As news of the Mueller report’s arrival broke late Friday afternoon, newscasts scrambled to adequately cover a story that is shaking up the nation’s political landscape. Our major domestic Spanish-language newscasts were no different, but there was a clear tonal difference in how news of the Mueller report was covered.
Watch as Telemundo immediately gets to the heart of the breaking news, while Univision reluctantly reports the conclusion of the investigation and buries its biggest detail:
JOSÉ DÍAZ-BALART, ANCHOR, NOTICIAS TELEMUNDO: Although we are still awaiting results, it seems that there will be no other indictment.
CRISTINA LONDOÑO, CORRESPONDENT, NOTICIAS TELEMUNDO: Thank you José, good afternoon. Well, that’s what we know from NBC sources who say that it appears that there will be no other defendants. This is excellent news for President Trump...not just for him, but because it was also said that his sons- one of his sons and his son-in-law could have been implicated…
…
JORGE RAMOS, SENIOR ANCHOR, UNIVISION: today, we don’t know what the conclusions are. Very few have had access to the report. The final report was submitted to the Department of Justice, and Congress will soon have a summary of the main findings
Telemundo, from the outset, led with the “no new indictments” angle, which leaked well in advance of any of these newscasts going to air. There was ample time to update any scripts so as to incorporate such a critical new fact into the newscast.
Telemundo reported these facts quickly and accurately. For Telemundo, this appears to signal a return to the “just news” approach that led the network to critical and ratings acclaim.
The same, however, cannot be said for Univision, which had access to the same information and the same leaks, but made no mention of the fact that no further indictments would ensue from the Mueller investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. The “no new indictments” leak went unmentioned by senior anchor Jorge Ramos, and was buried near the end of correspondent Claudia Uceda’s report.
Univision would be well served to learn from Telemundo’s example. Inconvenient facts are still facts, and their viewers deserve to have all of them reported as they break so as to make their own findings as to the stories of the day. The alternative, as shown by Univision, is bias by omission's little cousin: bias by burial.
