This document discusses a research paper on the role of international news in Puerto Rico's political discourse. The paper examines how issues related to Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricans are covered, or not covered, by major US and international news media. It hypothesizes that news about Puerto Rico is scarce and limited in scope, especially regarding the territory's real political, economic, and social dynamics. The invisibility of Puerto Rico in international news has negative consequences for Puerto Rican national identity and US domestic and foreign policies.

1. International Communication, National
Identity, and Political Change
The role of
international
news in
Puerto
Rico’s
political
discourse
Aitza M. Haddad, J.D., LL.M.
MCMS 757-01 – Seminar Int’l
Communication
Dr. Anju G. Chaudhary
April 23, 2014

2. • U.S. Citizenship – Jones Act of 1917
– Wave of domestic migration of Puerto
Ricans to the U.S.
• 2012 – Approximately 4,970,604 Puerto
Ricans living in the U.S.
• Considered Hispanics or Latinos for many
purposes
– Scholarships and census
• In 2011, Puerto Ricans were the second-
largest population of Hispanic origin living in
the U.S.
– International residents of the U.S.
Introduction

3. • Instead of a bigger spotlight in the
international community, because of the
complexity of the Island’s status, recent
literature lacks a comprehensive picture of
characteristics of Puerto Ricans compared
to other Hispanic groups (Collazo, Ryan &
Bauman, 2010), such as the Mexican
American experience (Torres, 2004).
– Perpetuation of the colonial status – individual
and collective needs and claims invisible to the
international community and political agendas.
Introduction

4. • 1990 – Fundamental factor shaping
Puerto Rico’s media system – the
Island’s status with the United States
– Media shaping the Island’s status with
the United States and the world
• Media access
• Voice in media coverage
• Media representations
– Individual and collective process of
national identity formation
– Assuring a place in the policy-making
Problem Statement

5. • Are issues about Puerto Rico and
Puerto Ricans covered by major
news media networks, such as CNN,
ABC & BBC?
– If so, how?
• Relationship with knowledge,
attitudes and perceptions about
Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricans by
U.S. residents of the mainland
–And by the residents living in the
Island
Research Question

6. • News about Puerto Rico and Puerto
Ricans are not only scarce, but also
very limited in its scope and focus,
especially with respect to the real
political, economic, social, and
cultural dynamics of the Island and
its people.
Hypothesis

7. • News and information about this
territory, in the midst of intense
deliberations about its future status
with the U.S., are not presented in
any regular nor substantial way in
the news media that shape public
knowledge and opinions.
Hypothesis

8. Discussion
• Effects of the transmission of
panethnicity through globalized
Spanish media and interpersonal
transnational contact (Roth (2009)
• Effects of the homogenization of the
label Hispanics by the mass media and
the exploitation of this group’s shared
culture or common patterns or
characteristics (Álvarez-González,
2010)

9. Conclusion
• Such invisibility has potentially
detrimental consequences, not only
for Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricans
national identity and cultural value,
but also for U.S. internal and foreign
policies and affairs.

10. QUESTIONS
Aitza M. Haddad, J.D., LL.M.
amhaddadlaw@gmail.com
Haddad@amhaddadlaw.com