Topic: Media Research Center
A couple months back, Univision did an interview with Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago in which he faced no tough questions and was fawned over by interviewers. The Media Research Center's Jorge Bonilla spent a Nov. 10 post claiming to be shocked by the interview -- but, as a right-winger, the softball nature of it was a good thing ("totally normal," he called it in his headline), though it blew up his narrative that Univision has a liberal bias:
I sat down and watched TelevisaUnivision’s interview with former President Donald J. Trump, expecting fiery exchanges and contentiousness and I am in complete shock for there were no such things. Instead, viewers watched a calm, rational dialogue between Trump and Televisa N+ anchor Enrique Acevedo. And I can't quite figure out why.
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This was the tone throughout the entire interview. History, too extensive to get into here, suggests that this should not have been the case. From the moment Trump descended the gilded escalator at Trump Tower, Univision (at the time not a wholly owned subsidiary of Mexico’s Televisa but owned by a private equity group headed by Hillary Clinton megadonor Haim Saban) set out to cast him as a monster, and depict him as such to their viewing audience. And this was the editorial course that Univision charted right up until they were bought out by Televisa in 2022.
I was always told, by sources within Univision, that the network wanted to pursue a different editorial tack so as to avoid being perceived as a foreign-owned Democrat talking point regurgitator. But the on-screen product never quite caught up to those lofty promises. Until tonight's apparent shift.
I was struck by the choice of anchor. Enrique Acevedo is no stranger to the MRC, and we’d covered him extensively both as Univision anchor and as 60 Minutes correspondent. He recently returned to Mexico, post-merger, and took over as anchor of Televisa’s prime time evening newscast. There were plenty of people at Univision HQ in Doral (OK, a handful) who could’ve done the interview but the choice of Acevedo intrigued me. I began to suspect that the whole op was run from Mexico City.
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One thing to watch for going forward: will Trump (or Republicans in general) begin to garner different coverage on Univision, or is this a one-off for both Trump and Univision? And, if so, why?
Another thing: exactly how much “internal grumbling” is there within Univision’s news division, which has now been very publicly and visibly defenestrated?
In a Nov. 15 post, however, Bonilla was in narrative-salvaging mode, insisting that the softball interview (though he still won't call it that) was a one-off and that Univision is still as purportedly left-wing as ever:
One constant throughout my conversations with those who work in local media (particularly local media serving Hispanic communities) is the contemptuous tone reserved for the “parachute media”: that is, members of the elite Acela Media (“media reporters” and such) who “parachute” into a subject matter they know nothing about, fart out their reports, and then return to D.C. or New York. I’ve thought about that quite a bit as I consider the quality of reporting subsequent to Televisa’s interview of former President Donald Trump.
The common thread to emerge from coverage of the interview and subsequent reaction is that the interview is somehow representative of Univision shifting to the right. I assure you, this is the fakest of fake news.
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One swallow does not a summer make, despite both the irrational exuberance of my MAGA friends and the irrational anguish of my friends on the left. One interview, planned and executed by Univision’s corporate parent, does not constitute a major editorial shift. But Acela “media journalists” unable to distinguish between Doral and Mexico City would have you believe that.
Univision has not shifted to the right, and is not suddenly willing to grant a fair hearing to conservatives. Univision is still the same corporate immigration client of the Democratic Party, and is as willing as ever to foist the rest of the leftwing policy pupu platter upon its viewers. That’s my assessment of the facts as they stand today. So long as [Univision anchor Jorge] Ramos and [Televisa news director Daniel] Coronell are in place and in charge, Noticias Univision will remain what it has always been- a reliable left-wing cesspool.
When former Univision anchor María Celeste Arrarás pointed out that the softball, unchallenging nature of the interview misleads voters, Bonilla chose in a Nov. 19 post to dishonestly frame that has her claiming that "Latinos are unable to view and process facts as presented to them, without media 'context' and 'nuance'":
Let me translate this for you. When she says “no matter how intelligent they are”, Arrarás really means that Hispanics are “not intelligent enough” to be trusted to analyze the news of the day for themselves, and therefore need it spoon-fed and filtered to them with a Democrat lens through approved gatekeeper institutions. Although one always suspects that the media have deep-seated contempt for their viewing public, it is nonetheless surprising to hear someone express that contempt out loud.
This is the main argument against the Televisa-Trump interview- this perceived loss of air supremacy on a cornerstone institution of the Latino Grievance Industrial Complex. What Arrarás is arguing for is for Spanish-language media to continue to alter the perceptions (and therefore, the reality) of their viewers; unchecked, unabated, and unopposed.
Arrarás’ bit on foreign undue influence is also hilarious, primarily because no one bothered to complain about “undue foreign influence” when Univision was out there doing all the disinformation on behalf of Democrats. But book ONE interview with Donald Trump and everyone loses their minds.
Funny how Bonilla was demanding balance when he claimed that Democrats were dominating Univision, but he wants no such balance for a softball Trump interview.
As people continued to question why Trump was given such a softball interview, Bonilla continued to whine about the complainers. He did that in condescending fashion in a Nov. 20 post:
As I’ve stated many times, the Latinx Grievance Industrial Complex is up in arms over the perceived (and, perhaps, imagined) loss of air supremacy on one of its cornerstone institutions- Univision. Which is how we end up with Ana Navarro, on The View, DEMANDING to know how and why this is happening.
After having to endure this segment, I’ve gained an even greater appreciation for our friend Nick Fondacaro, who watches this nonsense on a daily basis so you don’t have to. Anyway, heeeeeeere’s Ana:
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Univision, a reliable Democrat talking point regurgitator for decades, is both a gatekeeper institution into the Latino community, as created and organized by the left, and an approved purveyor of information to the community. Thus, the Trump interview is seen as a major breach. Univision is perceived to have breached its fiduciary responsibility towards the rest of the Professional Political Latinx class, by having the temerity to allow Donald J. Trump to sit down with a journalist and answer questions in a normal, conversational tone.
This is the basis upon which Navarro, John Leguizamo, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, along with the rest of the Latinx Industrial Complex, have demanded that Univision reverse course and go back to being a reliable Democrat talking point machine- which it never stopped being in the first place. Had the shoe been on the other foot, these very groups would be denouncing these activities as a gross attack upon a free and independent press.
I use such words as “imagined” and “perceived” because there is no actual editorial shift at Univision, and no substance to the conversation beyond what I described in the previous paragraph. And so it is that we have to endure five minutes of the Viewteratti’s discourse on Univision- which, honestly, felt like five hundred.
Yes, Bonilla is still defending the softball interview while insisting it doesn't change his narrative. He did it again in a Nov. 21 post:
It’s the dopiest of dopey cycles, this Acela Media and Professional Latinx crusade against the most reliably left-wing outlet in all domestic news media, which is Univision. And yet, here we are. MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow has now joined the fray, and exposes the real rationale behind this attack against Univision.
Watch as Maddow reveals the truest, purest victim of a so-called “rightward shift” at Univision: Joe Biden’s electoral prospects.
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This isn’t about “preventing disinformation”, because as we reported at the time, a study showed that Univision is one one of the biggest purveyors of misinformation to the Hispanic community. It isn’t about protecting freedom of the press, because the Acela Media and Professional Latinx are actively trying to interfere with Univision’s editorial decision making processes. Adding fuel to the fire, the Congressional Hispanic Censorship Caucus is now demanding to meet with Univision executives.
What this episode proves conclusively is that none of the people howling about Univision have never once sat down and actually watched Univision’s news product. If they did, MSNBC would promptly begin taking notes on how to leftwing bias harder.
Bonilla's professed concern about misinformation in Spanish-language media is rather cute, given that he was briefly employed by one of the biggest Hispanic media misinformers -- Americano Media, which tried to be the Latino Fox News until its financial collapse -- for a few months as a talk show host before returning to the MRC. And that "study" he cited was actually just a poll conducted by a right-wing Latino group.
(Tim Graham repeated Bonilla's complaints on his Nov. 22 podcast.)
Bonilla has made it clear that the only interviews with Republicans he wants to see are softball ones, even if he refuses to use that accurate term to describe what happened in the Univision interview.
