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.

Follow Nathan Gonzalez on Twitter: www.twitter.com/engagingiran

Comments

[Mindleftnumb]

As a spanish speaker and Univision viewer I can verify without a doubt that there is bias towards Hillary Clinton. It manifests itself in almost every "news" broadcast.

[altohone]

I would argue that the hispanic community hasn't yet learned to distrust their leadership the way the black community has... whether it's promises of jobs in the administration or lucrative consulting contracts, there isn't as long a history of the leadership looking out for their own interests at the expense of the voting bloc.

Considering how a Hillary supporter is selling out on health care in CA in a deal with Arnold to extend his term in office, you'd think they'd be wary too.

That said, I do believe you touched a nerve.

Not one Hillary supporter challenges you on the facts.

All they can do is "Yeah, but HuffPo is biased too."


Their complaints ignore that FOX and Univision DO NOT give equal time the way Arianna gives Hillary supporters several posts every day to defend her and attack Obama... but then, expecting objectivity when Hillary's campaign is flailing may be asking too much.

[BardEric]

Seems like every time I watch political coverage on any channel, there is very little ANYTHING on that is pro HRC.Quite the reverse actually. So at least from the seats im sitting in, I can't see where you arguement is coming from. Seems the media has a bias alright, and it is NOT for HRC. Remember how the networks have the power now to help canidates dissapear by not inviting them to debate, and not giving their campaigns any real coverage? They,(the media) are definately slanted to airing whatever gives them the biggest rating share and are not concerned in the least with giving equal coverage of any kind.

[HollyBrinee]

Is this a joke? I wonder if Nathan complains about the fawning coverage Obama gets from MSNBC, and CNN? I actually watched Solidad O'Brien give Bill Clinton the stink eye. Not very professional people!

[venicesurfer]

so what if she has one station that actually likes her? let her have atleast one.

not everyone can be as fair as the huffington post has been when reporting on its candidates. lol

[iantepoot]

I agree Huffington Post is biased. I don't use it as my primary source of information. Also, HuffPo is an opinion and editorial site. Univision, along with Telemundo, Galavisión (and to a lesser extent TeleFutura), are major media outlets that often serve as the primary, or only, electronic news source. Their news programming purports to be NEWS... not opinion as per Huffington.

[venicesurfer]

um....how can you call univision blatant biased towards hillary clinton while writing for the huffington post? isnt huffpost blatantly biased? isnt it obvious which candidate this site prefers?

univision maybe prefer hillary over obama but atleast it isnt ridiculously obvious like huffpost.

so before you criticize other media outlets for being biased towards one candidate, check who you are writing for?

[in10se]

I'm not going to take sides in the Democratic Primary race but your position seems to ignore the fact that Univision is not NPR of PBS.

It is a privately owned company which can and will put a favorable spin on whichever candidates it believes serves its interest.

I grew up in a time in which most cities had competing newspapers and reading the same news story in one sounded like a different story in the other. As a journalism student in the 1950's I learned that one of the skills that a steadily employed journalist developed was telling the story while pleasing the editor (and the publisher).

The skill has been developed into an art in electronic media but I can still recognize it when I see it.

[ndolomar]

my husband is latino, and he and were appalled after reading the candidates' descriptions on univision's website. i've contacted my rep (loretta sanchez) and contacted the station to voice my displeasure at such blatant bias. univision's not alone, either. ALL the networks in one way or another have done their best to stir up the campaign with unfair coverage -- and it's not exclusive. pro-clinton one day; pro-obama the next; and complete shutout of edwards. i don't think it's explicit endorsement, but rather a way to keep us consumers focused on the minutiae and off issues that likely could affect corporate media companies. either way, univision's position is just patently offensive.

[Ides]

Reportamos, tu decides.

[STUPIDgit]

Is The Huffington Post slanted toward Obama? I know the answer to that one for sure.

I think: "JFK......­..RFK.....­...BARACK OBAMA" says it all. Oh, that and the fact that the only mention on the entire site about John edwards today is one small line about him possibly being Attorney General as if it's already over for him. Maybe if this site actually acknowledged his existence instead of ignoring Edwards (I check in every day and find he's mentioned once every couple of days), and maybe if Hillary wasn't demonized irrationally (there's plenty of rational things to not like about her) then concerns like this might be worth caring about. As it is, your article just reads like another Obama '08 campaign newsletter.

Spend some time looking into their actual voting records, platforms and history instead of this lame campaign gotchya game and you'll find plenty of great things to bash Hillary with. The only problem is that if you do the same for Obama you'll find equally disturbing patterns. They're both bought and sold by the ultra-rich and the "establishment" to the point where it will be business as usual in Washington. Nowhere near the absolute corruption of the Bush regime but far from real "change."

[xdevildawg4u]

I don't know if Univision is slanted toward Clinton (I don't speak Spanish) but I can tell you that Logo (the gay channel) sure as hell is.

[jbstonesfan]

Is Huffington post slanted towards Obama?

[cynara]

Those bios due sound suspiciously Clinton biased. Not a negative thing to be said about her, and criticisms of both of her competitors. Good catch!

[Nommo]

Hah! Just another ooneevision dumb blonde!