Hispanic Media

Five Republican presidential candidates are boycotting a proposed debate sponsored by Univision for allegedly trying to "extort" Florida GOP senator Marco Rubio into doing an interview with the Spanish-language network.

Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain, Jon Huntsman, Rick Perry, and Mitt Romney have all issued statements saying that Univision must respond directly to charges that it promised to spike a story about a decades-old drug bust involving a relative of Rubio if the senator would appear on its program "Al Punto," a show known for its advocacy for extreme pro-illegal immigration positions.

President Obama is revving up his reelection campaign with a push to secure the American Hispanic vote ahead of 2012. Part of that effort, it seems, is the creation of an "Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanics."

While the commission is certainly noble in purpose and its members are undoubtedly qualified, the appointment of Cesar Conde, president of Univision Networks, raises some concerns about disclosure and political neutrality on some of the nation's most popular Spanish language news programs.

It's been more than three months since Governor Jan Brewer (R-Ariz.) signed SB-1070 into law, but Larry King continues to misrepresent both the spirit and letter of the popular anti-illegal immigration measure. On his eponymous program yesterday, the CNN host asked a guest if the law codifies racial profiling and empowers police officers to arbitrarily question and detain those suspected of being in the country illegally.

"One of the things in this law that's puzzling that [Judge Susan Bolton] pointed out is – and a police officer was on a recent show discussing it – you can just stop a person on the street and just question who they are based on the way they look or their appearance?" asked King, directing his question at Jim Gilchrist, founder of Minuteman Project, a conservative group that supports the Arizona law.

Gilchrist attempted to correct King's faulty assumptions about the law, but the CNN veteran was recalcitrant: "So why were so many cops upset with this, saying it would put them in a difficult position?"

A new report on the state of the newspaper industry in Argentina has found that federal appropriations for newspapers have resulted in less coverage of government corruption. This study goes to the heart of the 'newspaper bailout' debate in this country, and demonstrates the danger of supporting the news media with government funds (h/t Mark Tapscott).

Many liberal media commentators have called for direct federal subsidies for ailing newspapers, arguing that federally-supported news media are essential to democracy. The most prominent group in this camp is Free Press, founded by liberal media guru--and avowed socialist--Robert McChesney (incidentally, McChesney has avidly defended Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's crackdown on opposition media outlets in the country).

The most biased interviewer that President Obama faced on Sunday was surely Univision's Jorge Ramos, whose advocacy for illegal aliens is flagrant. Objectivity is not in his vocabulary. Neither is "illegal." Jerry Kammer of the Center for Immigration Studies explained:

In his latest, widely-distributed newspaper column, headlined "End of the Honeymoon,'' the influential anchorman finds it "discouraging" that the president is not including illegal immigrants in his health care plans. Referring to Obama's health care speech last week to Congress, he criticizes the president for language he finds offensive.

Writes Ramos: "It surprised me greatly that in his speech, Obama used the words 'illegal immigrants' to refer to the undocumented. That is the language that many enemies of immigrants have previously used. During his presidential campaign Obama took great care to call them 'undocumented,' not 'illegal.'

Washington Post media reporter Howard Kurtz reported Monday on President Obama’s "more inclusive" press strategy (with black and Hispanic media outlets), which naturally led to Obama assuring Hispanic radio hosts and TV anchors that amnesty for illegal aliens (or "comprehensive immigration reform") is still an important item on his agenda.

Kurtz noted that Obama granted an interview to the Spanish-language TV network Telemundo after they complained about being excluded in a round of interviews with ABC, CBS, and NBC. Kurtz failed to note that Telemundo has been NBC-owned since 2002, but his reporting surely reminded opponents of illegal immigration how Telemundo sounds more like a lobbying group than a news outlet:

And [anchorman Pedro Secvec] noted that "our network, Telemundo, is starting a big campaign for Hispanics to make sure that they are counted in the next census. A lot of them are afraid, you know, of participating, because they think, 'I don't have the papers to live in this country.' " The president responded by encouraging Latinos to participate and saying it has been "true historically" that such information has not been shared with immigration authorities.

By definition, projection is revealing of what lurks in a person's heart and mind.  Arianna Huffington projected tonight, and what she revealed wasn't pretty.  So much so, that even her liberal host hastened to diassociate herself from the HuffPo editor.  Huffington, grossly misquoting Grover Norquist's famous line about doing away with government, added an infanticidal twist.

Huffington was a guest on Rachel Maddow's MSNBC show. The two shed crocodile tears about the diminished state of the Republican party.  It was in suggesting that, of all things, she and Maddow should head up a Marshall Plan to save the GOP that Huffington engaged in that ugly bit of projection.

On PBS's Web site today, ombudsman Michael Getler writes of complaints over an incident during last Sunday's pledge drive.  He describes the cheap shot taken by actor Mike Farrell against vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin:

According to Joseph Campbell, vice president of fundraising programs, here's what happened:

 On CNN's American Morning today, White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux reported on Barack Obama's campaigning in Virginia.  Afterwards, anchor Kiran Chetry had a question:

CHETRY: All right. And Suzanne, what's on tap for the campaign today? And please tell me it's not lipstick again.

MALVEAUX: Let's hope not. He's going to be in Norfolk, Virginia. That is in southeast Virginia, and it's home to the world's largest Naval base. It's one of the most competitive areas that the Democrats and Republicans are fighting over. It's a critical piece of property, piece of land there with folks in Virginia, and they want those voters.

The Associated Press reports that three journalists are being kicked out of Cuba for writing stories critical of the Communist regime: one BBC reporter, a Chicago Tribune reporter, and a correspondent for El Universal, a Mexican newspaper.

When I read this I recalled a study by MRC's Rich Noyes a few years back about CNN's Cuba coverage, which, by contrast, never incensed the Castro regime. In fact, Noyes found that stories filed from that bureau's chief Lucia Newman amounted to a "Megaphone for a Dictator."

Last year, Newman left CNN to join Al Jazeera International.

Here's just some of what Noyes found in his May 9, 2002, report:

Already Arabic channel Al Jazeera wants to start an English version to run in the U.S., with a TV studio in Washington. It will be TNN, the Terrorist News Network, competing against CNN.

But now another America hater, Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, wants to launch a channel in the U.S.

Reports the AP:

CARACAS, Venezuela Telesur has expanded to 17 Latin American countries in its first year on the air. Now officials with the TV network financed by Venezuela and four other nations is eyeing U-S markets.

Telesur today marked its first anniversary.

An LA radio station is fed up with CNN anchor Lou Dobbs' constant attacks on illegal immigration. Lalo Alcaraz and Esteban Zul host the "Pocho Hour of Power" on KPFK, and don't like Dobbs' "soft bigotry in a three-piece suit." So far there have been no takers, despite prize offers.

Reports the New York Daily News:

"He used to have a business show, and now it's all-immigrant, all the time," Alcaraz told us. "Call me crazy, but if I had a TV show, I'd do different topics. And what he's doing is a kind of cultural bigotry that [immigrants] are inferior in some way. In reality, they're working their asses off. It leads viewers to think, 'Now I can discriminate against Panchito.'"

Last month, the media watchdog group Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting called Dobbs' "tone on immigration consistently alarmist," with the Space.com founder claiming that Mexicans are "an army of invaders" who want to reannex parts of the U.S. for Mexico; that "illegal alien smugglers and drug traffickers are on the verge of ruining some of our national treasures," and that "the invasion of illegal aliens is threatening the health of many Americans" through "deadly imports" of diseases like malaria — and even leprosy.

In a week in which immigration has unquestionably been the big story, how did Newsweek choose to frame the issue? The national security implications of a porous border, perhaps? The impact on our economy of millions of illegals, some of whom work, some of whom are a drain on social services? Come on. We're talking the magazine whose most visible reporter is Eleanor Clift. Newsweek chose to focus on . . . the plight of illegal immigrants, with its cover blaring "Illegals Under Fire".

Consider that editors scrutinize every word on the cover of a national newsweekly for its implications and impact. They didn't choose "Under Fire" randomly. With its allusions to lethal force, and printed in red, Newsweek was sending a not-so-subliminal message.

If you were surprised by the size of the recent pro-illegal immigration demonstrations, don't be. Turns out, many demonstrators were there after being instructed by Spanish-language media on where and how to protest:

The marching orders were clear: Carry American flags and pack the kids, pick up your trash and wear white for peace and for effect.

Many of the 500,000 people who crammed downtown Los Angeles on Saturday to protest immigration legislation learned where, when and even how to demonstrate from the Spanish-language media.

For English-speaking America, the mass protests in Los Angeles and other U.S. cities have been surprising for their size and seeming spontaneity. But they were organized, promoted or publicized for weeks by Spanish-language radio and TV.