The establishment media is back on its heels in the wake of some of the more explosive revelations within the hacked DNC e-mails recently released by Wikileaks. One of those e-mails, however, cut a little too close to the bone for Univision News.
Univision News' "Lie Detector" outfit (its in-house version of Politifact) saw fit to push back against allegations and outrage over the DNC's "Latino Brand" e-mail exchange, specifically, an attached marketing proposal which coldly depicts Hispanic Millennials as "most responsive to story-telling", a consumer to be acquired and a brand to be conquered for long-term loyalty. Here's how Univision News handled the story:
Media outlets reporting on the document in question - some of them conservative - are using the leak to try to jeopardize the party in the eyes of Hispanic voters.
and...
What reports haven't mentioned about the document is that it contains information from outside the Democratic Party, and that the Democratic Party didn’t commission it.
The email exchange -- between the DNC's Bridgette Gomez, Luis Miranda and Marilyn Davis -- shows the document was prepared and submitted in May 2016 by Steve Lucero, a California entrepreneur who was developing a web app to encourage young Latinos to vote in the 2016 presidential election and "beyond" and to support Hillary Clinton.
The emails don't show that Lucero's plan came from within the party. In fact, Gomez said in one of her emails that Lucero was working on his own to develop the projects and was also seeking funding from "Soros, Buffet and Steyer," referring to billionaire philanthropists George Soros, Warren Buffet and Tom Steyer.
before issuing its verdict:
The Wikileaks correspondence does not show that the Democratic National Committee believes Hispanics are a "brand" or are sensitive and "unforgiving" "consumers." The leaked information is an external proposal made to the DNC related to Hispanics, but no message indicates that this is the position maintained by members of the Democratic Party.
First of all, we don't know whether the DNC went ahead with the proposal or not, because (as Univision mentions in the story) the hack occurred before an acceptance decision could be transmitted. Actual journalism would involve someone going up to the DNC -whether their comms or their Hispanic outreach personnel- and ASKING whether a decision was made, as opposed to Univision News' framing the story negatively.
As you can see from the featured image above, the idea that Hispanic voters are brand-loyal and persuadable via digital platforms plus "storytelling" as a business model is not unique to some dude trying to sell a voter engagement app. Univision openly brags about doing the very same thing via its news division! The fact is that the leaked e-mail confirms that the left's coalition power politics regards our minorities as little more than electoral Pokémon to be captured and evolved for the sole purpose of engaging in battle.
The First Rule of "Latino Brand Club" is that you don't ever talk about "Latino Brand Club". The DNC got caught and Univision News, committed as it is to promoting a "fairer and more inclusive nation" (which requires the imposition of much of what is on the DNC's platform), had no choice but to enforce and push back. Interestingly enough, the story didn't make it to the Spanish-language newscasts, but was published in English and disseminated via digital- which suggests that it was solely intended for consumption among other Establishment media. As evidence of that I submit ABC's "4 most damaging" listicle, which won't touch "Latino Brand" with a 10-foot pole.
Exit question: While on the matter of leaked e-mails, why isn't Univision investigating the DNC practice of inquiring whether journalists speak English prior to an interview?
