Hispanic-oriented newscasts find ample air time to report Biden´s campaign promises, including opening schools in the first 100 days of his administration, but have a very hard time reporting that the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) seeks to keep schools closed in the third largest educational district of the United States.
While the CTU´s threat did make news, only Despierta America, Univision´s morning kaffeeklatsch, offered a balanced report exposing the damage inflicted by the Union´s threat to go on strike – along with Chicago Major Lori Lightfoot´s acquiescence with the union – and how it affects the youngest and children with learning disabilities that had returned to in-class instruction earlier in January. All of the other reports on the subject scrambled to justify the school closures and keep Biden´s support of CTU out of Spanish-speaking news:
SATCHA PRETTO: As we have informed you, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report low transmission of the virus in schools where the use of masks and physical distancing is implemented. But many teachers are unwilling to return to the schools. In Chicago, they were ready to start this week and the teachers' union is halting all plans, threatening to go on strike.
JESUS ECHEVERRIA: It is a dilemma faced by many Latino families throughout the country. This Wednesday, Chicago Public Schools will not be able to receive thousands of pre Kinder and special education students who had already returned to the classroom nearly three weeks ago. This is after the third largest school district in the United States gave them this opportunity. Some 7,000 families had chosen to take advantage of it, mainly because they believe that these are the students
whose education is most affected, their academic and emotional development, in the face of the challenges and limitations of distance education. Mayor Lori Lightfoot instructed the families of these students to not take the children to schools today, as this Tuesday afternoon the CTU union, which represents teachers, asked all teachers not to show up at schools.
...
PAULINA SODI: President Joe Biden has set a goal to reopen schools during the first hundred
days of his government and asked Congress for $130 billion to pay for the positions.
...
It should be noted that there are schools in low-income school districts where facilities make it
difficult for there to be distancing, small groups, or adequate ventilation. There are also schools operating, but there are also schools closed because they reported infections. It's not an easy situation.
As social media shows, the practice to omit any news deemed as damaging to the political agenda can only go so far. Try as they may to keep their audiences ignorant of just how damaging the support of CTU´s actions are, the truth always shines through, as this tweet from CTU confirms:
