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Is the largest Spanish-language network boosting a likely candidate two years removed from the 2016 presidential election? It’s certainly looking that way, and the media are turning a blind eye.
According to reports, possible presidential aspirant and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is entering into a partnership with Univision—the largest Spanish-language news network in America, reaching nearly every U.S. Hispanic television household—to promote a childhood development initiative.
It is hard to dismiss this as coincidental, given the increasing clout of the Hispanic electorate (every month, 50,000 Hispanics turn 18) and news that there are Univision executives partial to a Hillary Clinton presidency. Progressive commentator Raul Reyes, a member of USA Today’s Board of Contributors, reports:
Consider that one of the owners of Univision, Haim Saban, is a major Clinton donor and backer who told the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth that, “Seeing her in the White House is a big dream of mine.”
If that’s not the definition of media bias, I’m not sure what is.
Reyes does well to shine a spotlight on this largely unreported story, noting that this deal would likely draw a lot more outrage and scrutiny if this was being done by one of the other major mainstream media networks. He reminds us: “Remember that just last year, CNN had planned a documentary and NBC a mini-series docudrama featuring Hillary Clinton. But after widespread criticism, both networks cancelled their plans.”
And at a time when press freedom is under attack worldwide and the U.S. is tumbling in the latest global press freedom index, it’s especially important to hold our media outlets accountable when they are providing an outlet to a possible presidential aspirant to connect with the fastest-growing and youngest demographic in the United States for a multi-year partnership.
Reyes has it right: “The mainstream press should wake up to a story that lies in plain view: The Univision/Clinton ties deserve careful, thorough scrutiny.”
