In reaction to Univision chief news anchor Jorge Ramos’ repeated statements in the media opposing the election of Donald Trump, an effort is underway to both highlight Ramos’ compromised coverage of the election, as well as bring pressure to bear on Univision to remove Ramos from the network’s news anchor desk between now and Election Day.
The Media Research Center (MRC)-led campaign, titled Ramos Must Go! includes both grasstops and grassroots components. At the grasstops level, the MRC announced that over 15 respected Latino community figures in media and public policy have issued a joint “Call for Corrective Action at Univision.”
The statement faults Ramos for crossing “a significant line in his coverage” of the presidential campaign by his decision to break with established journalistic election coverage norms and openly oppose the election of Trump.
“The issue created by Ramos’ action as Univision’s lead news anchor has nothing to do with the relative merits of Donald Trump as a presidential candidate,” say the statement’s signers. When it comes to elections, the group of Latino leaders holds that “journalists have a responsibility to report on them with as much impartiality, independence and fairness as they can possibly muster…it is certainly not the job of journalists to tell citizens either who to vote against or who to vote for.”
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The signers go on to invoke “the interests of both Univision’s audience and the capacity of the network itself to serve as an impartial and credible source of news” in calling on Univision to remove Ramos from his duties as the network's nightly news anchor until after Election Day.
The statement’s initial signers include:
Richard Aguilar, Publisher, Latino American Today
Bertica Cabrera Morris, Former Administrator, Orange County, Florida Public Schools
Adolfo Castaneda, Director of Hispanic Education, Human Life International
Sergio de la Peña, Ret. Col., U.S. Army and political analyst
Mario Díaz, General Counsel, Concerned Women for America
Rey Flores, Grassroots Programs Coordinator, The Leadership Institute
Irene García, Editor, Judicial Watch
J.D. Gordon, Executive Director, Protect America Today
Antonio Hernández-Almodóvar, Esq., Second Amendment Expert
Luis Hernández, Former News Director, Noticias Mundo Fox
Maricruz MaGowan, Former Vice President, National Economists Club
Ken Oliver-Méndez, Director, MRC Latino
Lizzy Nelson, Former Univision News Anchor in Colorado
Genaro Pedroarias, Environmental Policy Expert
Yuri Pérez, Latin America Human Rights Activist
Jason I. Poblete, Esq., Former Senior Congressional Staff
Gus Portela, Executive Director, College Republican National Committee
Miguel Prado, Former Candidate for Congress in New York
Camille Solberg, Former Federal Drug Free Communities Commissioner
In addition to the grasstops petition, the www.ramosmustgo.com website includes an online grassroots petition page where the public can register their agreement that “Ramos has rendered himself incapable of serving as a credible, impartial news anchor for Univision’s millions of viewers.” The grassroots effort also includes a phone-in campaign to Univision President Randy Falco, to tell him that “Ramos must go!”
The website also features a video in which MRC President Brent Bozell issues an as yet unanswered challenge to Ramos to a debate about the “role of journalists in a free society.” “His abuse of journalism is flat out indefensible,” Bozell says in the video. Previously, Bozell stated “If Jorge Ramos has any sense left of professional integrity, he should tender his resignation and pursue his new passion, as an anti-Trump, pro-Clinton political activist.”
Ramos recently called the prospect of Trump’s election “a bad dream” and has unequivocally declared that “America is facing a serious threat in Trump.” He also called the first general election television ad of the Republican presidential candidate a “xenophobic and anti-immigrant ad.”
Earlier in the election cycle, Ramos also told his viewers that “Cruz and Rubio had a chance to be our community’s heroes, but instead they decided they wanted to be like the villain.”
CALL FOR CORRECTIVE ACTION AT UNIVISION
Jorge Ramos, the veteran anchorman of Univision's principal nightly news program, recently decided to cross a significant line in his coverage of the 2016 presidential campaign. Specifically, Ramos has decided to break with established journalistic election coverage norms, and is now openly opposing the election of Donald Trump.
The issue created by Ramos' action as Univision's lead news anchor has nothing to do with the relative merits of Donald Trump as a presidential candidate, but everything to do with the unprofessional precedent Jorge Ramos is attempting to set for journalists and how they cover electoral politics.
Elections are matters of utmost public importance. Journalists have a responsibility to report on them with as much impartiality, independence and fairness as they can possibly muster. At the end of the day, it is up to an honestly informed electorate to make their own decisions about the relative merits of the candidates and who they wish to vote for.
It is the duty of journalists to help voters in this process, through accurate, comprehensive and unaligned reporting. It is certainly not the job of journalists to tell citizens either who to vote against or who to vote for. Yet, as has been repeatedly documented in recent weeks by the Media Research Center, Univision's Jorge Ramos is deliberately doing exactly that, and continues to do so. This situation merits swift corrective action.
In support of the interests of both Univision’s audience and the capacity of the network itself to serve as an impartial and credible source of news, we the undersigned therefore respectfully call on Univision to remove Jorge Ramos, effective immediately, from his duties as the network's nightly news anchor from now through Election Day, November 8, 2016.
Richard Aguilar, Publisher, Latino American Today
Bertica Cabrera Morris, Former Administrator, Orange County, Florida Public Schools
Adolfo Castaneda, Director of Hispanic Education, Human Life International
Sergio de la Peña, Ret. Col., U.S. Army and political analyst
Mario Díaz, General Counsel, Concerned Women for America
Rey Flores, Grassroots Programs Coordinator, The Leadership Institute
Irene García, Editor, Judicial Watch
J.D. Gordon, Executive Director, Protect America Today
Antonio Hernández-Almodóvar, Esq., Second Amendment Expert
Luis Hernández, Former News Director, Noticias Mundo Fox
Maricruz MaGowan, Former Vice President, National Economists Club
Lizzy Nelson, Former Univision News Anchor in Colorado
Ken Oliver-Méndez, Director, MRC Latino
Genaro Pedroarias, Environmental Policy Expert
Yuri Pérez, Human Rights Activist, Latin America
Jason I. Poblete, Esq., Former Senior Congressional Staff
Gus Portela, Executive Director, National College Republican Committee
Miguel Prado, Former Candidate for Congress in New York
Camille Solberg, Former Federal Drug Free Communities Commissioner
