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Forgotten Empire: The Territory-Sized Hole in American Data
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In 1941, when writing his famous “Day of Infamy” speech, FDR removed a reference to the bombing of the Philippines, then an American territory.
Instead, Hawaii’s Pearl Harbor took center stage. It had been a territory since 1875, when the U.S. acquired the land as a military base. It was clearly American — a known center of naval activity. FDR’s edits suggest that America’s remaining territories existed more on the periphery of the nation’s interest, even as they were a central concern of its military.
Today, the same trend continues, codified into the way the federal government excludes America’s territories from its data reporting on economic and social indicators. While the territories remain key areas of military strategy in the Caribbean and Pacific, they receive little attention from the mainstream media. This data deficit inhibits their local governments’ ability to address humanitarian crises.
When a typhoon, hurricane, or global pandemic devastates these island economies, government workers are forced to respond without knowing exactly how many people lost their jobs or homes. This lack of data ultimately makes recovery efforts less effective and compounds human suffering.
A Silent Media
For the 50 states, the U.S. government regularly administers surveys to gather data on how their residents are faring amid rapid inflation, international tensions, and soaring technological advancements. Every unemployment statistic, estimate of GDP growth, and jobs report comes from a trusted federal data source, usually administered by the U.S. Census Bureau.
In turn, the U.S. news cycle depends on these federal data sources. Although different news outlets may disagree about their biases or implications, the data forms the backbone of how American media talks about social and economic progress. On average The New York Times references government survey data in over 1,000 articles each year.
This backbone, however, does not extend to America’s island territories of Guam, the Virgin Islands, the Northern Marianas Islands, American Samoa or Puerto Rico. Citizen Codex examined articles by The New York Times written between 2008 and 2022 and found that U.S. states of equivalent populations (Utah, Connecticut, Oklahoma, etc.) receive far more media attention than the territories.
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Between 2008 and 2015, the various islands making up the U.S. territories received half the total media attention of equivalent-size states (4,936 vs. 10,138 articles).
An uptick in coverage of the territories in 2016 and 2017 was largely driven by the Puerto Rican debt crisis and the devastation of Hurricane María in the Caribbean.
North Korea’s 2017 announcement that Guam would be the target of its nuclear missile program also contributed to increased coverage that year.
In 2018 The New York Times reported heavily on the destruction caused by Typhoon Yutu in the Northern Marianas Islands.
The historic election of 2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the disparity in coverage between states and territories.
While native residents of the territories are generally U.S. citizens (except in American Samoa where they are U.S. nationals), they do not have the right to vote in general elections. Coverage about COVID-19 levels in different states and counties often excluded the territories.
The Enormous Federal Data Disparity
Federal data collection largely stops short of U.S. territories. Over the next 10 years, the Census Bureau will release approximately 264 key datasets for the 50 states. But for the territories of Guam, the Northern Marianas, American Samoa and the Virgin Islands, the Census Bureau will release only three total datasets over that same period: one decennial count and two economic surveys.
All told, the data collected by the Census Bureau will help direct at least 2.8 trillion dollars annually to 353 federal-assistance programs. While data on the 50 states helps the government direct funding where it’s needed most, a lack of territory data forces officials to operate in the dark.
For its most populous territory, Puerto Rico, federal data collection is a little better. The Census Bureau conducts an annual “Puerto Rican Community Survey” for the region’s 3.2 million residents. But the resulting estimates don’t use the same rigorous control methods as the “American Community Survey.” And data is only available on the county level instead of more specific geographies like zip codes and census tracts.
A Blindfold for Local Officials
Around the turn of the 20th century, the U.S. expanded its colonial influence over seas. Long left to the rule of the U.S. Navy, the nation’s territories were neglected by the government that claimed to rule them. This neglect hampered the development and assessment of the regions’ social programs. In recent years, a lack of federal data has hindered the ability of island territories to respond to disasters like the COVID-19 pandemic and extreme weather.
For example, in 2018, Typhoon Yutu devastated the Northern Mariana’s islands. By 2020, the recovery effort had just gotten underway when the spread of COVID-19 crushed the region’s critical tourism industry. When the federal government asked the region’s department of labor to estimate how many workers lost their jobs during the pandemic, they had no idea.
Speaking to the Honolulu Civil Beat, the head of Northern Mariana’s labor department Vicky Benavente said, “This is one lesson we learned. Data is so critical for justifying our asks to the federal government.”
State governments had ready access to reliable data. They used monthly reports from the Current Population Survey to monitor pandemic-induced rises in unemployment. Working without this data, the Northern Marianas government had to rely on a survey of employers conducted every two years. By 2021, so many businesses had shut their doors that few were left to reply.
A lack of data and accountability has similarly hindered the federal response to hurricanes. Damage from 2017 hurricanes Irma and Maria in the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico has still not been repaired. In May of 2022, Typhoon Mawar blew apart buildings in Guam and further slowed recovery efforts in the Marianas. For weeks following these storms, residents of the islands lived without power, running water, or cell phone service.
What is the economic effect of these climate disasters? Without more data, we don't really know.
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The Obvious Solution
Proposed legislation may help end the cycle of neglect. In 2020 the non-voting delegates of the territories teamed up with Democrat Raúl Grijalva of Arizona to introduce the Territories Statistics Collection Equity Act. The bill proposes to bring survey efforts up to speed with the 50 states. However, while the legislation has bipartisan support, it has repeatedly failed to make it to a House vote.
The Climate Strong Islands Network, a locally led network of the U.S. territories, issued an official statement of support for the bill: “Like U.S. states, the territories need consistent and timely data across federal agencies to make sure our communities don’t get left behind. Equitable data collection for U.S. territories will increase access to vital federal programs and support key policy decisions.”
When the federal government nearly shutdown in October 2023, policymakers at the Federal Reserve fretted over how they would navigate perilous economic conditions without reliable data from federal agencies. For the territories, this lack of reliable data is a fact of life, month after month, year after year.
Data is not itself a defense against pandemics and inclement weather. At its core, data represents the stories of individuals—where people sleep, work, and build their lives. Excluding the territories from federal datasets excludes the lives of their residents from the rest of America’s conscious. After over a century of neglect, the territories deserve at least to have their stories told.
About the Data
The team extracted data on the number of NY Times articles mentioning states or territories using the article-search feature of their public developer API. The code for this analysis is available on the Citizen Codex GitHub repository.
The Census Bureau publishes a large variety of datasets through their collaboration with other government agencies. Most of these datasets exclude the territories. We chose to focus on the ACS, CPS, Pulse Survey, Economic Census and Decennial Census because these datasets are critical for understanding the economics and demographics of the regions they cover. More information about these surveys can be found on the Census website.
Further Reads
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