From Univision to MAGAVision: Network’s Softball Interview With Trump Betrays Latino Voters

On Wednesday, longtime Univision anchor León Krauze resigned from the company, the largest Spanish-language TV network in the United States. While Krauze did not give a specific reason for his departure, his move comes in the aftermath of the network’s controversial interview with Donald Trump.

The Washington Post reported this week on the shifting relationship between Trump and Univision. On November 10, the network aired a one-hour primetime interview with the former president and did so under circumstances favorable to him. This was a marked change for the network known for its comprehensive coverage of U.S. immigration policy. In an unsigned statement to the Post, Univision said that the event “held significant importance for our audience.”

Univision’s new approach to Trump has generated widespread concern both within its news division and among media observers. The TV giant has long been a trusted source of news for millions of Americans who speak Spanish. Now, Univision’s leadership seems to be cozying up to the most anti-Latino president in modern American history. This represents a profound betrayal of the network’s core audience. As Ana Navarro-Cárdenas, co-host of ABC’s The View, posted on social media, “What the hell is going on at Univision?”

By journalistic standards, the arrangements surrounding Univision’s Trump interview appear questionable. According to the Post, the former president hosted three top network executives at Mar-a-Lago during the event. Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, facilitated the interview and was present as well. Instead of a Univision anchor, the interview was conducted by Enrique Acevedo, a Televisa journalist based in Mexico City.

In the interview, Acevedo asked largely softball questions with little follow-up. His tone was deferential, and he didn’t even bring up immigration until the second half of the hour. He did not challenge Trump’s false claim that he had built his border wall and made Mexico pay for it, nor did he push back on Trump’s blaming Barack Obama for the family separations policy. Because Trump was dubbed into Spanish, it softened his extremism; it made his statements sound more muted and palatable.

As if this were not troubling enough, it gets worse. The Biden campaign paid for ads to air during the interview in Arizona, Nevada, Florida, and Pennsylvania markets. But Univision canceled them, citing a previously unannounced policy change against opposition advertising in single-candidate interviews. The network also nixed a scheduled interview with Biden’s Hispanic Media Director to respond to Trump, which would have aired during its late-night news.

This isn’t the first sign of Univision’s shift towards the right under its new ownership (the network merged with Mexican media company Grupo Televisa in 2022). Last year, the Post noted, Univision interrupted programming to cover Trump’s presidential campaign announcement live from Mar-a-Lago. In contrast, when President Biden gave a primetime address on Israel and Ukraine on October 19, the network cut away from his remarks midway through the speech and directed viewers to watch online.

Univision was right to assert that an interview with Trump was of interest to its viewers. About 34 million Latinos were eligible to vote in 2022, and a New York Times/Siena poll this month found that 42 percent of Latinos in battleground states support Trump. Yet, like any news outlet, Univision should be covering the former president with objectivity.

Given Univision’s power and stature in the Latino community, the network’s tilt towards Trump seems especially irresponsible and out of touch. Lest anyone forget, Trump called Mexican immigrants “rapists” and drug smugglers and threw paper towels at hurricane victims in Puerto Rico. He once tossed a Univision anchor out of a press conference for confronting him about immigration. Trump’s planned immigration policies (if re-elected) include huge detention camps for migrants and mass deportations.

Univision’s Trump interview reflected as poorly on the network as it did on Acevedo – and Spanish-speaking news consumers deserve better. How disappointing that the network that once held politicians of both parties accountable is now veering from Univision to MAGAvision.

On social media, Acevedo responded to criticism of his interview with Trump, posting in Spanish that “I am a reporter and my job is to ask questions. Information should be the protagonist here.”

Sadly, Acevedo has it wrong. As a journalist, his job is not only to ask questions, but to seek answers. And if there is any “protagonist” here, it is not information. The protagonist should be the truth.

Raul A. Reyes is a contributor to NBC Latino and CNN Opinion. You can follow him at X: @RaulAReyes, Instagram: @raulareyes1.

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.