Moran, K. C. (2006). Is changing the language enough? The Spanish-language alternative’ in the U.S.A. SAGE Publications, 7(3): 389-405.

     Kristin C. Moran is currently an associate professor at the University of San Diego in California and has been since 1999. She received her M.A. in 1997 and graduated with her PhD in 2000 from the University of Washington and focused her studies in International Media. Some of Moran’s work has been seen in journals like Global Media Journal and The Journal of Borderland Studies. At the moment, Moran is teaching classes focused on media theory and international media.   

      Moran (2006) compares and contrasts mainstream media with the “alternative” Latino media in San Diego, CA. An extensive content analysis was coducted in order to better and more accurately determine the similarties and differences between Spanish-language media and English-language media. As the Latino population continues to grow, Moran claims that Latinos and their issues are highly under represented. This continues to be a dilemma, especially since Hispanics have become the largest minority in the U.S. comprising of 40.5 million or 14% of the population in 2005 according to the Pew Hispanic Center (Moran, 2006). The large number of Latinos residing in the San Diego area is due to the close proximity of the United States/Mexico border, and as the author mentions, “A border community provides an opportunity for researchers to learn more about two nations’ interactions as well as the cultural distinctions and similarities of these two countries” (Moran, 2006, p. 390).  

      Recent studies have demonstrated that alternative voices have been found in media, particularly ethnic media providing news in languages other than English. Latinos turn to Spanish-language media to stay connected with local issues; in addition, Moran’s content analysis concludes that Spanish-language media represents Latinos in a more accurate light. Because Latinos find themselves transitioning from their homeland to the United States, television newscasts that offer an alternative to English newscasts also facilitate the assimilation process for these newcomers, “Latinos are also in the process of assimilation, however, and being able to access news and entertainment in their own language helps them to understand their ‘new’ home” (Moran, 2006, p. 391). Recent migrants from Latin America find it difficult to become accustomed to the American lifestyle right away, and media in their mother tongue provides an outlet that facilitates this transition for these individuals and their families (p. 390).

An extensive content analysis was conducted in order to effectively compare and contrast San Diego's local channels KBNT Univisión and KGTV ABC; the unit of analysis was marked by each story individually (Mocan, 2006, p.395). By emphasizing the similarities and differences between KBNT Univisión and KGTV ABC, Moran attempts to demonstrate to her readers that changing the language and the targeted audience is enough to accurately portray the Latino population and, therefore, give an alternative viewpoint to the existing stereotypes subtlety inserted in mainstream, English-language media. However, Moran argues that the aforementioned facts, namely covering Latino issues more accurately and less stereotypically, are the sole reasons Spanish-language media can be considered "alternative" at all. According to Moran, the constant under representation and misleading information regarding Hispanics in English news is unfortunate and due to this reality, Latinos seek information relative to their environment, “The lack of representation of Latinos in the mainstream, English-language media leads Latinos to Spanish-language programming where they can see entertainment and news that is relevant to their reality” (p. 392). 

In addition, Moran’s (2006) findings indicate that both channels cover news reports in a similar way, and the only difference is that KBNT focuses more on Latino issues (Moran, 2006, 400). In addition, the author points out that although changing the language is enough to more accurately portray Latinos and Latino issues, it is not enough to call KBNT Univisión ‘alternative’ media. The meaning behind the word “alternative” would mean that the newscast in Spanish is the complete opposite of English-language newscasts,”…but it is not ‘alternative’ in the traditional sense of the word. It is not small, it is not outside corporate control, it must sell its audience to advertisers, and…functions in the same way as other mainstream mass media” (Moran, 2006, p. 402).

The pressing question, and the title of the scholarly piece, lies on whether changing the language is enough to reclaim KBNT Univisión as "traditional" alternative media, and Moran says it is not. Unfortunately, large conglomerates own both ABC and Univisión; Disney owns ABC while Televisa owns Univisión. Both forms of media also equally attempt to attract a large amount of audience members by using the lowest common denominator method, and lastly, ABC and Univisión heavily rely on advertisers to keep the network working at an all time high (p. 402). In other words, the local television news values are the same with the exception of the language and KBNT’s focus of Latino related issues (Moran, 2006, 400).