Spanish-language TV News Under the Microscope

La Opinion interviewed me for this piece that ran last week. Topic: Spanish-language TV networks/stations and their news coverage. In my interview, I argued that for the most part Spanish-language TV stations do a great job with their news programming, providing major news coverage of local, regional, national and international events. And that basic idea came across in the piece published May 1st. Incidentally, The Washington Post published a major column on the front of today's Outlook section (the Sunday stand-alone opinion section) by Joe Mathews, a fellow at the New America Foundation. He argues that in Los Angeles and other media markets, the best local news programming is on the Univision and Telemundo stations. The piece makes the point that the Spanish-dominant viewers of these programs are therefore better informed. It was terrific placement and I think much of the argument he makes needs to be heard by the traditional media and policy makers. Sure, Spanish-language TV stations have not always done a perfect job meeting FCC requirements for use of the airwaves, but to ignore the outstanding news reporting that comes from Spanish-language media would do a disservice.