Posted on 05/29/2003 11:02:58 AM PDT by LurkedLongEnough
Most of the predominantly Hispanic customers at the Central Bar on New Main Street in Yonkers say they enjoy watching Univision on television because it reminds them of home.
"We like Univision because the clientele is 80 percent Mexican, and they broadcast Mexican programs," said Lucero Cifuentes, 29, a bartender who on Tuesday was enjoying a media buffet on two televisions, each tuned to different channels.
Here, Univision's programming sparks conversations — not controversy.
But in Washington, D.C., and elsewhere, Univision is at the heart of a heated debate over whether the media giant should be allowed to acquire the Dallas-based Hispanic Broadcasting Corp., which would create the largest Spanish-language radio and TV company in the nation.
The Federal Communications Commission could decide the issue as early as Monday, along with the equally controversial issue of dropping cross-ownership restrictions. More than 20 Democratic senators and representatives — including Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton — have urged FCC Chairman Michael Powell to block the merger.
If approved, the deal would place A. Jerrold Perenchio, Univision's billionaire CEO and a registered Republican, at the helm of a corporation owning 65 Spanish-language radio stations. The closest competitor, Spanish Broadcasting System, has 27 stations.
On the surface, the fight is over media ownership, but Democrats acknowledge it is also part of a larger battle for Hispanics' political allegiance and who will have access to the country's Hispanic viewers.
In the past few weeks, Democratic Sens. Tom Daschle, Clinton, Bob Graham and Edward Kennedy have written the FCC, arguing the merger would concentrate media power in non-Hispanic hands.
"If the Univision merger is approved, there may be less diverse programming, news sources, and viewpoints available to Spanish-speaking audiences," Daschle wrote.
Univision has fought back, most recently by buying full-page ads in major newspapers, including in The New York Times and the Spanish-language daily Hoy, touting Perenchio's record on key Hispanic issues.
The advertisement, presented as an open letter from Henry Cisneros, the former Housing and Urban Development secretary under the Clinton administration who also was Univision's president from 1997 to 2000, argued in favor of the merger.
"I saw no effort in my time at Univision or since to reflect any political bias in Univision's coverage of news and public affairs," Cisneros wrote.
Democratic elected officials might be concerned about the Univision proposal, but at least one of the network's competitors is not. Phillip Woodie, president of sales and marketing at Azteca America, a small U.S. Spanish-language network with a local, low-power New York City affiliate at channel 39, does not oppose the deal.
"I'm sure people have their opinions, but from this office's standpoint, it's not a topic of discussion," said Woodie, whose office is in New York City. "We feel like we've got a good product." Woodie said he is confident in Azteca America's product because it comes from parent company TV Azteca in Mexico, which competes directly with Mexico's Televisa network, the main producer of Univision's most popular weeknight soap operas.
Univision's representatives argue that its control of the television market is not as large as critics claim.
"During prime time, when most people watch television, Univision has 5 percent of the total viewing market," said Stephanie Pillersdorf, a company spokeswoman. "We only get 2 percent of advertising dollars spent. This merger will hopefully allow us to compete better to make up that difference."
A double standard might fuel Democrats' objections to the Univision merger, said Alex Nogales, president of the National Hispanic Media Coalition, an umbrella group made up of several prominent Hispanic organizations.
"There was not a red flag put up when Disney bought ABC and its radio stations," said Nogales, who is based in Los Angeles and monitors media for bias against Hispanics in portrayals or hiring. "Why are we crying because Univision is getting 55 radio stations? Is Spanish-language television getting penalized in a way we have not penalized English-language stations?"
As for non-Hispanic ownership of Univision or second-place Telemundo, Nogales said ownership by Hispanic media moguls does not necessarily translate into better coverage of the average U.S. Hispanic's concerns.
"Televisa's owners are billionaires; they don't breathe the same oxygen that we do," he said. "Just because they are Latinos doesn't mean they are like you and me."
Joan Bieder, a senior lecturer in television at the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California-Berkeley, said that local news coverage will suffer from the Univision merger and from any FCC decision allowing other media mergers.
"It allows for less local, more national approaches to stories and less attention to local detail and, often, less of an understanding of what's important to local communities," Bieder said. "I think it is a very bad thing for local programming in general."
Yonkers resident Eulogio Santiago, who has a cable-access, Spanish-language current affairs program called "Accion Latina" in Yonkers, said he already has had trouble getting Univision's local news interested in Yonkers issues important to Hispanics.
Santiago said media consolidation also worries him because it will exclude ordinary Hispanics.
"Information is power, and when you monopolize information, there is little space for the common people to have their voices heard," said Santiago, who also is an independent candidate for the Yonkers City Council's Third District. "When corporations get bigger, then the rich get their voices heard. I don't think this will benefit poor Hispanic people."
This is scaring the beejeebers out of Hillary and Co. They are gonna help the cause by once again hammering at conservative elements of a minority party they seek to keep subservient.
Keep it up RATs, you're gaining us votes every day.
If this principle applied, Ted Turner should have been forcibly divested of CNN decades ago.
Exactly.
I never heard the AOL-Time Warner merger (or the reported CNN/CBS, or the Disney/ABC) referred to as the largest english speaking TV company in the nation, or White Broadcasting Corp.
This is all about the Democrats keeping minorities down.
-PJ
They've been watching FOX news ratings gobble up their in-house propaganda arms at CNN, CBS, NBC, ABC, NPR, CNBC, PBS, ETC. Couple that with the exposure of lies at the NYT and they are really on the run.
I could be wrong, but I am detecting a "strawman" setup here. Univision is nothing the Dem's would ever have a problem with as far as I can tell.
You know, if they're against it, I'm for it doesn't always have to apply.
In the past few weeks, Democratic Sens. Tom Daschle, Clinton, Bob Graham and Edward Kennedy have written the FCC, arguing the merger would concentrate media power in non-Hispanic hands."If the Univision merger is approved, there may be less diverse programming, news sources, and viewpoints available to Spanish-speaking audiences," Daschle wrote.
The Dirty 'RATS !
Love your streaming line. Maybe that is an additional fear, beside losing a big portion of their "base". They may know that RICO charges are coming. LOL
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