Is Univision Slanted toward Hillary?

Univision, the largest Spanish-language television network, was recently bought out by a private equity consortium that includes billionaire Haim Saban. Saban is a close friend of the Clintons, and a particularly zealous Hillary fundraiser.

In May 2007, Fortune magazine wrote a piece on Saban that put in no uncertain terms the media mogul's desire to see Clinton win the presidency:

... "I think [Saban] likes her better than he likes me," jokes Bill Clinton. But as he talks about Saban's support of Senator Clinton, the former President turns serious. "It is something that" - he pauses - "I can hardly talk about it because it really makes me emotional, 'cause he has genuinely come to love and respect her."

There's nothing wrong with having influence over a powerful media outlet and personally preferring one candidate over another. The problem comes when blatant biases seep into the reporting of political news. Univision seems to be borrowing straight from the playbook of Fox News in its slanted approach to the campaign -- not shocking, given the close friendship between Rupert Murdoch and Haim Saban (birds of a feather flock together).

Like many news organizations around the world, Univision's website features blurbs that introduce each of the major presidential candidates to its audience. I've translated the introductory blurbs of the three major Democratic presidential candidates.

Fair and balanced? Judge for yourself:

Hillary Clinton Well known as the wife of former president Bill Clinton, Hillary Diane Rodham is the female candidate with the most popularity in the 2008 elections. Hillary Clinton has called for repairing "Bush's errors."

Barack Obama
He is the only African American candidate and has a relatively short political career. His multiracial social narrative and fresh image are his main assets in the 2008 presidential race. This candidate has been accused of being naïve and irresponsible for saying that in his first year in office, he would be willing to meet with the leaders of Iran, Cuba and Venezuela without preconditions.

John Edwards
After having competed for the vice presidency of the United States in the 2004 elections, he is now going for the presidency in 2008. Analysts say he is the Democratic candidate with the most progressive platform. But he was criticized when he was overheard speaking with Hillary Clinton about the possibility of eliminating some participants from the debates, to which he gave the questionable response that he was referring to dividing the candidates into two groups of four.

Here is the original Spanish:

Hillary Clinton Reconocida por ser la esposa del ex presidente Bill Clinton, Hillary Diane Rodham, es la candidata de sexo femenino con mayor popularidad para las elecciones del 2008. Hillary Clinton ha llamado a reparar "los errores de Bush".

Barack Obama
Es el único candidato afroamericano y tiene una trayectoria política relativamente corta. Su discurso social multirracial y su imagen fresca son sus principales armas en la contienda presidencial del 2008. Este candidato ha sido acusado de ingenuo e irresponsable por decir que, en su primer año de mandato, estaría dispuesto a reunirse sin condiciones previas con los líderes de Irán, Cuba y Venezuela.

John Edwards
Tras competir por la vicepresidencia de Estados Unidos en las elecciones del 2004, ahora lo hará por la presidencia del 2008. Los analistas aseguran que es el candidato con el programa político más progresista de los demócratas. Pero fue criticado cuando lo escucharon hablando con Hillary Clinton de la posibilidad de eliminar a algunos participantes en los debates electorales, a lo que respondió inconsistentemente que se refería a dividirse en dos grupos de cuatro.

Hillary Clinton's high positives within Hispanic communities are due to name recognition and little else.

Latinos, like African Americans, are intensely loyal voters. But as we've seen in South Carolina, when loyalty is not met with respect, people will turn away. Let's hope Latinos get the message about the real Hillary Clinton before it's too late.

In the meantime, Univision should be called out for its blatant biases.

Comments

[FJRinLA]

KENNEDYS LEAD TRUTH SQUAD INTO CA PRIMARY

Sen. Kennedy is coming to remind us that Mr. Obama, and not HRC, had the respect of Senate colleagues and the courage of his convictions to help get the immigration bill passed; and that Obama is the President who will sign it without compromise. He will stand on his integrity as he has in the past.

Kennedy will remind Latinos that HRC was for Drivers Licenses for Illegal Immigrants before she was against it, after waffling during a televised debate.

This is one truth that, unfortunately, Latinos will not get from UNIVISION, may not have accepted as well from Obama, and would never have gotten from The Clintons. Immigration Reform under HRC would be just like it would be under McCain, with concessions like criminal-status, and other barriers to full participation that REPS sought this year.

If HRC can flip on the driver's license issue, then she is no better than her husband: saying anything to get elected without core values to guide him or her.

I just hope Kennedy gets here in time to make a difference.

And please ask yourself this question, privately: "If the positions on just this one issue were reversed: If HRC had been consistently for a pathway for citizenship; if Sen. Kennedy gave a speech praising her work in getting that bill passed and accepted by Senate REPS; and if Mr. Obama had reversed his position, then convinced others to:

Would you not be posting this daily as the reason that HRC is getting your support and not Obama?

I would argue that if you can know this one truth and still rationalize how it would be different somehow and that HRC, who did all of that including having Bill ask GOV Spitzer of NY to table the progressive plan to give licenses to illegals in NY State until after the election, and somehow HRC still gets your vote or as the best choice for Latinos, then you have a lot of explaining to do....not here, and not to me,...but just to yourself, eventually.

[BardEric]

Hillary has been in the media for a LONG time and now that some people have had time to grow bored of her ,must be now it's time to rip her to shreads..We LOVE that in this society..The only greater joy for us as lately than granting the status of celebrity , is later yanking it away, ripping it's victim to shreads, and then wallowing in all the gory details..(Britney, Heath Ledger, Anna Nicole,Martha Stewart, Rosie) I know that there is a BIG difference between the Hollywood examples that I have used here, but the point is that seems to be the way our society is wired right now, and some of this cultural state of mind is DEFINATELY seeping in to our political coverage.And HRC isnt the only one to bear personal witness to our societies obssession with the negative. Sen. Obama, I'm sure would like to strangle the next person who brings up his Lezko connection, Or edwards his $500 haircut, and 20,00 square ft home. Network news, and YES political opinion blogs give OBESSIVE coverage to all the negatives, and not enough on the Issues..What EITHER of the Candidates spouses have to say on the campaign trail is irrelevant,for whom the candiates worked in the 70's, is irrelevant,(I for one worked at McDonalds years ago, and I would hate for people to judge me for that), and for the vast majority of us RACE and GENDER are irrelevant! I We all voted for GW's 2nd term because we were, I think, distracted as a country..We cant afford to be distracted by all the hate and divsions we are facing THIS time. We might not get a second chance to restore our great nation, if we make another bad coice

[MagisterLudi]

Talking about biased reporting...

"Hillary Clinton's high positives within Hispanic communities are due to name recognition and little else."
How about the fact that she has been on forefront of Democratic politics for 35 years.
Name recognition? Howe about the fact that Hillary Clinton's views resonate more with Latino community than Obama's empty promises.
Ever considered that?

[shanghaislim]

Is FOX News slanted toward Assholes?

Is CNN slanted toward Obama?

Is Deseret News slanted toward Romney

What the hell ever happened to the un-biased journalism ethic?

[DietrichMoody]

correction-

Mr. Gonzalez,

Of course, they are going to side with Hillary Clinton, she's well known and the wife of a former President, easy. CNN, MSNBC, etc. were crowning Hillary Clinton the certain PRESIDENTIAL Nominee for the last year and a half because of these factors. Even four months ago, but that was Four Months AGO.

So you are surprised that Univision is on a Siesta and slow, and hasn't got the memo that there is a competition in the Democratic race and don't get the movement.? But you writing this post is encouraging and maybe they can come forward with their analysis and thoughts and be progressive, i know its against their nature.

Welcome to America Univision, where things change every minute and we like to see every minute of it, maybe their Hispanic audiences don't and just like to wait for the assumed outcome.

( and I don't intentionally mean this post to sound racist but just my perception

[nv1962]

Whaaaaa? "Hillary Clinton's high positives within Hispanic communities are due to name recognition and little else." Oh, so I guess I'm really too dumb to figure out who to support and cheer for and stuff.

Well. Still, I'm calling on Nathan Gonzalez' *own* blatant bias here. To wit, here's my translation of HRC's text: 'With her name recognition as the spouse of ex President Bill Clinton, Hillary Diane Rodham is the most popular female candidate for the 2008 elections. Hillary Clinton has called for repairing "Bush's errors."'

Compare with what Nathan posted: 'Well known as the wife of former president Bill Clinton, Hillary Diane Rodham is the female candidate with the most popularity in the 2008 elections. Hillary Clinton has called for repairing "Bush's errors."'

"Most popular female candidate" (with "most popular" as attribute of "female candidate") suggests something very different than "female candidate with the most popularity" (where having "the most popularity" is an attribute more hanging on "candidate", which *would* in suggest a bias toward HRC).

Translations of the other two are available on request.

So, I don't know what Nathan's point was, but it's clearly lost in translation. Then again, maybe he picked up his talking points based on pure recognition, and little else.

[bkztx]

So many followers drinking the Obama Kool-Aid-- it makes me want to vote Republican. No substance to Obama. If he gets the nomination, thanks to the media, then I'll vote for McCain.

[bkztx]

Huffington Post extremely biased against Hillary. I'm disgusted with this website.

[Superfelo]

La ideología de Univision es como la de Fox-5. Son racistas y las únicas mujeres para ellos, digna de representar su canal son mujeres alta, con bustos grandes, y pelo rubio.
Translation: "Univision's ideology is like that of Fox-5. It is a racist station; and the only women, for them, worthy of representing them in the news and their soap operas are tall, blond women with large busts. People of color are always given subservient, or criminal roles, in their soap operas.
Univision has no diversity in the workers its shows on Television; except in its exploited audience; but it does reach a large segment.

A buen entendedor pocas palabras.

Si, se puede! Yes, we can!

Enough said.

[moonjumper]

I read this on another site earlier today.

Reach out to Spanish Speakers in February 5th States Thank you for calling Spanish speaking voters and encouraging them to vote for Barack Obama on February 5th. With only a few days until the critical February 5th elections when 22 states will vote, we need your help to keep the momentum going and help Barack win! http://my.barackobama.com/page/contact/splash/spanish0123

[Madampotential]

Is CNN, FOX, and MSNBC biased against Hillary? Yes!!! So what if Univision is biased. If you don't have a problem with Carl Bernstein , Amy Holmes, Gloria Borger, John King, and Roland Martin being put on CNN to bash Hillary while they benched Carville and Bagala on CNN or Tim Russert, Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann, and Joe Scarborough bashing Hillary on MSNBC, why pick on Univision? Are you biased? Yes!

Although I am a fan of Olbermann, I cannot stomach his biased reporting against Hillary and I will be watching Charlie Gibson of ABC on 02/05. Charlie Gibson is the only ethical, balanced , and fair news reporter on TV. I wish I were bilingual so I would have another alternative, thank you Univision!!!!

[amberglow]

Clinton has been doing extensive outreach to all Spanish-language media--I think Solis Doyle has been a big part of it too. Plus, her years of work on family issues has helped. I don't think either Obama nor Edwards has actively spent the time to court that segment of the media at all.

If you could show that the others had targeted Univision and still not gotten coverage, you'd have a point, but from what i understand, Hillary has wooed both Spanish-language print, radio and tv for ages now. (i work in the field, and know she has been very active in including Spanish-language along with English-language media in everything, and in making sure they know about specific policies and issues ---esp. Family and Health and Education stuff--that they might want to cover.)

It's groundwork and outreach--and it's paying off i think. I don't know about ownership or donors, etc, but Hillary gets good press in most if not all Spanish-language media--for a reason.

[elusiveyo]

is this guy(Gonzalez) for real, he's talking about univision bias, does he not recognize the unadulterated bias of the entire mainstream press against the Clintons, my god the audacity of this post is astounding, know one who is fair can argue there is an ongoing press bias against the clinton's, but I guess it is ok if it isnt against his preferred candidate, please spare me the rhetoric, I for one do not want a victim in chief, i want a fighter, I'm sick of all the let's just get along bullshit, that is a fairytale, and so is this joker's beef about bias, pleeease give m a break

[tdbach]

I can't speak a lick of Spanish, so I can't comment on Univision, but if it's anything like Huggington Post in its advocacy of Obama - or perhaps anyone-but-Hillary - then Univision is very biased indeed.

[lovethesinner]

The name says it all: Univision. One world view. It's Orwellian, but because we in the United States don't speak even one language, let alone two, it goes on without our notice.

"Uni" meaning one; "vision" (well, you got that one didn't you); and the implied meaning of two put together is "universe" or "world."

"One world order" is the phrase that George H.W. Bush used to describe the coming fasciast state. And it's coming. And Bill, Hillary, the Bush's, and all their hacks are out to help them.

Endgame: Blueprint for World Enslavement (Alex Jones)

http://www.moviesfoundonline.com/endgame.php

The Trap: What Happened to Our Dream of Freedom (BBC)

http://www.moviesfoundonline.com/trap1.php

But, we can change all that. Yes, we can.

Obama in '08