Jeffres, L. W. & Hur, K. K. (1980). The forgotten media consumer --The American ethnic. Journalism Quarterly, 57 (1), 10-17. Retrieved March 9, 2008, from Communication and Mass Media.

Leo W. Jeffres is a faculty member at Cleveland State University and K. Kyoon Hur is a faculty member at the University of Texas. Their article details their study on media use by ethnic groups in Cleveland.  Whereas a large number of ethnic studies examine the media behavior of the general public, the main focus of this study is on ethnic media use and consumption.

As reflected by its title, this study highlights how ethnic media and its consumers are forgotten in the U.S. community. It starts by reviewing how much ethnic media is available. It also sheds light on the increasing need to establish media consumption patterns of U.S. ethnics in order to identify how ethnic and general metropolitan media operate in the socialization process of ethnics. The authors then examine the consumption patterns of both ethnic mass media and general mass media by a wider range of American ethnic groups with an emphasis on the relationship between media consumption and ethnic variables. They took into consideration the suggestions and evaluation of ethnics of their own media and of the general metropolitan mass media as well.

The study was conducted on 13 of the largest ethnic groups in metropolitan Cleveland to examine their media consumption behavior and consumption. They found that ethnics in the sample spent a considerable amount of time consuming both ethnic and metropolitan mass media. In ethnic newspapers, news of the local ethnic community and news from the mother country are the most popular contents, while a majority endorse the music and news format of ethnic radio. Ethnic groups’ use of metropolitan mass media was found parallel to that of the general public. In evaluations of the role played by local media in covering ethnic communities, television receives the most negative responses, as 17% of the respondents said the mass media don't consider ethnics sufficiently important for more coverage. The study also separates out the different forms of media, looking at newspapers, magazines, radio and television separately.

Interestingly, the study, which started by providing some other ethnic studies’ claims about how ethnic media only exist for unassimilated groups that are still not a part of the mainstream America, has proven that ethnic groups’ consumption of metropolitan mass media is parallel to that of the general public. In other words, it shows that the use of ethnic media among these groups neither isolates these groups from American society nor from general mass media and that it only tries to fulfill those needs that are not fulfilled by metropolitan media. The groups still consume mainstream media, but they go to their respective ethnic media for what they are missing.

This study was also special in that it deals with the media usage and behavior of Czech, Hungarian, Irish, Lebanese, Lithuanian and other ethnic groups that are often forgotten in most ethnic studies. However, I expected the authors to highlight the differences in media consumption, habits, and tastes among each of these minority groups in order to clarify whether the media behavior and consumption of both ethnic and metropolitan media is also influenced by ethnicity. Insteady, they only focus on the influence of socio-demographic predictor without mentioning the influence of cultural difference on media use.

The article is valuable also in that it confirms the real need of these forgotten minorities to have ethnic programming to reinforce their connection to their own culture, one of the significant roles ethnic media could play in a society characterized as a nation of immigrants. (Reviewed by Sahar El Zahed, Jennifer Marder)