Print6 to 1 liberal bias in news on Spanish language TV
No, it's not surprising that Spanish language TV giants Telemundo and Univision tilt left in their news coverage. What's pretty shocking is how overwhelming the bias is.
The bottom line: By a margin of six to one, the Spanish-speaking Hispanic TV leans liberal in stories, particularly in reports about U.S. domestic policy, according to the first report from the new MRC Latino, an arm of the conservative Media Research Center.
The Center, which has called out liberal bias in network TV for years, prompting some to even out their political bias, hopes that their new group will do the same for Latino TV. What their report found was the type of bias seen most on cable TV.
Among the results:
-- Univision leans left the most, with 50 percent of their stories tilting liberal.
-- The Hispanic giants quoted Democrats three to one over Democrats, with President Obama and his team leading the way.
-- Pro-Obamacare sources were quoted in stories about the troubled health insurance system by a margin of five to one over critics.
-- In a review of 103 immigration reform stories, 66 tilted left, only nine leaned conservative, and the rest were down the middle.
I don't think there's much doubt that Hispanics come from political cultures that feature activist governments. But that doesn't necessarily make a majority of them Democrats, and certainly not socialists.
The insidious nature of this bias, however, promotes the perception of Republicans as uncaring, even bigoted in their views on Hispanics and Hispanic culture. The coverage puts up a wall that prevents Hispanics from examining GOP ideas fairly, so it's hardly surprising that come election time, few Hispanics vote Republican.
How to change that is the subject of a good debate, but whatever you believe can be done, it will take several election cycles to accomplish. Overcoming bias is a slow process but can be ultimately successful if the GOP can connect with Hispanics on issues of common agreement like abortion, jobs, and encouraging small business.
