Univision Wages Political War On Latino Conservatives
01/03/2012
news.investors.com
Bias: A giant TV network has effectively admitted to blackmailing Florida's GOP Sen. Marco Rubio over his immigration stance. It's Exhibit A of the kind of sludge being hurled at Latino leaders who won't toe the open-borders line.
Bigfoot Spanish-language television network Univision unwittingly revealed it's got a mafia-style hit-equivalent out there waiting for any conservative leader of Hispanic descent who won't tout their open-borders line on immigration.
So much for reporting the news. Univision's top honchos behind this are all about politics — and are running their news organization like a cult mafia leader wielding power based on groupthink and fear.
Last October, the Miami Herald broke news that Univision executive Isaac Lee threatened to make public a story about the arrest of Rubio's brother-in-law 24 years ago — that is, unless, in an offer he couldn't refuse, Rubio agreed to go on Univision's Jorge Ramos show, presumably to be savaged by the TV host, known as a loud advocate of open borders.
Univision denied the Herald story, though the paper had multiple witnesses — but then spilled the beans to the New Yorker, admitting to writer Ken Auletta that it had indeed offered the popular Florida senator "three Univision options" to soften or spike their nasty "investigation" if Rubio did the Ramos show.
Univision figured it could demolish Rubio politically with the offer, which is why it pulled out all stops and violated all standards of journalistic ethics.
But things didn't go as planned: Rubio refused to be blackmailed and told them no.
Univision then ran the scurrilous piece attempting to link Rubio to drugs, which was so baseless even the mainstream media wouldn't pick it up.
 Subscribe to the IBD Editorials Podcast
The Miami Herald's Marc Caputo reported a whole string of disgraceful pressure tactics Univision pulled to put the heat on Rubio. Those ranged from adding the words #rubio and #drugs to advertise their show on their Twitter feed and create a false link, to sending a huge TV truck to the doorstep of Rubio's sister, to attract embarrassing attention.
Caputo reported that the Univision shakedown also included trying to get Florida Gov. Rick Scott to call for Rubio's resignation. Caputo said the ploy appalled Univision's reputable journalists, who called him up to describe the egregious violation of ethics.
What does this say about Univision and its line?
That there's a creepy network determined to stamp out any dissent in the Hispanic community and force all leaders to toe a party line — or else face media ruin.
Univision Chairman Haim Saban made that clear in an email to the Herald, declaring Rubio "anti-Hispanic" because of his views on immigration, as if Saban has some edge over Rubio, the son of Cuban exiles, when it comes to being Hispanic.
Here are the facts: Rubio is popular among Hispanics and represents a massive threat to the Democrats' grip on the pivotal Hispanic vote, which may be up for grabs, given the Obama administration's economic failures.
Saban is a big-time billionaire bankroller of the Democratic Party and seems willing to turn his TV network into a Democrat mouthpiece.
This is no small matter. Saban's network — which says it reaches 75% of Latino households and frequently tops the Big Three networks in viewership — seems to think it has a monopoly on the news and that it can make or break any Hispanic leader. Heck, it seems to think it can even arbitrate who's Hispanic.
Univision's Isaac Lee, who made the "options" offer, had the nerve to gleefully retweet a report that Latinos respect Univision more than the Catholic Church or military — a power politics statement if there ever was one, given he did it the day Auletta's piece came out.
In doing this, Univision is sadly showing that it isn't about news, but rather about raw politics. And because it's corrupting the news, its monopoly won't likely last.
Indeed, that Rubio remains popular despite the attacks suggests that Latinos are no longer a group that can be dictated to by Univision.
And Rubio's brave refusal to be blackmailed over his immigration views is as much a threat to Univision as it is to the Democrats.
|
