By Tom Whitfield

More than 80% of English-language newspaper articles that mentioned both COVID-19 and Hispanic people included no Latino source. That figure comes from a 2025 UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute analysis of 13 million articles published between March 2020 and October 2023, the height of the pandemic.

The gap persists even though Hispanic people make up 20% of the U.S. population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Visibility spikes each Hispanic Heritage Month, then fades. Once Oct. 15 passes, communicators should ask who will still be quoted on Oct. 16 and for the rest of the year, writes Yesenia Reinoso, Founder and Principal Owner of Y Communicate, in an opinion piece for PR News.

"PR professionals can't control whom journalists quote, but they do influence whom they know, who gets pitched and who ultimately speaks in front of a camera or audience," Reinoso writes. "That gap is ours to fix."

How deep does the underrepresentation run?

The Diversity Action Alliance's 2024 Race and Ethnicity in Communications Benchmark Report quantifies the pipeline problem. Hispanic and Latino professionals held only 8% of communications roles at participating organizations and just 5% of senior leadership positions.

Two numbers, one pattern. Roughly one in five Americans is Hispanic; roughly one in twenty communications leaders is.

Reinoso's core argument: expertise is not seasonal. Hispanic professionals work in every industry, and their qualifications do not follow a 12-month calendar. A communications executive, for instance, can speak on reputation and crisis management rather than being approached only for commentary on culture.

How should organizations build the expert pipeline?

Most organizations lean on the same executives for interviews and thought leadership, Reinoso notes. Those experts gain more opportunities and visibility, reinforcing the cycle. She prescribes two steps:

• Identify Hispanic experts. Start inside your own organization or agency. Finance, technology, research, operations and human resources all hold people worth knowing. Go past job titles and ask who has real knowledge to bring to industry conversations.
• Build a Hispanic expert database. Record each person's areas of expertise, professional experience, languages spoken, media experience and confident topics. Provide media training and channels to develop their brand voice.

Why wait for a 'Hispanic story'?

Hispanic experts should not have to wait for a heritage month, immigration news, diversity coverage or a human-interest angle to get a phone call, Reinoso writes. When the Fed makes a major announcement, call the Hispanic economist. When AI disrupts business again, call the technology leader. When workplace expectations shift, call the HR specialist.

Practitioners write the bios and pitches, prepare the speakers and make the introductions that decide who enters the public sphere, she argues. That control sits with communicators, not journalists.

What should an audit ask?

Reinoso frames Hispanic Heritage Month as a moment to audit a brand's own pipeline. Her checklist:

• Who did the organization pitch to the media?
• Who conducted press interviews?
• Who contributed to articles, blogs and bylines?
• Who appeared on panels, summits and other thought leadership events?
• Who received media training?
• Which topics were Hispanic experts invited to discuss, and on what platforms?

The answers show this is about more than representation, she writes. Closing the visibility gap means creating chances for experts to contribute based on their knowledge, accomplishments and sector expertise.

The 2026 Hispanic Heritage Month theme, set by the National Council of Hispanic Employment Program Managers, is "Unidos, Somos Más" — "Together, We Are More." Reinoso's closing message: collective strength grows when more voices join the discussion. Unidos, nuestras voces tienen más fuerza. Together, our voices are stronger.