Bridging the Divide

Interethnic Cooperation; Minority Media Outlets; and the Coverage of Latino, African-American, and Asian-American Members of Congress

Vanderbilt University, Department of Political Science,VU Station B# 351817, 313 Calhoun Hall, Nashville,TN 37235-1817; phone: 615-322-6242; fax: 615-343-6003; christian.grose@vanderbilt.edu.

Are minority press outlets more likely to provide coverage of minority legislators than white legislators? Does this coverage translate across racial and ethnic lines? This article assesses whether minority members of the 107th Congress (2001–02) are covered by minority media sources more than white legislators. The author examines the frequency of media coverage of Latino,African-American, and Asian-American legislators in the Latino press, the African-American press, and the Asian-American press.The author argues and finds that minority elected officials are more likely to receive coverage in newspapers geared specifically to minority communities. Minority legislators are more likely to be covered by minority media, and these results are robust across minority media.The author also finds that minority media are more likely to give coverage to legislators from other minority groups as well. African-American and Latino legislators receive more coverage from Latino media outlets than other legislators,while the same results are found for African-American media outlets. Asian-American media outlets are more likely to cover both Asian-American and African-American legislators.

Key Words: ethnic media • racial media • racial politics • ethnic politics • media coverage of legislators • media bias • Latino media • African-American media • Asian-American media