In a segment of the media whose top anchor, Univision’s Jorge Ramos, adamantly refuses to be neutral in his coverage of President Trump, one might be under the impression that there is nowhere in national Spanish-language television where the President and his policies ever get a fair hearing, and where both Democrat and Republican political rivals are routinely grilled with equal journalistic rigor.
However, the truth is that not all Spanish-language television networks in the United States are exactly alike. The Miami-based Mega Noticiero, seen nationwide on DirectTV as well as on affiliates in various of the most heavily Hispanic cities throughout the country, is clearly bucking the trend.
Here is Mega Noticiero anchor María Elvira Salazar doing something still infrequently seen in her media segment: standing up for impartiality as well as not letting a Democrat analyst get away with questionable or unfounded assertions about President Trump.
MARIA ELVIRA SALAZAR, ANCHOR, MEGA NOTICIERO: Mr. Parra, Mr. Parra, just a minute, I’ve given you enough time. Follow my cue and, believe me, I am going to be impartial.
JOSE DANTE PARRA, DEMOCRAT STRATEGIST: But María Elvira… María Elvira…
MARIA ELVIRA SALAZAR, ANCHOR, MEGA NOTICIERO: The President… let’s get back to the topic, the President can do it.
JOSE DANTE PARRA, DEMOCRAT STRATEGIST: There is an investigation or various investigations of collusion between him and the Russians…
MARIA ELVIRA SALAZAR, ANCHOR, MEGA NOTICIERO: It has not been determined yet…
JOSE DANTE PARRA, DEMOCRAT STRATEGIST: There is a campaign...there are various investigations…
MARIA ELVIRA SALAZAR, ANCHOR, MEGA NOTICIERO: There is an investigation but there is more to it.
Democrat and liberal activists like Parra seldom find themselves in the hot seat like that on other networks, such as Univision, Telemundo, and Azteca America. During the segment, Salazar also included a Republican counterpart to Parra, former FBI agent César Paz, who was given equal time to weigh in on the latest controversies surrounding the President and Russia.
It is certainly refreshing to see efforts like this in Spanish-language media, to not always coddle, favor and follow in lock-step with the Democrat and liberal activist party line. Mega may be onto something, as the last thing viewers need or deserve is more of the same. Mega must know that, in the face of its competitors, there is still a wide-open market and audience eager to see honest, unaligned and impartial journalism.
Below is the transcript of the pertinent portions of the referenced segment, which aired on the May 16, 2017, edition of Mega Noticiero.
MARIA ELVIRA SALAZAR, ANCHOR, MEGA NOTICIERO: We are going to explain to you what is happening in Washington. You know that there is another small scandal because President Trump gives classified information to two Russians with whom he had a meeting at the White House last week; the Russian Foreign Minister and the Ambassador. So, I will explain to you why so much controversy. With us is César Paz, a former FBI agent, thank you for being with us here in the studio, and José Dante Parra who is a Democrat strategist, directly from Washington.
…
JOSE DANTE PARRA, DEMOCRAT STRATEGIST: It is a big mistake because the first thing that happens is: it ends the trust that the allies of the United States have in the United states. It can cost lives on the battlefield because it is a lot easier to an adversary country like Russia, let's remember that it is an adversary country, to start building reverse engineering, meaning to start looking into what it is, and how that information was obtained
….
JOSE DANTE PARRA, DEMOCRAT STRATEGIST: Paz, then why so much controversy? What he [Parra] is saying is that the trust from the allies… what’s more, that the president doesn't have to be sharing classified information with someone that is not necessarily our friend, like the Russians.
CESAR PAZ, FORMER FBI AGENT: He has the authority to declassify the information...
MARIA ELVIRA SALAZAR, ANCHOR, MEGA NOTICIERO: That’s true.
CESAR PAZ, FORMER FBI AGENT: He has the authority to share and disseminate the information with whom he deems appropriate, therefore, to say that he does not have the authority… that he has broken the law, it’s, first of all, laughable for an FBI agent; for a federal investigator that works on terrorism and intelligence. Bu at the same time, the President of the United States can share or must share, information if he knows that he can avoid the loss of lives, like in this case with ISIS.
MARIA ELVIRA SALAZAR, ANCHOR, MEGA NOTICIERO: Loss of lives, let’s see Mr. Parra, let’s clarify so that audiences can understand that our most important allies, whether we like it or not, to defeat the Islamic terrorism called ISIS, are the Russians. Isn’t that right? Neither the Chinese nor the Europeans or the other Arabs… and is not that we like the Russians, of course not, we know very well who they are, especially us Cubans, but the reality is that we need the Russians to defeat the people that cut off our heads in the desert.
JOSE DANTE PARRA, DEMOCRAT STRATEGIST: First of all, our most important ally in the Middle East, it’s called Israel, as you just mentioned it, not the Russians.
MARIA ELVIRA SALAZAR, ANCHOR, MEGA NOTICIERO: No. To defeat ISIS…
JOSE DANTE PARRA, DEMOCRAT STRATEGIST: Number two, the other big problem here, is that if Mr. Paz would have shared that information being an FBI agent, he would be right now not only fired but also in danger of being accused…
MARIA ELVIRA SALAZAR, ANCHOR, MEGA NOTICIERO: But it doesn’t matter...
JOSE DANTE PARRA, DEMOCRAT STRATEGIST: It does matter...
MARIA ELVIRA SALAZAR, ANCHOR, MEGA NOTICIERO: No, because he is not the President…the President… let’s get back to the topic, the President can do it.
JOSE DANTE PARRA, DEMOCRAT STRATEGIST: María Elvira, there is phrase in English it says “lawful but awful”
…
MARIA ELVIRA SALAZAR, ANCHOR, MEGA NOTICIERO: Mr. Parra, Mr. Parra, just a minute, I’ve given you enough time. Follow my cue and, believe me, I am going to be impartial.
...
CESAR PAZ, FORMER FBI AGENT: Being awful or not being awful is completely irrelevant because what he has done is legal, first of all. It was done to save lives.
…
JOSE DANTE PARRA, DEMOCRAT STRATEGIST: Let’s begin with an election in which all agencies agree that the Russians interfered in the electoral process of the United States. There is an investigation, or various investigations, of collusion between him and the Russians…
MARIA ELVIRA SALAZAR, ANCHOR, MEGA NOTICIERO: It has not been determined yet…
JOSE DANTE PARRA, DEMOCRAT STRATEGIST: There is a campaign...there are various investigations…
MARIA ELVIRA SALAZAR, ANCHOR, MEGA NOTICIERO: There is an investigation but there is more to it.
