Proponents of “infotainment” might want to start giving television news audiences a little less fluff and a little more credit for thinking.

A media watcher from Irvine, California, has been comparing English- and Spanish-language evening television news broadcasts in the Los Angeles area and found that not only are Spanish programs more popular, but they also are much more informative.

Joe Mathews, a senior fellow at the New America Foundation, found that on a typical half-hour evening broadcast, the three English channels might lead with news such as weather or a brief roundup of local events, but then switch to what he called “trivia,” such as stories about celebrities, fashion, entertainment and other “soft features.” The two Spanish channels provided fewer short features, but offered more in-depth reports on news topics, providing context and a wide perspective.

Mathews found, based solely on those broadcasts, the Spanish language audiences would have a far better understanding of issues important to the average American, such as economic issues brought by the mortgage crisis and rising fuel costs, and local and national political news, including the U.S. presidential campaign.

He writes that news organizations, in their desperation to stop declines in revenues and audiences, have cut time and resources for traditional news-gathering in favor of “entertainment, celebrities, pets and crime (or, best of all, stories that combine all four).” Their Spanish-language counterparts, who serve well-defined and growing audiences thanks to immigration, have more flexibility to offer in-depth coverage of weightier issues. The Spanish-language audience is “engaged more as citizens than consumers,” Mathews says.

The English-language channels might want to note the data collected for February showed Spanish KMEX had the highest average number of nightly news viewers (331,000) in the Los Angeles market. English-language KABC, its closest competitor, lagged behind by more than 70,000 viewers.

What do you think? Are you satisfied with the topics you see on your local news stations? Read Mathews’ full May 11 article at the Washington Post.com.