Democrats Fight Hispanic Media Merger
Republican Ownership Could Limit Access to Viewpoints, Groups Tell FCC
By Juliet Eilperin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, May 25, 2003; Page A05
Concerned about Republican inroads into the Hispanic community, congressional Democrats are trying to fend off a proposed merger between Univision Communications Inc. and the Hispanic Broadcasting Corporation.
More than 20 Democratic senators and representatives -- including Senate Minority Leader Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.) -- have urged Federal Communications Commission chairman Michael Powell to block the planned corporate marriage between the two entities, which would create the nation's largest Spanish-language radio and TV company. Although the fight is ostensibly over media ownership, several Democrats acknowledge it is part of a larger battle for Latinos' political allegiance.
Democrats fear the $2.5 billion merger would place more power in the hands of a few politically active Republican business executives, who could influence the news reports heard by millions of Hispanics.
Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.), said Democrats are already worried about the coverage they receive on Univision, and that the proposed merger would further marginalize them politically. The merger, Sanchez said, would create "a major giant in the Hispanic community that doesn't really give a balanced perspective or the full range of discourse on issues."
The merger would place Jerry Perenchio, Univision's billionaire CEO and a registered Republican, at the helm of a corporation owning 65 Spanish-language radio stations. The closest competitor, Spanish Broadcasting System (SBS), has 27 stations.
Univision's move has sparked a heated Washington lobbying battle, as SBS president Raul Alarcon has retained three firms to fight the proposed merger, hoping to head off a huge, consolidated rival. P.C. Koch, SBS's lead lobbyist, says the merger would allow Republicans unfettered access to Latinos. He has commissioned a poll, for example, showing that nearly 90 percent of bilingual Hispanics get their news exclusively from Spanish-language television and radio.
In the past few weeks, Democratic Sens. Daschle, Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.), Bob Graham (Fla.) and Edward M. Kennedy (Mass.) have written Powell, arguing the merger would concentrate media power in non-Hispanic hands.
"If the Univision merger is approved, there may be less diverse programming, news sources, and viewpoints available to Spanish-speaking audiences," Daschle wrote. "This could significantly impact public debate and lead to less local and community-oriented programming." Several weeks earlier, eight members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus wrote a similar letter, saying they were "concerned about the impact of consolidation on our constituents and the fact that Hispanic ownership and management of U.S. media has virtually vanished in recent years."
Univision general counsel Doug Kranwinkle disputed the assertion, noting that half of Univision's board is Hispanic as are the company's three highest-paid officers. He said Perenchio does not exercise editorial control over Univision's news coverage.
"To say that this is not a Hispanic company is a lie," he said.
For months, Democrats have accused Univision of biased news coverage. During the recent coverage of the judicial nomination fight over Miguel Estrada, they say, Univision barely covered Democratic opposition, instead painting Estrada in the most positive light.
Univision officials say they have been unfairly targeted by Democratic opponents. After being attacked in an ad that the National Hispanic Policy Institute placed in Roll Call, a Capitol Hill newspaper, Univision decided to run a competing ad on Wednesday. "Efforts to tar this merger as a conservative, non-Hispanic takeover of Hispanic media is a case of mistaken identity at best and a competitor's smear job at worst," Kranwinkle said. "We've been lax in responding to these falsehoods -- but we are starting to fight back now."
Perenchio has been allied with some Republicans since he gave $400,000 to then-Gov. Pete Wilson of California in the early 1990s. Wilson earned the enmity of Latinos after seeking to eliminate benefits for illegal immigrants through Proposition 187 in 1994.
Univision officials note that Perenchio gave money to fight Proposition 187 and publicly stated his opposition to it. He has given money to Democrats, including California Gov. Gray Davis.
Democrats are more worried about the influence of Clear Channel chairman and CEO Lowry Mays, whose company owns nearly a third of HBC. Mays, a Texan friend of President Bush and his father, gave 87 percent of his political donations to Republicans in the last election, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Clear Channel, which owns 1,200 U.S. radio stations, recently sponsored "Rallies for America," which promoted the White House's plan to attack Iraq.
Univision officials, however, argue they would actually reduce the influence of Clear Channel through the merger because it would control 3 percent of voting interest in the newly formed company.
Both parties are intent on winning over Hispanics. The GOP ran Spanish-language ad campaigns in the 2002 elections in Colorado, Georgia, Missouri, North Carolina and Texas.
Matthew Dowd, who headed polling for Bush's 2000 campaign, said in 2001 Latinos were essential to Bush's reelection bid. "Republicans have to increase their percentage among blacks and certainly among Hispanics," Dowd said. "As a realistic goal, we have to get . . . 38 to 40 percent of the Hispanic vote."
Democrats are equally concerned. The New Democrat Network has been warning for more than a year that the party needs to do more to reach out to Latinos, particularly those who are recent immigrants and get their news from Spanish-language outlets.
"Clearly the battle for the Hispanic airwaves is very critical for determining how well the two parties are doing with their Hispanic vote," said Simon Rosenberg, NDN's president.
© 2003 The Washington Post Company
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