The Spanish-language network Univision has refused to air an ad from a GOP-led Hispanic group telling Hispanic voters to sit out the race between Sharron Angle and Harry Reid.
“Univision will not be running any spots from Latinos for Reform related to voting,” said a spokeswoman for the network, Monica Talan, in an email. “Univision prides itself on promoting civic engagement and our extensive national campaigns encourage Hispanics to vote.”
The network also distanced itself from Robert de Posada, who had sought to air the ad, and has been a conservative commentator on the channel.
“It is also important to clarify that while Mr. Robert de Posada has on occasion provided political commentary on Univision, representing one of various points of views, he is not in any way affiliated with Univision,” Talan said.
De Posada responded that he’d been an on-air analyst on the network for 16 years, and contended that they’d succumbed to Democratic pressure.
“They got a little bit of pressure from the Democratic Party and they pulled it off,” he said.
De Posada said he’s exploring legal options, but that for now the ad won’t air, as Univision has, practically speaking, a “monopoly” in the market.
My take:
I have gone against this company before on behalf of the National Latino Media Coalition and the National Hispanic Media Commission when it was violating strict FCC children’s programming and trying to palm of telenovelas as children’s TV.
I have ambivalence for this company that is practically foreign owned and is not certain to be looking out for the best interest of Latinos and Hispanic Americans IN AMERICA.
I do NOT want to pontificate that Univision permitted this irresponsible advertisement encouraging Latinos to disenfranchise themselves to slip through the cracks because it is not as engaged with America as much as it should be, considering it is an FCC-licensed entity and has the responsibility and regulated mandate to be looking out for the PUBLIC INTEREST!
I do NOT want to intimate that it saw green in the $83,000 it was paid to broadcast the advertisement and gladly turned the other cheek when it let pass this piece of propaganda that encouraged Latinos to say home and NOT vote during mid-term as a means of boycotting the Obama administration for not moving fast and hard enough on immigration reform!
I want to be Fair and impartial but Univision is making it hard for me to NOT levy the type of criticism I want to…
Jay Jay Ghatt is also editor at Techyaya.com, founder of the JayJayGhatt.com and JayJayGhatt.com where she teaches online creators how to navigate digital entrepreneurship and offers Do-It-For-You Blogging Service. She manages her lifestyle sites BellyitchBlog, Jenebaspeaks and JJBraids.com and is the founder of BlackWomenTech.com 200 Black Women in Tech On Twitter. Her biz podcast 10 Minute Podcast is available on iTunes and Player.fm. Follow her on Twitter at @Jenebaspeaks. Buy her templates over at her legal and business templates on Etsy shop!
