More Latinos in prime time

In its fourth report on race and gender diversity in prime-time television programming, Children Now finds that the six major broadcast networks made progress with Latino characters this season but not with Asian/Pacific Islander or Native American characters.

The Oakland-based advocacy organization said Latino characters constituted more than 6% of the prime-time population in the 2003-04 season, compared with 4% in 2001-02.

But the report, due for release today, says there has been no increase in the percentage of Asian/Pacific Islander characters in the last five years. And researchers failed to find a single Native American character this season.

Children Now said it conducted the study by watching two episodes of each entertainment series that aired between 8 and 11 p.m. on ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, the WB and UPN.