Why The Media Pays Less Attention To Police Killings Of Latinos

Michael Brown, Eric Garner and Antonio Zambrano-Montes were all unarmed men who died at the hands of police officers, sparking protests from critics who questioned whether the killings were justified.

Michael Brown and Eric Garner are now household names in the United States. Antonio Zambrano-Montes? Not so much.

Zambrano-Montes, a Mexican migrant worker, was shot and killed by police officers on Feb. 10 in Pasco, Washington. Video footage appears to show Zambrano-Montes throwing rocks at police and then running away with his hands raised before the officers shot him, though the Pasco Police Department has defended its officers’ actions. The New York Times called the killing the Latino community’s “Ferguson moment.”

In the wake of Zambrano-Montes’ death, some are questioning the way major television networks, which play a major role in setting the national news agenda, cover police violence cases in which the victims are Hispanic.

Federico Subervi, a professor at Kent State University who studies the portrayal of Latinos in the media, says the lack of national political leadership helps explain why police violence against Latinos receives relatively little attention on national television.

“There’s no prominent Latino leaders who can mobilize nationwide for prompt action on such matters,” Subervi said. “There are politicians, but they’re not going to be going out stirring up the folks more than their immediate constituencies.”

A 2013 study by the Pew Research Center’s Hispanic Trends Project backs up Subervi’s point. The study found that Latinos were almost totally unable to recognize a prominent Latino leader. When asked to name one, some 62 percent of the 5,103 respondents said they didn’t know. “No one” was the second-most popular answer, receiving 9 percent.

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor — who is precluded by the nature of her job from speaking out on controversial issues — came in third place with 5 percent, tied with Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.).

The Huffington Post