Reinventing the Latino Television Viewer

This book examines language ideologies and market exploitation in the television industry. Television networks owned by large media conglomerates are trying to reach U.S. Latino viewers with English-language programming. As these networks enter Hispanic television, they redefine the Latino audience to closely resemble the mainstream population.

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Reinventing the Latino Television Viewer: Language, Ideology, and Practice examines how the relationship between language, power, and industry practice is reshaping the very concept of Hispanic television. Chávez argues that as established mainstream networks enter the Hispanic television space, they are redefining the Latino audience in ways that more closely resemble the mainstream population, leading to auspicious forms of erasure that challenge the legitimacy of Spanish altogether. This book presents the integration of English into the Hispanic television space not as an entirely new phenomenon, but rather as an extension of two ongoing practices within the television industry—the exploitation of consumer markets and the suppression of Latino forms of speech.