Posted on 01/27/2006 7:19:40 AM PST by Nevadan
KLAS-TV, Channel 8's new anchor, Denise Valdez, was included in a 1996 Los Angeles Times story about a trend among newscasters who changed from Anglo to ethnic names to take advantage of federal affirmative-action rules designed to benefit minorities.
The practice was questioned, the Times said, by news professionals and minority activists, "who argue that it cheapens the concept of affirmative action and raises troubling issues of journalistic ethics."
Valdez, who worked in San Antonio and Dallas before going to KNBC in Los Angeles, acknowledged to the Times that she had changed her last name for professional reasons, saying it was "advantageous in this business."
She said she considers herself part Latina, and "I'm sure I'm one of many people who have done it." She added that it was "not something I want to broadcast to the public."
Valdez, who fills the vacancy left by the death of Polly Gonzalez in a traffic accident, will co-anchor the noon broadcast with Gary Waddell and the 4:30 p.m. newscast with Dave Courvoisier beginning Monday.
Bob Stoldal, vice president of news at KLAS, did not return calls for comment by deadline.
I'm a little surprised that Jack Abramoff didn't change his name. What was he thinking?
Ahahah - I wouldn't want to be a weiner either ;)
I agree up to a point. How a name is pronounced should be up to the name's owner by all means. However, I find it irritating when people are speaking in English and they go out of their way to pronounce, say, "Nicaragua" the way the natives do. No one says "Pa-REE" instead of "PAIR-is" when they're talking in English about the capital of France, nor do we expect two, say, Argentines walking down the streets of Buenos Aires speaking in Spanish about Texas to pronounce "Houston" the way the locals do.
There is a certain show-offy political correctness among some wherein they try to pronounce foreign names, especially place names, the way they think foreigners themselves do. Like all political correctness, I find it annoying.
LOL! Yep. Those are annoying beyond comprehension.
No one is suggestion that Latinos are a cancer. Just that our culture is slowly evaporating before our eyes.
Simply having a neighborhood full of Hispanics does not a barrio make. Some of us actually have managed to learn English, even, in the last 300 years our families have been here.
True.
Some of us actually have managed to learn English, even, in the last 300 years our families have been here.
Ah. So you are Americans and your families have become part of the melting pot mosaic of America which has enriched our heritage and helped make America an interesting and vital place with a diverse and energetic culture.
I was referring to those who flood our borders, refuse to assimilate, refuse to learn the English language, refuse to become Americans, and expect the larger culture to embrace them and accomodate their unwillingness to jump into the melting pot and choose, instead, to overwhelm the larger culture until it disappears and looks like home.
LOL, you've just described the most annoying nonsense practiced by half the staff of Channels 13 and 2 in Houston.
You're an idiot.
I recall a scholarship that went to the "wrong" person because he was 18 and legally changed his name specifically for that purpose. The college sued him and lost. Hah! Roasted in their own PC juices.
I really have to get a life...
Total nonsense.
Except most Latin American (it is far more than just Mexico) immigrants aren't like that, they do assimilate. I grew up and have parents in one of the front lines of all this, Houston. Over the years their neighborhood went from almost all white to majority Hispanic, with otherwise very little change. Still a quiet, low-crime, middle-class neighborhood with the same well kept yards. Life is good.
Play the pipes past 10:00PM, and I'll show you some Affirmative re-Action, Sandy.
I consider myself part Beagle. I'm suing the estate of Charles Schultz for patterning the character "Snoopy" after me without my authorization.
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