It’s the dopiest of dopey cycles, this Acela Media and Professional Latinx crusade against the most reliably left-wing outlet in all domestic news media, which is Univision. And yet, here we are. MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow has now joined the fray, and exposes the real rationale behind this attack against Univision.
Watch as Maddow reveals the truest, purest victim of a so-called “rightward shift” at Univision: Joe Biden’s electoral prospects.
RACHEL MADDOW: More than 70 groups, including some of the biggest Latino advocacy organizations in the country, have delivered a letter to Univision describing the Trump interview as a betrayal of trust. Prominent actor and comedian John Leguizamo has called on Latino activists and artists and politicians to boycott Univision. The Congressional Hispanic Caucus has reportedly drafted a letter asking Univision's CEO to please meet with Members of Congress to talk, among other things, disinformation targeting the Latino community. But it's not just the Trump interview that's causing such agita. If a big rightward pro-Trump shift is- has been organized at America's largest Spanish-language broadcaster, that could have huge implications for the 2024 election. I mean, Univision is the 7th biggest network audience in all of TV. It is the most watched Spanish language network in the United States.
There it is. “Huge implications for 2024”. More than anything, this is about making sure that Democrats have information supremacy in key states with Hispanic populations that depend on Univision for their news. Nothing else matters.
This isn’t about “preventing disinformation”, because as we reported at the time, a study showed that Univision is one one of the biggest purveyors of misinformation to the Hispanic community. It isn’t about protecting freedom of the press, because the Acela Media and Professional Latinx are actively trying to interfere with Univision’s editorial decision making processes. Adding fuel to the fire, the Congressional Hispanic Censorship Caucus is now demanding to meet with Univision executives.
What this episode proves conclusively is that none of the people howling about Univision have never once sat down and actually watched Univision’s news product. If they did, MSNBC would promptly begin taking notes on how to leftwing bias harder.
Click “expand” to view the full transcript of the aforementioned segment of The Rachel Maddow Show, as aired on MSNBC on Monday, November 20th, 2023:
RACHEL MADDOW: So this is a very unique award. It's called the Mexican Order of the Aztec Eagle. It's the highest honor the Mexican government can give to any non-Mexican citizen. They give it -- they award it for services to Mexico, or to mankind. Since its creation in 1933, recipients of the Order of the Aztec Eagle have included Queen Elizabeth II, Nelson Mandela, Walt Disney, Bill and Melinda Gates, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, to name a few. In 2018, added to that illustrious list was Jared. Yes, that Jared. Jared Kushner, son-in-law of then President Donald Trump. Mexico's president, presenting Jared here with the Order of the Aztec Eagle. Again, the highest honor the Mexican government can bestow upon any foreigner. Why did Jared get that? As you might imagine, the award set off some criticism in Mexico where Donald Trump was not the most popular guy to ever serve as U.S. President.
But Jared apparently had friends in Mexico. In particular, the president of a very, very powerful TV network there called Televisa. And that Mexican TV network president reportedly helped facilitate this very big, very prestigious fancy government award for Jared. A few months later, that same TV executive then hosted Jared and the new Mexican president for dinner at his home. It's good to have friends in high places. Last year, that same Mexican TV network Televisa, run by Jared’s friend, merged with the American Spanish-language broadcaster Univision. Televisa and Univision, they are now one big company. And that is, apparently, how Jared Kushner managed to help arrange a big hour-long super friendly interview for his father-in-law earlier this month on Univision. Both Jared and his friend, the TV executive from Mexico, were reportedly in the room at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort while the interview was being taped. The interview was conducted not by a Univision reporter based in the U.S., but by a Televisa reporter, who was flown in from Mexico especially for the interview. The interview was 100% softball questions, no pushback whatsoever from the interviewer. And whatever you think about that as a style of interview, it was a noticeable departure for Univision, which has generally been quite critical of Donald Trump. At least it was before now. The network seems to be doing something quite different now. For example, during the interview the network also, at last minute, canceled a bunch of Biden campaign ads that had been scheduled to run during the broadcast of that Trump interview. It was The Washington Post that first reported last week that this strange softball Trump interview might have been prompted by new Jared Kushner-y executives now running Univision. Since then, though, the story has snowballed. One top anchor at Univision suddenly quit the network a few days after the interview aired, though he did not specify why. More than 70 groups, including some of the biggest Latino advocacy organizations in the country, have delivered a letter to Univision describing the Trump interview as a betrayal of trust. Prominent actor and comedian John Leguizamo has called on Latino activists and artists and politicians to boycott Univision. The Congressional Hispanic Caucus has reportedly drafted a letter asking Univision's CEO to please meet with Members of Congress to talk, among other things, disinformation targeting the Latino community. But it's not just the Trump interview that's causing such agita. If a big rightward pro-Trump shift is- has been organized at America's largest Spanish-language broadcaster, that could have huge implications for the 2024 election. I mean, Univision is the 7th biggest network audience in all of TV. It is the most watched Spanish language network in the United States. The day before the Trump interview aired, Univision's Miami affiliate reportedly preempted its normal programing for a three-hour special leading up to a Trump rally in Florida.
It was just a regular Trump rally. There’s Trump rallies all the time. But they gave it a three-hour special, including breathless live coverage. They treated it like it was the moon landing. We spoke to three former Univision executives today who say they are hearing concerns from current employees that the instruction to blow out regular local programing for breathless hours-long live Trump rally coverage is a decision that likely came from the top. It was likely directed by network executives. We also heard from five sources today, two of them current Univision employees, that editorial control at local Univision stations has recently been brought under the direction of the overall network, which means local stations no longer have ultimate control over their coverage decisions. Now there is nothing inherently wrong with that. Different networks operate in different ways when it comes to their affiliates. But this is a change. And if Univision executives like Jared's guy decide to use that change to push for obsequiously pro-Trump wall-to-wall coverage for the next year- including, say, their affiliates in swing states, well that would be a five-alarm fire for the Biden campaign for obvious reasons, but it also would be one for Spanish language journalism in this country. Joining us now, I'm honored to say is Joaquin Blaya. He spent 22 years at Univision, including as its president from 1988 to 1992. He tells The Washington Post he’s worried that the network has moved away from its founding vision. He called the Trump interview that recently aired on Univision, quote, an embarrassment. Mr. Blaya, I’m really glad you were able to join us tonight. Thank you so much for being here.
JOAQUIN BLAYA: Thank you, Rachel. My pleasure.
MADDOW: Let me just first ask if anything I said seemed wrong to you, or if you think I'm misunderstanding anything important about this story.
BLAYA: No, I think you're right on point.
MADDOW: Okay. What do you make of the crescendo of blowback and criticism that Univision is getting especially from various parts of the Latino community in the United States in the wake of these apparent changes?
BLAYA: Well, it is a drastic change for what have been the standards of Univision. When I created the Univision network news, they were built on the principles of American broadcasting journalism. The ABCs, the CBS, the NBCs of the time. So we were trying to basically create a Spanish but American network. And I say that because there is a big difference from our association in those days with the news that were coming from Mexico. Univision has kept that standard for 40 years. It's recognized in the Hispanic community as the excellence in journalism. And this basically deviates in a very drastic way from what has been that. And from a network that it means an awful lot for Hispanics in this country.
MADDOW: When you talked to The Washington Post about this, you said something also along these lines. You said that when you saw the Trump interview, you saw that as the kind of thing you might expect from Mexican TV news, from what Televisa is known, for example, is doing in Mexico as opposed to that type of standard that you're describing for Univision, for the idea behind the creation of Univision's news department. Can you elaborate on that a little bit in terms of the different types of standards that you see and why you thought the Trump interview was more like that prior standard, or the standard you would see in Mexico today rather than in the United States?
BLAYA: Well, I think, first of all, to call the Trump an interview, it's mistaken. It was not an interview as we understand in the United States. That was basically a one-hour propaganda open space for former President Trump to say whatever he wanted to say. More dangerous than that even, Rachel, you referred to it in your introduction, had to do with the coverage of the local station for three hours and the banners that were running on the air. There are many, many banners, but one of them referred to how Trump's statement that we have become the septic tank for immigration. He is obviously referring about Hispanic immigration.
He is not talking about Norwegians or Swedish coming to America. And this was being run on air in regular programming on the Miami Univision station. A real insult to the Hispanic community of this country.
MADDOW: We also have heard from multiple sources that the network has taken editorial control from local affiliates at Univision. So that may not have been the Miami affiliate's choice to run those banners. The other banners that they ran included things like "Biden is public enemy number one." They ran that as a banner.
BLAYA: Yes.
MADDOW: If the network has taken over full editorial control from the local affiliates, is that a change from previous practice?
BLAYA: It is. It is. And for those who understand the business, there is no doubt that doing what they did had to be a corporate decision. That is not a decision that the local news director or the local general manager would have taken on its own.
MADDOW: Former Univision president Joaquin Blaya. Mr. Blaya, I really appreciate you taking time to be here tonight. This is a fascinating and really, really important story. We hope you'll come back to talk to us as we stay on it. Thank you, sir.
BLAYA: Thank you.
MADDOW: Thank you. We’ll be right back.
