As expected, the top domestic Spanish-language network newscasts each led with reporting on Hillary Clinton's medical incident while at Sunday's 9/11 commemoration ceremony. However, coverage of the same was divergent in scope and framing. One network echoed the rest of the establishment media's coverage of the story, while the other kept focus on the very aspect that the others tried to bury.
Univision's reporting on the story- which included the graf "Hillary Stumbles" as depicted in the image above- parroted the rest of the establishment media's call for Trump to disclose his own full medical records, in a concerted effort to deflect legitimate skepticism (and mounting criticism) over the manner in which the Clinton camp has handled concerns over the Democrat nominee's health...which is to say, with its trademark opacity. Univision made no effort to challenge the campaign's shifting story or lack of transparency- instead taking the easy way out by basically saying, "hey but Trump too".
Here's how anchor María Elena Salinas introduced the report:
MARIA ELENA SALINAS, ANCHOR, UNIVISION: Hillary Clinton's campaign itinerary has just become more complicated because she felt ill and stumbled after attending yesterday's 9/11 commemoration ceremony in New York. Her advisers have revealed that she suffers from pneumonia; they said so days after doctors made their diagnosis. As Blanca Rosa Vílchez reports, the incident has added further pressure on both Clinton and her opponent Donald Trump to disclose their medical histories.
Upon conclusion of New York correspondent Blanca Rosa vilchez' report, anchor Jorge Ramos then brought Univision chief medical correspondent Dr. Juan Rivera (last spotlighted on MRC Latino for shilling for Obamacare) in-studio for a pneumonia explainer segment.
It should be noted (yet again and in what is a clear pattern as pertains to Hillary Clinton) that Ramos has passed on an opportunity to question the very "public lies" concerning Team Clinton's handling of these health concerns. Instead, Ramos' weekly opinion column is devoted to softer, more comfortable targets: Donald Trump and Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto.
On the other hand, we have Telemundo's presentation of the same story. This is how anchors José Díaz-Balart and María Celeste Arrarás framed the story:
JOSE DIAZ-BALART, TELEMUNDO ANCHOR: Good afternoon, there are 56 days left until the election and things are getting complicated for Hillary Clinton due to contradictions over her health. After the concealment of the candidate's diagnosis of pneumonia, within the Democratic party they recognize that things could have been handled better.
MARIA CELESTE ARRARAS, TELEMUNDO ANCHOR: Hillary Clinton and her campaign are downplaying the importance of yesterday's incident, and have promised to disclose more medical reports in the coming days. For now, the candidate is resting at her home in Chappaqua, New York. (New York correspondent) Erika Smyth is also there.
Telemundo's story didn't deflect by spotlighting on Trump's equally concerning lack of full medical disclosure. Smyth's report identified legitimate skepticism over Clinton's lack of transparency, and chronicled the shifting accounts of the Democrat candidate's ailments. Rather than the network doing an overly dramatic in-studio, Smyth simply went to a local doctor's office and asked for his medical opinion.
Afterwards, Smyth included a line that you would be extremely hard-pressed to hear on Univision air:
All of this adds to the now-typical questioning of whether Hillary Clinton is a trustworthy candidate.
The story wrapped with reaction to that question from Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-CA), and with an outro from Smyth. Unlike at Univision, there was no fluff or concerns over the effect that this would have on Clinton. Things were presented as they are, for viewers to decide without being infantilized.
As far as coverage of Hillary Clinton's health is concerned, one network was interested in spinning and pushing an agenda, while the other sought to inform its viewers. No one should be surprised as to which was which.
P.S: The bias by deflection displayed by the establishment media (the call for Trump to also disclose, etc.) is meant to do two things: First, to move everyone's eyes off of the shadiness of the Clinton camp's handling of this whole mess...not unlike what we see in baseball when a pitcher throws a high inside fastball early in the count. It is intended to change the batter's eye level and to set up a curveball for a strikeout.
If the Trump deflection is the high fastball, then the media's coming curveball will be the framing of legitimate Clinton health skepticism as the New Birtherism. Watch for those challenging Clinton's veracity and opacity to face indignant questioning, and to be cast as sexists seeking to disqualify Clinton on flimsy grounds.
