis:

These events are historic for Univision and for the nation. They are, more than anything else, an opportunity for the Spanish-language juggernaut to flex it corporate muscles, draw more attention to its value as a political advertising destination, and of course provide the candidates with the best free connection to the nation's Hispanic voters...well at least the segment that watches Spanish-language television. There will also be a flood of mainstream media attention that will likely help the candidates' messages reach the English-dominant Hispanic voters who may be more likely to tune into English media.

Majority Minority America

2007-08-09T21:52:00.001-04:00

It is no surprise to those of us who live in the Washington, DC region that minority community growth and migration is changing the demographic make-up of communities and entire counties here.

But it was still big news, just as it was in other places, that 1 in 10 counties are now majority minority or in other words there is no longer a single ethnic majority population in those areas. For example, for the first time, minorities are now a majority in Denver.

The U.S. Census Bureau released its latest report which captured tremendous national media attention.

The bottom line, as I see it, is that the U.S. continues to undergo dramatic demographic changes, is on track to become a majority minority nation by the middle of the century, and the movement toward that projection is being expressed more and more each year.

Click on the newspaper links below to read their coverage of the new census findings:
The Washington Post
The New York Times
Associated Press
Houston Chronicle
Dallas Morning News
Denver Post
USA Today

WILL DEMS HIT THE HISPANIC VOTE JACKPOT?

2007-06-28T21:30:00.000-04:00

It looks more and more likely that the next Democratic presidential candidate, no matter who they are, will be able to count on the Hispanic vote jackpot. Two new stories out today are really in line with this thinking.

First, skilled political writer Susan Page at USA Today reported from San Antonio for a cover story on "Hispanics turning back to Democrats for 2008." The headline itself is somewhat misldeading -- My sense is that Democrats have historically enjoyed 56% or more of the Hispanic vote (if you think the exit polls are usually wrong you start at 60% or more). But the premise of the piece is absolutely accurate: Democrats are poised to receive the largest share of the Hispanic vote in years if all goes in their favor in the walk-up to the 2008 presidential election. And with the immigration bill blocked in Congress -- by the GOP is you ask Democratic Party leadership in Congress -- it'll be a very big up hill climb.

Page reports on a new USA Today poll which finds: "A new USA TODAY/Gallup Poll indicates that Hispanics, by nearly 3 to 1, say they're Democrats or lean that way. Of those, 59% support the New York senator [Sen. Hillary Clinton] over her presidential rivals — her strongest showing among any major demographic group and a huge potential asset for early contests in Nevada, Florida, California and other states with large Hispanic populations."

Page writes that Hispanic New Mexico Governor Bill "Richardson still has to introduce himself. Six in 10 Hispanics polled say they've never heard of the former congressman and Cabinet member, the first Hispanic to seek the Democratic presidential nomination."

Page gives the kicker quote to San Antonio advertising super-star, and a friend of mine, Frank Guerra. Guerra says Hispanic brand loyalty -- and political loyalty -- is up for grabs. We'll see.

Meanwhile, the Associated Press reports today out of Orlando, Florida that "Republican presidential candidates made a major miscalculation this week by skipping the nation's largest gathering of Hispanic elected officials, local party representatives and event organizers said."

Can you say intra-party problems: "The Republican candidates have blown off Hispanics in Florida," said state Rep. Juan Zapata, a Republican who helped bring the NALEO event to the state.

More: "With many Hispanics already concerned about some of the candidates' opposition to a bill that would provide a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants which failed in the Senate Thursday and anti-Hispanic rhetoric accompanying the debate, top candidates can ill-afford to alienate those loyal to the party, especially in a swing state like Florida, they said."

Right on. Ok, sure most Hispanics never hear anything out of this conference but if you're a supporter and your candidate is doing little to stimulate interest among influentials, particularly Republican Hispanic elected officials, you're really upset they're skipping the NALEO conference.

Update: I just heard from Alex Burgos at the Romney campaign. He says the former Governor will speak at the Republican National Hispanic Assembly's National Convention in Washington, DC on the morning of Sunday, July 22,2007

Now for your added enjoyment, here are some recent articles that quote me or reference my research on Hispanic voters, Hispanic political outreach and immigration issues:

- Agence France Presse (AFP)
- The Washington Post
- The Washington Post (II)
- National Public Radio (NPR)
- U.S. News & World Report
- Christian Science Monitor

Minority Population in U.S. Passes 100 Million

2007-05-17T00:43:00.000-04:00

The minority population in the United States continues to grow rapidly, and while the nation is still headed for an enormous demographic shift by 2050, the shifts identified by the Census Bureau this year have big implications in the very near-term.

USA Today reports: "The nation's minority population has topped 100 million for the first time and now makes up about a third of the USA, a symbolic milestone that signals more challenges for communities adapting to diversity."

Lot's of regional implications according to these reports in The Washington Post and The New York Times. Also reports by Reuters and UPI.

Is the Digital Divide Narrowing?

2007-05-12T23:42:00.000-04:00

BusinessWeek reports on a new study from the Pew Internet and American Life Project which appears to show a shrinking digital divide that for years had left African Americans at a disadvantage. The sub-headline of the article reads: "African Americans are snapping up broadband -- and closing the digital divide"

According to the article, "Surprise. In the past two years, African Americans have been devouring broadband technology--and the digital divide has shrunk significantly, at least for this group. The share of black households with a cable modem, DSL, or satellite Internet connection climbed to 40% this year, Pew says. That's almost twice as fast as the growth of broadband penetration for the general population, which grew to 47%."

ABC News Reports on the Health Environment Action Network

2007-05-11T00:01:00.000-04:00

ABC News science reporter Ned Potter has an outstanding report on the new "Health Environment Action Network (HEAN)" launched by the National Alliance for Hispanic Health (a client of The 2050 Group), four regional partner organizations, and environmental countdown. See the launch press release. HEAN is empowering citizen scientists who will be researching and reporting on air and water pollution in four different regions of the country.

Uncle Ben "Gets a New Identity"

2007-03-30T09:53:00.000-04:00

Today's New York Times has a fascinating Business section cover story on Mars company's effort to reintroduce Uncle Ben's rice and side dish products to the American consumer. The article points readers to a new website, unclebens.com, where the company has repositioned Uncle Ben as the chairman of the company.

I explored the site and found a calendar on Ben's executive office desk that has him speaking to the National Institutes of Health and meeting with a Senator You-Know-Who on a Friday in March.

It is a notable transformation of a brand character that has always carried with it the baggage of racial insensitivity that has also been associated with the brand and other brands such as Aunt Jemima's pancake syrup.

The Times was right to front-page this story. As advertising reporter Stuart Elliott writes in the story:

"The previous reluctance to feature Uncle Ben prominently in ads stood in stark contrast to the way other human characters like Orville Redenbacher and Colonel Sanders personify their products. That reticence can be traced to the contentious history of Uncle Ben as the black face of a white company, wearing a bow tie evocative of servants and Pullman porters and bearing a title reflecting how white Southerners once used “uncle” and “aunt” as honorifics for older blacks because they refused to say “Mr.” and “Mrs.”

Before the civil rights movement took hold, marketers of food and household products often used racial and ethnic stereotypes in creating brand characters and mascots.

In addition to Uncle Ben, there was Aunt Jemima, who sold pancake mix in ads that sometimes had her exclaiming, “Tempt yo’ appetite;” a grinning black chef named Rastus, who represented Cream of Wheat hot cereal; the Gold Dust Twins, a pair of black urchins who peddled a soap powder for Lever Brothers; the Frito Bandito, who spoke in an exaggerated Mexican accent; and characters selling powdered drink mixes for Pillsbury under names like Injun Orange and Chinese Cherry — the latter baring buck teeth."

This will certainly add a new layer to the discussion I initiate with students in my ethnic marketing course at Johns Hopkins University.

Click [here] to read the NYT article.

Asian Americans in U.S. Pop Entertainment?

2007-03-05T20:25:00.000-05:00

New York Times writer Mireya Navarro had a Style-section cover story in the Sunday Times that delved into what some say is American pop culture's avoidance of potential Asian American stars; she writes some refer to it as "the Asian thing." It's an interesting article and worth reading.

Click [here] for the article.

FCC Penalty Demonstrates Spanish-Language TV Must Abide by Same Rules as Other Networks

2007-02-25T11:56:00.000-05:00

According to a major front page story in Saturday's New York Times by media writer Stephen Labaton, Spanish-language television leader Univision is about to get hit with "the largest fine the Federal Communications Commission has ever imposed against any company."

And it appears Univision is ready, and in fact quite eager, to settle the issue and move on. The NYT piece, available through a permalink [here], is quite thorough and places the entire issue in the following context:

"Once the full commission approves it, as expected, Univision will be able to complete its $12 billion sale to a consortium of private equity firms."

So, while this is a major penalty and sets a historic precedent for the FCC, $24 million is a small amount to concede in order to ensure the government's support of a speedy sale of the company.

Some background... The Los Angeles Times' Jim Puzzanghera reports on the issue in Sunday's paper [here]. The Times' reports:

"Los Angeles-based Univision, the country's largest Spanish-language broadcaster, has agreed to the fine to settle complaints against 24 stations over a 116-week period from 2004 to 2006 for airing the children-focused soap operas, known as telenovelas, to fulfill the requirement for at least three hours of educational programming a week, according to a commission official who spoke on condition of anonymity because only the FCC staff, not the full commission, had approved the settlement."

The Times report from Saturday quoted Rep. Ed Markey:

“As the prime House author of the Children’s Television Act, I am pleased the commission is pursuing serious and vigorous enforcement of violations,” said Representative Edward J. Markey, the Massachusetts Democrat who heads the House subcommittee on telecommunications and the Internet. “This is a particularly egregious case and the level of the proposed fine reflects it. Rather than giving kids programming that is educationally nourishing, Univision elected to give them the Spanish-language equivalent of a soap opera.”

And the Times also reported that a politically active church filed the original complaint that led to the penalty:

"The case dates to the summer of 2005, when the United Church of Christ raised concerns about Univision’s programming lineup, complaining that it was failing to provide adequate children’s programs. The network claimed it was meeting its obligation by repeatedly rebroadcasting the same episodes of the telenovela. The commission’s staff found that 24 stations had violated the programming guidelines over a two-year period."

Finally, the Times identified the research of one of my academic colleagues Professor Federico Subervi of the School of Journalism & Mass Communication at Texas State University (who I've collaborated with on Hispanic voting research):

"In an affidavit accompanying the United Church’s complaint, Federico Subervi, a media consultant to such shows as “Dora the Explorer” and “The Misadventures of Maya and Miguel” said that “Complices” contained many adult plots and complex themes that were hardly suitable for young children."

"As further evidence that the program did not comply with the rules, Mr. Subervi noted that 80 percent of the advertising during the show was geared toward adults."

Here are some possible "lessons" that could come out of this case:

First, Spanish-language media must live under the same rules and regulations as all other media companies in the United States (for many reasons this was not clear before). And yes the FCC has finally realized it can effectively police the format. But for too long the FCC ignored Spanish-language media -- I remember the organization cracking down on indecency in English radio programs and then getting blasted for not doing the same for Spanish radio programs that were doing the same of worse.

But questions remain: Why was it outside research, and not the FCC's own original research and analysis, that convinced the commission there was a problem?

Every semester I teach my ethnic marketing course I share with my students a terrific Newsweek article about all the phrases that are lost in translation and how the FCC was essentially unaware of the the content of many Spanish-language radio programs.

Second, if you're a big media make sure you do good for the country and follow rules that were established to ensure you do. Profits often get in the way of this. And even now, it raises the question: Will a $24 million fine finally force a change at Univision?

The company has not commented publicly yet (best I can tell and according to the L.A. Times today), but might Univision announce, as one friend recommends, that it will invest at least $24 million in the development of new educational children's programming for U.S. Hispanic children? It would certainly be the right thing to do.

Third, if you're a big media company, make sure that you don't anger citizen groups who will file complaints as the UCC did. Groups that have gripes are more likely to spend the time and money on efforts to punish you if you have upset or wronged them in the past. If they work hard enough eventually they will find something that will stick.

ImpreMedia Buys Hoy's New York Edition from Tribune Co.

2007-02-12T14:16:00.000-05:00

I just received the e-mail announcing the following development in the Spanish-language media business:

"ImpreMedia, LLC, the nation's leading Spanish-language newspaper and online news publisher, announced today it has agreed to acquire Tribune Company's New York publication, Hoy, and its related weekend publication in New York, Fin de Semana. The pending acquisition does not include the Hoy publications in Los Angeles and Chicago."

Hoy, which was plagued by the Tribune Co's circulation scandal a few years ago, has struggled to compete with the larger El Diario/La Prensa in the New York media market. Plus, ImpreMedia's leadership is driving one of the most energetic campaigns to create a national Hispanic print media empire, and so far it appears to be very successful.

Another rationale: "Based on Scarborough research, the combined readership of Hoy New York and El Diario La Prensa will allow ImpreMedia to deliver nearly twice the number of Spanish-preferred adults as New York's leading Spanish-language TV station, owned by Univision, and nearly three times more than New York's leading Spanish-language radio station."

As long as the quality of reporting and resources for consumers remains strong, perhaps the consolidation of the two papers is a good thing from the perspective of advertisers in the New York media market looking to reach the largest number of consumers.

I'll be on the look-out for reactions to this sale and will share them here on the blog.

Click [here] for the full press release about the sale.

- Adam