In what has become a recurring theme for the Spanish language network Univision, one of their employees took to social media recently to smear Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.). According to the Miami Herald, a top assistant to a Univision news boss criticized Rubio being chosen as the Republican response to the State of the Union.
The employee at the center of the controversy is one Angelica Artiles who took to Facebook to post the following vicious attack:
Oh, wow, the loser is going to speak after our President. Anything to get publicity. Ask him to do us a favor and stay home that night…What makes Marquito a patriot? You’ve been watching some Disney movie, not even Romney wanted him, get over it, we won! Tell Marquito to stay home with Snow White and the other six dwarfs. His career as a politician is o-v-e-r. The only reason he is speaking after the President is because most of the other Republicans are smart enough to know when they’ve had it. He is the token slave boy chosen to look like a fool, once AGAIN. Makes me laugh. Talk about mediocrity when you voted for Mittens and Ryan. Wow.
Univision, which is owned by a major Democratic donor named Haim Saban, is known for its vitriolic attacks on Senator Rubio. As NewsBusters reported in August of 2012, a vicious Facebook post under Univision's byline attacked Rubio by saying (translated from Spanish below):
Beyond ideology, Rubio is a mediocre politician and contradictory to the values he claims to represent. Jeb Bush is more Latino and talented than him.
Rubio’s clashes with the network go back well before the 2012 election, when Univision’s news chief Issac Lee decided to run a story about a quarter-century-old drug bust involving the senator’s brother-in-law. According to the Miami Herald article, the anti-Rubio sentiments, “reflect the prevailing political feeling among Univision’s higher ups and its Doral [Florida] headquarters.”
To be fair, during an interview with Sen. Robert Menendez on February 7, Univision did discuss the allegations that the New Jersey Democrat engaged in prostitution with underage prostitutes in the Dominican Republic. But some Republicans have complained that Univision’s recent treatment of the Cuban-American Democrat has been far kinder than the network’s interview with Rubio last year.
If Univision wants to be a surrogate of the Democratic Party, it could follow the lead of Spanish-language Telemundo, which is owned by NBC Universal, the parent company of the Obama-boosting "Lean Forward" network. If, however, it wants to be a credible new source for Spanish-speakers, it should steer clear of personal political grudges and attempt to be fair and balanced with their journalism.
