Hate Speech in the Media

Principal Investigators: Chon A. Noriega, PhD, and Francisco Javier Iribarren, MSW-PsyD.

Description: The Hate Speech in the Media Project is a pilot study on hate speech on commercial talk radio. Its goal is to develop a research methodology for the quantitative evaluation of hate speech. Preliminary data reveal a systematic and extensive use of false and distorted facts, flawed argumentation, divisive language, and dehumanizing metaphors in the broadcasts that were evaluated. These findings were presented first at the National Press Club, Washington, DC, in January 2009 and more recently at “Beyond Broadcast 2009: Public Service Media from Local to Global,” a conference at the University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication in June 2009. The UCLA Graduate Division will sponsor a Summer Institute for the Study of Hate Speech in summer 2009, which will expand on the preliminary investigation. This research project results from a partnership between the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center (CSRC) and the National Hispanic Media Coalition (NHMC).

Funders: This project is supported in part by a grant from the Necessary Knowledge for a Democratic Sphere Program of the Social Science Research Council (SSRC), with funds provided by the Ford Foundation. Amount: $30,000.

Briefs & Reports:

Hate Speech on Commercial Talk Radio: Preliminary Report on a Pilot Study
Latino Policy & Issues Briefs, No. 22, February 2009

Media Coverage:

UCLA Study, Hate Speech on Commercial Talk Radio, Affirms NCLR's We Can Stop the Hate Campaign
The Huffington Post, February 11, 2009 (view PDF)

First Amendment Assault Begins
WeThePeople.ORG, February 3, 2009 (view PDF)

50,000 Watts of Hate: Hispanic media group seeks FCC inquiry
Hispanic Trending, February 2, 2009 (view PDF)