In marked contrast to their coverage of the final night of the 2016 Republican convention, the nation's top Spanish-language television networks were characterized by overwhelmingly celebratory coverage of the final night of the Democratic National Convention.
During both the Republican and Democratic conventions, Univision ran short videos during commercial breaks highlighting past historic conventions. On the last night of the Democratic National Convention, however, they extended Hillary Clinton the honor of one of those shorts – an honor they never extended to Donald Trump, or Mike Pence.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE NARRATOR: Hillary Clinton made her debut as a speaker at the Democratic Convention in Chicago in 1996, in support of her husband Bill Clinton, who sought his reelection to the Presidency. 20 years later, Hillary Clinton returns to the Democratic Convention to accept her historic nomination to the Presidency.
That’s not even where it ends. Telemundo took it a step further and at the end of their nightly news broadcast, they tacked on a report in which anchor José Díaz-Balart interviewed Telemundo reporter Mónica Alba. The report turned into a Hillary love fest that resembled a teen magazine reporting on the pop star du jour.
We’ll break with our usual short video nuggets to show you how biased the piece was.
JOSÉ DÍAZ-BALART, ANCHOR, TELEMUNDO: Alba says that the ex-Secretary of State feels more comfortable in smaller groups.
MÓNICA ALBA, CORESPONDENT, TELEMUNDO: I think that an erroneous idea that people have is that she doesn't like talking to people. Me, when I've been able to speak with her, or when I have been able to interview her I think she's very different with smaller groups and in conversations like that, more intimate.
JOSÉ DÍAZ-BALART, ANCHOR, TELEMUNDO: How much access do you have to the campaign? Or [access to] her?
MÓNICA ALBA, CORRESPONDANT, TELEMUNDO:She's a person that's more guarded. She's a person that access [to her] can be a little hard.
JOSÉ DÍAZ-BALART, ANCHOR, TELEMUNDO: Do you have a moment from this year that you remember as different, distinct?
HILLARY CLINTON, DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT: Thanks to you, we’ve reached a milestone…
MÓNICA ALBA, CORESPONDENT, TELEMUNDO:That day in June, in California, when she got to the magic number of delegates was something very impressive, because it was a surprise for her, and for us too.
So far during this election season, neither Univision nor Telemundo have bothered to produce reports or moments like these to highlight and dispel misconceptions about either Donald Trump or Mike Pence. Well, maybe that’s because if they did, they’d have to pop their preferred set narrative like a balloon.
Should you decide to wait for Univision and Telemundo to extend this treatment to the Republican ticket – spoiler alert – you're no doubt going to be in for quite a wait. Recommendation: don't hold your breath.
