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FULL STORY
Three years ago, the University of North Texas' newly established Center for Spanish Language Media hosted the first of its many guest speakers -- including the former chair of the communications school at the Universidad Panamericana in Mexico City. The guest speaker, María Elena Gutiérrez, mentioned the lack of data sources and research on media in Mexico, which, with 150 million citizens, has the largest number of native Spanish speakers in the world.
"She explained to me that the situation in Mexico was similar to many Latin American countries, and more research was needed," said Dr. Alan Albarran, director of the Center for Spanish Language Media. "It piqued my interest. Our conversation struck a chord -- that we needed a research volume that could perhaps serve as a beginning, or a baseline, on Spanish language media, but from an industry perspective."
The result of that conversation is The Handbook of Spanish Language Media, edited by Albarran, who is also a professor of radio, television and film at UNT. The handbook provides detailed information on the mass media in 22 Spanish-speaking nations in the world, including the United States. With 45 million citizens of Latino descent, the U.S. actually has the second largest population of Spanish speakers in the world, said Albarran, who previously edited another reference book, The Handbook of Media Management and Economics.
All of the South American and Central American nations are included in the handbook along with Mexico, Spain and three island nations or territories -- Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. The authors of many of these chapters are familiar with the media in these nations because they are natives of the nations.
In addition, The Handbook of Spanish Language Media includes eight chapters on topics and current issues in Spanish language media, such as trends in television, and advertising and marketing to native Spanish speakers.
Albarran wrote the book's final chapter -- a summary of the state of the media and future directions -- and its preface. Other contributors with UNT connections are Lauren Boyle, a former employee of the Center for Spanish Language Media and former adjunct faculty member in the Department of Radio, Television and Film; Catherine Salzman, another former center employee, and her husband, Ryan Salzman, a doctoral student in political science; and Phyllis Slocum, lecturer in radio, television and film. In addition, several of the contributors were guest speakers at the center.
"If the center had not been established three years ago, this handbook wouldn't exist," Albarran said.
He said the handbook "is expected to fill a major void in our understanding of Spanish language media around the globe."
"I hope that it serves two key goals -- to provide a baseline of research on Spanish language media from a global perspective, and also to provide an agenda for future study that might be considered by students and scholars attracted to this field," he said.
The above text is based on a UNT News Service news release available on the web at http://web3.unt.edu/news/story.cfm?story=11633.
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