Writers Guild of America approved a new contract this week that the LA Times hailed as a “new beginning for writers in the digital age.” Online programs and Internet material are key to the contract, and the agreement comes none too soon. The number of consumers watching online television programs has skyrocketed in the past year.

Recently released data could give the industry a clearer picture of online viewing habits. According to early findings from Neilsen Online’s VideoCensus, women ages 18 to 34 are almost twice as likely as men to tune into online TV shows, while men are more than twice as likely to watch consumer-generated online videos on sites like YouTube. The popular site led all others as the most watched.

The online TV bug has bitten Tish Maust, 28. About six months ago while home sick, she decided to catch up on the ABC show, “Lost.” She went on to watch “Ugly Betty” and then the first and second seasons of NBC’s “Friday Night Lights.”

With access to only a few network stations, Maust used to watch an hour of TV a week. She estimates she watched between six and seven hours a week while watching “Friday Night Lights,” even viewing episodes during lunch breaks. She’s not watching as much now that new episodes are scarce.

Maust wasn’t the only one watching during lunch. Neilsen reports that noon to 2 p.m. were the most popular viewing hours for online programming.

“I don’t think it’s a good thing that I watch so much TV online,” Maust laughed. But she likes having access to previous seasons and fewer commercials.

Rachel Anderson, a 30-year-old mother of two, hasn’t had a television for more than 10 years and began watching “Ugly Betty” on her laptop in the fall. “America’s Next Top Model,” a CW program, followed.

With two young children to raise, Anderson has found online programming to be a good fit. “Now I understand why people like TV,” she said. “It’s not as much of a time commitment.”

Earlier this month, Spanish fans hurled racial taunts at Formula One’s first black driver, Lewis Hamilton, prompting the International Automobile Association to create a “Racing against Racism” campaign for the Spanish Grand Prix in April. Some worry the attacks aren’t isolated, and they aren’t just aimed at blacks.

Sports authorities, athletes and media have either condemned the taunting as endemic of Spanish sports or dismissed it as an isolated event. Spanish soccer has had a number of racist incidents in recent years. Despite fines and legislation aimed at curbing such behavior, some say it is not enough, particularly in light of the most recent abuse. Others, however, disagree, saying that racist incidents in Spain are lower than the UK, France or Germany.

Some say the incident highlights a growing prejudice among some Hispanics. In 2006, after Venezuela’s president Hugo Chávez denounced Israel’s advance into Gaza, anti-Semitic graffiti appeared on the main Sephardic synagogue in Caracas. The Anti-Defamation League has tracked other incidents throughout the world.

Hispanic anti-Semitism began in Spain, according to Ilan Stavans, professor of Latin American and Latino culture at Amherst College in a recent article in The Chronicle of Higher Education.

The sentiment later spread to Latin America. In 1994, a terrorist attack killed 85 and injured hundreds at the Argentine Jewish Mutual Aid Association in Buenos Aires. More than a decade later, Stavans says that Jewish sites in Latin America are “tensely vigilant.”

Some have pointed to the Iranian government as the culprit for the attack. In a recent op-ed in The Washington Post, Abraham Foxman, national director the Anti-Defamation League, says Chávez is building relationships with countries and movements that are unabashedly anti-Semitic, including Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Foxman warns that the increasing acceptance of anti-Semitism should not be taken lightly. “Throughout the ages, Jews have been the canary in the coal mine, with any downturn in their treatment or status as equal citizens signaling the decline of democracy within a society.”

Experts say Republicans may have lost ground among Hispanic Protestants heading into the 2008 election season, despite gains made in 2004. With Super Tuesday looming large today, contenders from both parties have sought to establish a foothold with Hispanics who describe themselves as born-again or evangelical Protestants.

Candidates consider Latino evangelicals — an estimated 8 million Americans and a growing segment of the nation’s largest minority population — to be swing voters. They tend to oppose abortion and same-sex marriage, while at the same time supporting affirmative action and opposing the death penalty, Gastón Espinosa, assistant professor of philosophy and religion studies at Claremont McKenna College in California, told WoW.

Recent voting trends have shown a swing toward the Republican candidate. In 2004, Bush commanded 63 percent of the Hispanic Protestant vote, an increase of more than 30 percent from 2000, according to Pew Forum research.

Factors such as Bush’s youth, religious affiliation, political career in Texas, willingness to campaign in Spanish-speaking churches, support of traditional marriage and faith-based initiatives won over Latino evangelicals, according to Espinosa.

“These are major inroads, but the Republican party may lose all of the gains that Bush made,” he said. A recent survey suggests that a decreasing number of Latinos identify themselves as Republican, Richard Fry, senior research associate with the Pew Hispanic Center, told WoW.

Espinosa points to tension over immigration reform and economic uncertainty as issues that have potentially soured the GOP’s influence among Latino Protestants. Hillary Clinton’s name recognition and Barack Obama’s multicultural awareness could also influence Hispanic evangelicals to shift toward the Democratic party.

Although it is difficult to predict voter turnout, Fry said significant populations of Hispanic voters in states like New Mexico and Colorado could play key roles in today’s voting.