On Sunday August 28 Univision’s Jorge Ramos appeared on CNN’s Reliable Sources to talk about Donald Trump, immigration, and respond to the Media Research Center’s call for him to be removed from the anchor chair. Because of Ramos’ active opposition to Trump, MRC Founder Brent Bozell put out a statement which said, “At the very least, Univision should remove Ramos from the network’s national evening news anchor chair, from now through Election Day.” Ramos’ response was a resounding no.
When asked by host Brian Stelter about the difficulty of holding Trump accountable for what he says Ramos defending his lack of neutrality. “And I think in this case neutrality is really not an option,” Ramos argued, “I think we have to take a stand, and in this case, Donald Trump is a unique figure in American politics. We haven't seen this in decades, since probability Senator Joe McCarthy.”
Stelter then asked Ramos about Bozell’s statement and what he had to say. Ramos doubled down on his anti-Trump activism:
Well, what I can tell them that I've been doing this job almost 30 years, on November 3, it's going to be 30 years as an anchor man for Univision, and I think I am just a journalist asking questions. And I believe complete in objectivity. If five people die we say five, if it’s red it’s red.
But the other level of journalism is that it is our responsibility to question those who are in power, and that's I think precisely what I'm doing with Donald Trump, because what are we going to do if a candidate is making racist remarks, what are we supposed to do? Are we supposed just to sit down silently and listen to him? No, I think precisely our job as journalists is to question them.
Of course a journalist’s job is to ask questions from candidates and government officials, but there are plenty of questions to be asked of both sides. Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have some of the highest negatives ever seen for presidential candidates and people have questions about both. People want to know about Clinton’s dealings while Secretary of State too, not just Ramos’ pet project of taking down Trump.
Transcript below:
CNN
Reliable Sources
August 28, 2016
11:30:59 PM EasternBRIAN STELTER: He expelled you from that press conference a year ago, and then he invited you back in. You all had quite a conversation.
JORGE RAMOS: He did.
STELTER: Is there a fundamental problem, though, when you have a politician who says so many different thing— so many contradictory things, from one day to another, that we can't hold him accountable for his words?
RAMOS: Of course it's a problem, but that's precisely our job. I— you know, I recently wrote a column for Time magazine. And I think in this case neutrality is really not an option. I think we have to take a stand, and in this case, Donald Trump is a unique figure in American politics. We haven't seen this in decades, since probability Senator Joe McCarthy. So I think yes, we have to take a stand and we have to hold Donald Trump accountable for all the things he has said.
STELTER: On Friday the conservative group, the Media Research Center— a conservative media monitoring group called on Univision to remove you from the anchor chair though election day. Now, I know that’s not going to happen. I know Univision strongly supports you. But, they are saying you are hopelessly biased against Donald Trump. Well, what do you say to those people who say, “You should be removed from the anchor chair?”
RAMOS: Well, what I can tell them that I've been doing this job almost 30 years, on November 3, it's going to be 30 years as an anchor man for Univision, and I think I am just a journalist asking questions. And I believe complete in objectivity. If five people die we say five, if it’s red it’s red.
But the other level of journalism is that it is our responsibility to question those who are in power, and that's I think precisely what I'm doing with Donald Trump, because what are we going to do if a candidate is making racist remarks, what are we supposed to do? Are we supposed just to sit down silently and listen to him? No, I think precisely our job as journalists is to question them.
