It is almost as predictable as the rise of the sun in the East. Once again, during National Hispanic Heritage Month, Univision senior news anchor Jorge Ramos has scored yet another article which purports to introduce (or reintroduce) him into the American cultural mainstream.
The most recent puff piece comes from USA Today, specifically its Hispanic Living magazine, and is titled: “Univision’s Jorge Ramos proudly represents the Latino community.” Here is a small sample:
A growing anti-immigrant sentiment across the U.S. and the recent focus on “fake news” have increased skepticism toward journalists, but Ramos is both unafraid and undeterred. In fact, he seems quite optimistic.
“Right now, we are going through a major demographic revolution. I call it the ‘Latinization’ of the United States. By 2044, the white non-Hispanic population will become a minority, and Latinos will become a minority-majority,” he says...
Ramos points to the millions of Spanish-speaking undocumented immigrants and cites research that shows three out of four Latinos speak Spanish at home as evidence that the shift will translate into more opportunities for Latino networks and newsmakers. “You put all of these elements together, along with our proximity to Latin America, and it’s clear there’s a solid future for Spanish-language media.”
For Ramos, journalism isn’t a job; it’s a public service. “Our audience requires guidance on issues such as health care, voting rights and immigration — it’s a task not required of English-speaking anchors,” he says. “Whether explaining the process of how to vote for the first time if you’re a new citizen, to what to do if (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) shows up at your door, this is information that is vital to our audience.”
First off, I must commend Univision’s PR team due to their great skill in finding reporters and national news media outlets, like USA Today, that are willing to print what is basically a PR press release. Even in those rare instances where Ramos suffered the indignity of having to answer a question, it was a prepackaged answer with no follow-ups. As often happens with establishment media, no one questioned the questioner.
Ramos still pushes the same soft Reconquista rhetoric, built upon by referring to the “Latinization” of the United States, despite its recent disavowal by one of its intellectual fathers. In fact John Judis, co-author of The Emerging Democratic Majority, had this to say about Ramos’ 2044 demographic assumptions:
For starters, the census prediction of a “majority-minority” America—slated to arrive in 2044—is deeply flawed. And so is the notion that ethnic minorities will always and forever continue to back Democrats in Obama-like numbers.
This bloated and embarassing puff piece is little more than another in a long line of reintroductions that seeks to continue to leverage the burst of fame obtained through Ramos’ eviction from the Trump press conference in Iowa over two years ago. All the usual Ramos tropes, "anti-immigrant rhetoric", "unafraid and undeterred", "challenging those in power", etc. weave their way into the story.
But note the fascinating line above: The fact that Ramos thinks his audience needs "guidance" instead of facts pretty much explains Univision's loss of credibility as a result of the network's gamble on the 2016 presidential election.
Finally, there is the title itself of USA Today's article. For many years, Jorge Ramos has sought to divide the Hispanic community against itself in order to drive a multi-issue political agenda. Someone who represents the community does not say these things about people who he might disagree with, as he did the morning after Election Day:
"The only way to explain it (Hispanics voting for Trump over Clinton) is (that) immigrants or the children of immigrants that forgot their origins..."
As I've said many times, Jorge Ramos represents the establishment media to the U.S. Hispanic community. But he doesn't represent the community itself, and he certainly does not represent me.
