BY CHON NORIEGA

Despite well-documented growth of the Latino community as a political and market force within the United States, Latinos enter the 21st century with a lower level of media access and representation than during the civil-rights era. Portrayals of Latinos in continuing roles on prime-time television have fallen from 3% to 2% since 2000, and Latinos account for less than 2% of the executive positions in major studios and networks.

While those numbers have remained almost constant for the last three decades, the Latino community itself grew from 4.5% of the national population in 1970 to 12.5% in 2000. In other words, the Latino population has increased by nearly three times relative to the national population, but Latinos still get the same small percentage of entertainment-industry jobs. That means employment opportunities for Latinos both in front of and behind the camera have decreased to nearly one-third the level of the 1970s.

Today, we appear to be in the midst of significant change. The cable series "Resurrection Blvd." and "The Brothers Garcia" are in production on their third seasons. UCLA alumnus Gregory Nava's "American Family" (PBS), the first Latino-themed-and-produced dramatic series on broadcast television, has been cleared for a second season. And "The George Lopez Show" (ABC) recently debuted as the first Latino sitcom on the commercial networks since "Chico and the Man" (NBC) in the mid-1970s.

These shows' origins can be traced to the fall lineup for 1999, in which the 26 new prime-time series featured all-white casts. In response, the National Hispanic Media Coalition joined with numerous Latino civil rights groups to stage a "Brown Out," or boycott, of the networks. That was the first coordinated Latino national advocacy effort since the early 1970s. By the end of 2000, Latino media advocates had forged an unprecedented coalition with other minority groups. The fact that the coalition leaders included three former members of Congress further increased its ability to pressure the networks into negotiating comprehensive and legally binding memorandums of understanding.

The entertainment industry claims that it operates by economic rationale alone, citing ratings and box office as the major factors affecting decision-making. But this industry has an extraordinarily high failure rate: Around 75% of television series are cancelled in their first season. In the absence of a formula for success, the industry has invented one: going with the actors, producers and formats it already knows. These do not provide a higher success rate; they do provide executives with a greater comfort factor than gambling on the unknown.

In the end, it is not a question of whether the industry takes risks, but of whom it lets do so. Believe it or not, most casting calls specifically advertise for "Caucasian" roles. Could the same be implied with respect to producers? If 75% of new series fail in their first season, Latino-produced series on PBS and cable have an exceptional track record. But will the industry give these producers the same chance as everyone else, the chance to fail three times out of four and then to succeed? Only then will Latinos have equal opportunity -- and visibility.

Noriega is professor in the Department of Film, Television and Digital Media, and associate director of the Chicano Studies Research Center.