Indecency in Media …. The Hispanic Viewpoint.

When it comes to indecency in the media, the opinions of Hispanic radio listeners vary only slightly from their Anglo and African-American brothers and sisters according to a recent nationwide study conducted by Paragon Media Strategies. When asked, “Are you aware of the recent issue of indecency in the media,” 79% of the Hispanic respondents in the survey indicated they were aware. This matched the 79% for total respondents and was close to the 80% awareness for Anglos. African-Americans’ awareness of the issue trailed a bit at 66%.

When asked whether or not they personally consider each of the following categories to be indecent, Nudity, Sexual Content, and Violence, the Hispanic respondents seemed slightly less likely to use the indecency tag. Hispanic respondents also seemed to be more tolerant of Adult Language than the other groups. Only 54% of the Hispanic respondents considered Adult Language to be indecent compared to 66% of the Total Sample, 67% of Anglos, and 74% of African-Americans.

Respondents were read a list of media types and were asked if they had personally been exposed to what they would consider indecent material in the last six months. The answers from the Hispanic respondents’ answers tracked closely to the results for the Total Sample for the categories such as Television Programming, Advertisements Shown on Television, and Radio Station DJs or Guests. This was also the case for other categories including Advertisements Played on the Radio, Newspaper Articles, Advertisements in Newspapers, and Magazine Articles.

However, when it came to the Internet, Hispanic respondents indicated a much higher exposure to indecency. 63% of Hispanics in the survey indicated they had been exposed to indecent material on Internet Websites. This compared to 43% of the Anglo respondents and only 31% of the African-American respondents. Total respondents reported 45%.

Advertisements on the Internet came under attack as 64% of Hispanic respondents said that they had been exposed to indecent material through this medium compared to 51% Anglo and only 24% African-American. Of the Total Respondents, 49% indicated that they had been exposed to indecent material through Internet Ads.

Both Hispanic and African-American respondents indicated a higher degree of indecency for Music Played on Radio Stations when compared to Anglos. 60% of both Hispanics and African-Americans, compared to 39% of Anglos, claimed to have been exposed to indecent material in the past six months while listening to music played on the radio.

E-mail, however, seemed less offensive to Hispanic and African-American respondents than Anglo. 55% of Hispanics said they had not been exposed to indecent material through E-mail compared to 46% African-Americans and 33% Anglo. Total respondents indicated that 37% had not been exposed to indecent material in the past six months through e-mail.

When statements about the topic of indecency in the media were read to each respondent, again there was little difference between Hispanic respondents and the Total Respondents in the survey. Agreements included:

” There is more indecent material in the media than there was five years ago. (88% Hispanic, 84% Total)
” The Federal Communications Commission should increase their fines for that which is determined to be indecent material in the media. (75% Hispanic, 70% Total)
” It is important for media to maintain a person’s First Amendment right to free speech. (81% Hispanic, 87% Total)
” It is the responsibility of parents, not the government, to monitor what their children are watching, reading, or listening to. (88% Hispanic, 85% Total)
” The only reason indecency in the media is a big issue right now is because this is an election year (50% Hispanic, 50% Total)
” People are overreacting to this indecency topic. (45% Hispanic, 52% Total).

However, Hispanic listeners felt much stronger about certain issues, such as:

” The owners of media companies are not making enough of an effort to cut down on the level of indecent material on their stations, newspapers, or magazines. (89% Hispanic, 71% African-American, 68% Anglo, 70% Total).
” Overall, there is too much indecent material in the media today. (76% Hispanics, 71% Anglo, 73% African-American, 71% Total)
” The Federal Communications Commission has tougher standards for content broadcast on radio than they do for content shown on television. (70% Hispanic, 47% Anglo, 69% African-American, 53% Total)

And, as for the incident that supposedly started it all? When asked whether “The Superbowl half-time show was indecent to me personally,” 48% of Hispanics agreed with this statement compared to 41% of Total Respondents, 44% of Anglo, and only 27% of African-Americans.

To view charts CLICK above on ‘More Images’.

Courtesy of http://www.paragonmediastrategies.com

For more information, contact John Stevens at js******@********************es.com