Census drama
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- September
- 23
How do you say “Census” in Spanish? Tune in to one of the popular Spanish-language Telenovelas, or soap operas, that are broadcast five nights a week on the Telemundo cable station and you will soon find out. According to published reports, the U.S. Census Bureau has teamed up with the producers of Mas Sabe el Diablo, or The Devil Knows Best, to create a character who leaves her job as an empanada vendor to become a Census taker. In the episodes, which will be broadcast in October, Perla Beltran, the luscious would-be bureaucrat, demystifies the census for Spanish language speakers and reassures them that the information it solicits is confidential and will not be turned over to immigration.
The government’s interest in the soap operas is clear; only a fraction of Hispanics fill out the census, which makes the data less reliable than it could be. The television producers’ motives for including such a mundane plotline in a genre known for melodrama is less obvious. But, as the New York Times reported Wednesday, the more Hispanics who are counted, the larger the television audience will be estimated to be. That could lead to increased advertising revenue for Telemundo.
This entry was posted
on Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009 at 11:51 am by Debra West.
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