When a coalition of ethnic media outlets invited Senator Patty Murray to a roundtable discussion recently, the Murray campaign initially expressed interest, but then said she wouldn’t have time. The coalition felt disappointed and ignored, but didn’t give up. They are now urging Murray’s campaign office to reach out to the minority community through other means, like advertising.
And it’s not just Murray. Ethnic media outlets are asking all candidates whether “every vote really counts,” or whether those are just weasel words. “If it counts, then why aren’t political candidates doing more to reach out to Washington’s minority communities?” asked Julie Pham, Managing Editor of Seattle’s Northwest Vietnamese News. Pham just published a study on the discrepancy in political campaign advertising in ethnic vs mainstream media.
Racial and ethnic minorities make up more than 20 percent of the 6.7 million Washingtonians, and a majority of them get their news from the ethnic media. And yet, Public Disclosure Commission records cited in Pham’s study show that in 2009, ethnic media got 0.7 percent of the total political campaign advertising budget (a mere $25,000 out of $3.4 million).
“We wish that candidates would remember that minorities are also voters,” said Annie Malik, business development director for the bilingual Seattle Chinese Times, which has a circulation of 10,000. Malik said that this year, her paper received zero campaign ads.
Both the Murray and the Dino Rossi campaign issued statements saying that although they couldn’t provide specific details about their advertising strategy, they had reached out to minority communities in various ways. “The Murray campaign has already been in touch with a number of ethnic media outlets about advertising,” wrote Murray campaign spokesperson Julie Edwards in an e-mail.
Of the 33 ethnic media organizations surveyed in Pham’s study, 11 said they received no political campaign advertising. More than half received less than $500 in campaign ads in 2009.
“Both Democrats and Republicans and even minority candidates are guilty of not marketing to minority communities,” Pham told The Stranger. “These figures show the extent to which political candidates grossly undervalue the role played by ethnic media in building bridges between local society and ethnic communities.”
Perhaps politicians simply think that not enough minorities vote? Pham said that it’s true that Asians, Hispanics, and blacks have lower voter registration than whites in Washington (by 20 to 25 percentage points), but argues that our state has a lot of potential to “mobilize minority voters.”
If you run a spanish language ad, you might stoke anti-immigrant wrath. But Murray could run ads with subtitles, which would help get the minority votes she needs. People want to know you need them and want them on your side because you’re on their side.
Just as the Dems take gay voters for granted, they figure they have the minority vote “in the bag” too. No surprises there.
No minorities on Slog????
Can we just stop pretending that these people give a single flying fuck what voters think?
The incentive that a politician has to do the will of their constituents ends at whatever extent they must in order to become or stay an elected official.
It’s very simple math:
Lobbyists > Party > Voters.
Politicians are doing next to nothing more than competing over who is given the opportunity to profit from the political system. The more disconnected an elected official is from their constituents, the more drastic this is. They will only do *just enough* for the voter to get/stay elected, and this necessity is lessened the more the voting public is manipulated by funding provided by lobbyists.
So, cry me a fucking river.
“Racial and ethnic minorities make up more than 20 percent of the 6.7 million Washingtonians, and a majority of them get their news from the ethnic media.”
Am I to read that as a majority of minorities rely on ethnic media for their news; or, a majority of minorities also consume ethnic media?
I do believe politicians ignore groups of people for various disheartening reasons, and maybe this issue needs to be forced—but I bet it also sucks when your paper couldn’t grab any ad dollars during a political season.
I believe that multiculturalism in WA should be regarded and taken into account quite seriously….the Small Biz Owners are on the rise. Most of them are multicultural women … (from ethnicities outside of mainstream). Why are they being overlooked? Now, I do agree subtitles to all ad campaigns can be a starting point…sometimes getting translations is hard….yet the question I would ask is: is this question being asked and tried? Most times volunteers are fluent in other languages and just by asking for a translation from them is a starting point. Even when candidates make an effort to say a simple phrase in the audience’s language wins points…the effort is shown, consequently, the vote is closer…people like to feel listened to….just paying attention to the audience within the community – wins votes…
I did not know about this “tidbit” news whereby ads are not placed or scarce within the multicultural community and their conduits of communications. This is SOOOO HUGE! If we were to gather some political savvies, this President did a lot of “inclusion with all ethnicities” or tried his best…this IS one of the ways he was able to win. If any candidate wants to look at the future, just look at stats on small business owners from the Census…percentages from 2002 have already doubled and this is in small business……interesting source of $$$ for campaigns and votes…is this not what is wanted: representation, listening, support, explaining policies and stances….? I thought so…(I’m not sure what you’re trying to say here. That candidates are overlooking not only a source of votes, but also campaign funding? That’s a legitimate point to make)
I believe that multiculturalism in WA should be regarded and taken into account quite seriously….the Small Biz Owners are on the rise. Most of them are multicultural women … (from ethnicities outside of mainstream). Why are they being overlooked? Now, I do agree subtitles to all ad campaigns can be a starting point…sometimes getting translations is hard….yet the question I would ask is: is this question being asked and tried? Most times volunteers are fluent in other languages and just by asking for a translation from them is a starting point. Even when candidates make an effort to say a simple phrase in the audience’s language wins points…the effort is shown, consequently, the vote is closer…people like to feel listened to….just paying attention to the audience within the community – wins votes…
I did not know about this “tidbit” news whereby ads are not placed or scarce within the multicultural community and their conduits of communications. This is SOOOO HUGE! If we were to gather some political savvies, this President did a lot of “inclusion with all ethnicities” or tried his best…this IS one of the ways he was able to win. If any candidate wants to look at the future, just look at stats on small business owners from the Census…percentages from 2002 have already doubled and this is in small business……interesting source of $$$ for campaigns and votes…is this not what is wanted: representation, listening, support, explaining policies and stances….? I thought so…(I’m not sure what you’re trying to say here. That candidates are overlooking not only a source of votes, but also campaign funding? That’s a legitimate point to make)