Just when you think the journalistic standards at the nation’s top Spanish-language television networks couldn’t get any lower, along comes Telemundo with a new promo for its news division that editorializes with a sweeping generalization about 2017 being “a very difficult year for immigrants.”
The 30-second promo, in which Telemundo News promises its audience to ‘tell it like it is’ in 2018 (“inform you of things the way they are” to quote directly), starts off by sloppily conflating the status and well-being of all immigrants in the United States.
VOICE-OVER TELEMUNDO ANNOUNCER: 2017 has been the year of Trump´s presidency, a very difficult year for immigrants. Nature reminded us that we are vulnerable and barbarism made itself present. But it was also a year that brought out the best in us. Telemundo News was always there, and will continue in 2018 to inform you of things the way they are.
Granted, with a new administration in Washington that is committed to enforcing the nation’s immigration laws both at the borders and within the interior of the country, 2017 was indeed a “very difficult” year for many unauthorized immigrants who were either apprehended and deported or are subject to apprehension and deportation. But a “very difficult” year for all of America’s immigrants? Most certainly not.
How about focusing on facts and using precise language, team Telemundo, instead of continuing to paint with a grossly inaccurate broad brush? If you are truly concerned about the country’s whole Hispanic population, how about recognizing the fact that under Trump, 2017 passed into history as the year when unemployment among Hispanics fell to 4.7%, a record-setting low since data on Hispanics in the U.S. started being tracked in the 1970s?
Latinos comprise 17% of the entire U.S. labor force, so that is good news for a substantial chunk of the population. The Hispanic poverty rate in the United States has also now fallen to a record low, and Latino household income is up strongly.
While Telemundo ranted that “2017 has been the year of Trump’s presidency, a very difficult year for immigrants” it completely ignored the acceleration of the economy throughout the year, including booming consumer confidence which, according to the Conference Board, went up in December to its highest mark since August 2001. Retail spending was also booming as 2017 reached its end and Telemundo chose only to lament about how “very difficult” it all was.
A “very difficult” year for America’s immigrants? So dishonest. Come on, Telemundo, ‘fess up. You can do better than that. But if you obstinately refuse to - and remain in lock-step with liberal activists on your talking points - be aware: your credibility is going out the window.
