Thursday, April 03, 2014

Yes, the Hispanic media is liberal but the GOP should keep talking to them

(My new American Thinker post)

Over the last few years, I've appeared often on Univision Dallas.  To be fair, they've always treated me very well. 

In 2012, I also appeared with Fernando Pizarro on a Univision national segment about Hispanic conservatives and he also treated me very well.

Yes, they lean Democrat but they can be talked to.  They key is to be prepared and talk facts.   

My good friend Israel Ortega of The Heritage Foundation discussed this issue on his latest blog post at The Foundry:
"Hispanic media are hugely influential in shaping public opinion. Consider that, according to Forbes magazine, Univision reaches approximately 97 percent of U.S. Hispanic households. This from a population pegged at 50.5 million, or 16.9 percent of the population, according to the latest Census numbers. And last July, Univision beat all of the major networks—among all demographics—in the ratings war, as reported by Media Moves: “For the third consecutive week and July sweep to date, Univision is #1, leading the pack of broadcast and cable networks among adults 18-34 and 18-49, according to Nielsen.”  
Hispanic media have a decidedly liberal bias. After doing hundreds of interviews for Spanish-language radio and television, I have come to expect responses of frustration and disbelief when I mention the merits of the free market, the rule of law, and even religious freedom. Nonetheless, with a few exceptions, most of the anchors, producers, and journalists who have interviewed me have treated me with respect—even if it was clear by their questions and responses that they couldn’t disagree more with my conservative viewpoint.  
Until now, the liberal bias in Hispanic media was mostly discussed in a vacuum or anecdotally. But now, thanks to a detailed study by the Media Research Center, the predominant pattern of bias in recent Hispanic media news coverage is well-documented.  
The study, being released tomorrow morning at the Newseum, details multiple instances of liberal bias in Hispanic media, where conservatives are labeled as “the hard right” and even “radical.” It also documents how few conservative viewpoints have been included in most recent major U.S. news stories.  
But perhaps the study’s most damning finding is the Spanish language media’s brazen advocacy for Obamacare. According to a recent story in BuzzFeed titled, “Univision Works Overtime to Get Latinos Enrolled in Obamacare”:"
Israel is right but this game is not over.

First, Univision may be indeed working overtime to enroll Hispanics but the success is not so clear.   We've seen many reports that Hispanics are not signing up.

Second, the best way to battle bias is with facts.  For example, I always remind the audience that President Obama had majorities and did not fight for immigration reform.  Also, it was a US Senate with 59 Democrats in 2010 that failed to pass The Dream Act.

Facts are stubborn things, as some famous person said!

Third, the Obama economy has not been good for Hispanics.  Again, those are facts that the most biased reporter can not dispute.

So the GOP should stand their ground and argue facts. 

Finally, don't underestimate disenchantment with President Obama.  Not everyone watching Univision is screaming "si se puede"! 

P. S. You can hear my chat with Israel Ortega here & follow me on Twitter @ scantojr.


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The New York Times should be embarrassed for printing Maduro’s op-ed

(My Babalu post)


Let's file this one under the "no tiene nombre" category.  We've seen The New York Times print a lot of weird things over the years but this one is beyond belief.
Here are a couple of samples:
1) The post is titled "A Call for Peace".   This is from the man behind attacks on demonstrators!  Are you kidding me?
2) This is how Mr Maduro sees Venezuela:   
"THE recent protests in Venezuela have made international headlines. Much of the foreign media coverage has distorted the reality of my country and the facts surrounding the events.   
Venezuelans are proud of our democracy. We have built a participatory democratic movement from the grass roots that has ensured that both power and resources are equitably distributed among our people."   
3) This is how Mr Maduro sees the economy:   
"While our social policies have improved citizens’ lives over all, the government has also confronted serious economic challenges in the past 16 months, including inflation and shortages of basic goods. We continue to find solutions through measures like our new market-based foreign exchange system, which is designed to reduce the black market exchange rate. And we are monitoring businesses to ensure they are not gouging consumers or hoarding products. Venezuela has also struggled with a high crime rate. We are addressing this by building a new national police force, strengthening community-police cooperation and revamping our prison system.'    
"According to the United Nations, Venezuela has consistently reduced inequality: It now has the lowest income inequality in the region. We havereduced poverty enormously — to 25.4 percent in 2012, on the World Bank’sdata, from 49 percent in 1998; in the same period, according to government statistics, extreme poverty diminished to 6 percent from 21 percent.    
We have created flagship universal health care and education programs, free to our citizens nationwide. We have achieved these feats in large part by using revenue from Venezuelan oil."
Outrageous is not outrageous enough.
This is journalistic malpractice by The New York Times.
I am not suggesting censorship.  I am simply calling on The New York Times to be responsible and hold "despots" like Maduro accountable for what they write.  Is that too much to ask?
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