At the nation’s top two Hispanic television networks, the annual “Day of the Dead” celebrations were more important than tens of thousands of Latinos in the U.S. getting jobs, and driving unemployment among Latinos to yet another record low.
In their November 2 reports on the latest U.S. jobs numbers, the national evening newscasts of both Univision and Telemundo, which ostensibly exist to inform their U.S. Hispanic viewers of news that is most impactful and relevant to their lives, pointedly neglected to include the third record-low in Hispanic unemployment reached under the Trump administration.
To its credit, rival CNN en Español did include the relevant data in its report the same day.
JUAN CARLOS LÓPEZ, ANCHOR, CNN EN ESPAÑOL: The President traveled celebrating the historic levels of unemployment which are at the lowest level in the past 5 decades. Today, the figures for the month of September (sic) were reported. The rate is at 3.7%, which according to experts is almost equal to total employment, or no unemployment. The economy created 250,000 jobs during the month of October, exceeding expectations. Hispanic unemployment fell from 4.5 to 4.4%, also remaining at historic low levels.
Curiously, Telemundo anchor José Díaz-Balart called the overall jobs and wage numbers for October “great news” for Republicans, citing the creation of 250,000 news jobs along with the nation’s overall 3.7% unemployment rate as “the lowest in almost 50 years”, but his network’s 39-second report on the subject neglected to include the specific Hispanic jobs numbers. In contrast, the same Telemundo newscast devoted nearly three minutes to the annual “Day of the Dead” celebration.
Meanwhile at Univision, co-anchor Ilia Calderón spent all of 24 seconds citing the same 250,000 jobs figure, the overall unemployment rate and the increase in wages, but with no mention whatsoever of the historic Hispanic data in the report. As at Telemundo, Univision also found more time (in their case, 35 seconds) for its report on the Day of the Dead commemorations.
Below are the complete transcripts of the above-referenced reports, as aired on CNN en Español’s Directo USA, Noticias Telemundo and Noticiero Univisión, respectively, on November 2, 2018.
CNN en Español Directo USA
JUAN CARLOS LÓPEZ, ANCHOR, CNN EN ESPAÑOL: The President traveled celebrating the historic levels of unemployment which are at the lowest level in the past 5 decades. Today, the figures for the month of September (sic) were reported. The rate is at 3.7%, which according to experts is almost equal to total employment, or no unemployment. The economy created 250,000 jobs during the month of October, exceeding expectations. Hispanic unemployment fell from 4.5 to 4.4%, also remaining at historic low levels.
Noticias Telemundo
JOSÉ DÍAZ-BALART, ANCHOR, TELEMUNDO: In the final stretch of the campaign, the economy gives Republicans great news. In October 250-thousand jobs were generated, a number above the expectations of analysts. With this figure the unemployment rate stays at 3.7%, the lowest in almost 50 years. Not only that, wages also grew. In October, they increased by more than 3% over last year. But despite how robust the economy looks the President insists on focusing his campaign on the Caravan and a heavy hand against immigrants.
Noticiero Univisión
ILIA CALDERÓN, ANCHOR, UNIVISIÓN: The United States added 250,000 new jobs in October, and the unemployment rate remains at 3.7%, a rate not seen since 1969. The Department of Labor said that the creation of new jobs exceeded analysts’ expectation which was 208,000. The report also indicates that wages grew 3.1 percent.
