Spanish-Language Media Watch

Spanish-language and English-language mainstream media coverage of the electoral race and politics is alike but different.

Take for example, this pretty standard article about the New Hampshire primary by Los Angeles-based daily La Opinión – it covers the same ground as dozens of other reports published today. The article is a straightforward account of the political horserace in New Hampshire. But, this other La Opinión item reports there are three Latino elected officials in New Hampshire. Latino voters, understandably, have not figured prominently in coverage by local or national media. This report describes, at some length, Senator John McCain’s stance on immigration and how his event in Concord was picketed by a small number of activists from NumbersUSA holding signs “Stop McCain’s Amnesty.” A search of Google News indicates the picketers didn’t warrant a mention from any English-language newspapers.

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ImpreMedia Poll Puts Clinton, Giuliani Ahead Among Latino Voters

Senator Hillary Clinton enjoys a commanding lead among Latino registered voters in five key states – California, Florida, Illinois, New York and Texas – according to a poll conducted by ImpreMedia the owner of major Spanish-language dailies such as La Opinion and El Diario/La Prensa. The poll found 42 percent of those surveyed supported Clinton for President. Senator Barack Obama was a distant second with 5.1 percent and Governor Bill Richardson was third with 2.7 percent.

Rudy Giuliani was the leading Republican candidate with 6.2 percent of Latino support followed by Mike Huckabee with 1.1 percent. All the other Republican candidates had less than one percent support.

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La Opinión reports on Congressional approval of a new version of the SCHIP proposal, which is likely to generate a second veto.

Tomorrow, in Los Angeles NALEO plans to offer $400 loans at no interest to legal residents with low incomes in order to defray the $675 cost of applying for citizenship, according to La Opinión.

Today’s editorial complains about the delays in processing naturalization applications by Citizenship and Immigration Services. It says citizenship applications submitted after August 5th have yet to be entered into government computers, which means there is at least a three month backlog at the front-end of the naturalization process that is supposed to take six months. Over one million naturalization applications are expected this year.

El Nuevo Herald profiles the colorful set of candidates running in the District 2, Miami City Commission race. The incumbent is a lawyer and environmental activist while the challengers are a meatpacker and a political consultant.

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La Opinión writes up a National Council of La Raza and Urban Institute report, ¨Paying the Price: The impact of Immigration Raids on America´s Children.¨ The report looked at the effect of immigration raids in Greeley, Colorado, Grand Island, Nebraska and New Bedford, Massachusetts where a total of 912 adults were arrested impacting 506 children.

La Opinión also carries yesterday’s El Diario/La Prensa report on sanctuary cities.

No other major political stories in the Spanish-language dailies today.

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EDLP reports on how “sanctuary cities” have become a target of criticism by Republican presidential candidates. The paper specifically refers to Thompson and Romney The paper draws a comparison between the crime rate in New York City where police officers cannot ask someone their immigration status and Boston where they can, according to the article.

El Diario/La Prensa reports on negative reaction to New York Governor Spitzer’s proposal of a lower-grade driver’s license. New York State Assembly Minority Leader James Tedisco’s is quoted making the “acid” complaint that those who favor driver’s licenses for illegal immigrants won’t be satisfied until they get “the whole enchilada.” EDLP says the “culinary reference was repudiated by other legislators who considered it disrespectful and inappropriate.” La Opinión carries an editorial in favor of New York Governor Spitzer’s proposal of a lower-grade driver’s license calling it an “undeniable and important step in the right direction.”

La Opinión cites data from the California Office of Emergency Services that of the 130 people injured by the fires at least fifty were undocumented immigrants. At the University of California, San Diego Burn Center four of the seventeen patients are firemen and eleven are believed to be undocumented immigrants.

El Nuevo Herald reports on the deportation of Julio and Liliana Gómez parents of Alex and Juan Gómez. The Gómez family was ordered in July to return to their native Colombia. Juan’s high school classmates rallied round his cause and lobbied on his behalf in Washington, D.C. The Gómez brothers won a temporary reprieve thanks to a private bill submitted to Congress by Representative Lincoln Diaz-Balart.

http://www.miamiherald.com/top_stories/story/290318.html

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La Opinión today covers both the Waste Management trash collectors strike and an impending strike by some 4000 security guards. The paper also includes an article predicting San Diego will see a spike in demand for labor as part of the rebuilding that will follow the fires.

La Opinión generally praises the response of state and federal authorities to the wildfires. However, today’s editorial criticizes the lack of assistance available to undocumented immigrants.

It cites an unwelcoming attitude at certain centers of assistance, the lack of government information in Spanish, the arrest as well as deportation of six immigrants at the Qualcomm Stadium and the fact that immigrants made up the majority of deaths caused by the fires. The editorial ends “We should ensure that in disasters of this magnitude, help arrives equally for all including the dispossessed and those who do not understand English.”

According to El Nuevo Herald, the White House yesterday announced that Cuban jailed dissident Oscar Elías Biscet will receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom on November 5th.

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El Diario/La Prensa ledes with the aftermath of New York Governor Spitzer’s weekend announcement to grant a lower-grade driver’s license to immigrants without legal status in the U.S. Immigrant rights groups reportedly fear will inspire doubts about the legal status of the license-holders. State legislator Rubén Diaz said he was very angry with the governor and had lost confidence in him, according to the article.

In California, where even a lower-grade license might seem like an advance to many immigrants, the New York model is being discussed and studied as an alternative. Regardless of events in New York, Governor Schwarzenegger’s spokesperson said his boss’s position remains unchanged, according to La Opinión.

La Opinión also examines the near-absence of Latin American policy proposals by presidential candidates. Governor Bill Richardson is cited as an exception.

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La Opinión carries an EFE report on the supposedly scant amount of information provided in Spanish by the San Diego authorities regarding the wildfires.

El Diario/La Prensa reports on how several public school kindergartens in heavily Hispanic neighborhoods of Queens are oversubscribed.

Al Día Texas ´personalizes´ the latest Pew Hispanic study, which focuses on the extent of ties maintained by Latino immigrants with Latin America.

El Nuevo Herald reports the Cuban goverment aired part of Bush´s Cuba policy address on state television and reprinted a good chunk of his remarks in a state-controlled newspaper. However, they omitted the names of the dissidents and eliminated the reference to a “tropical gulag.” According to ENH, this likely reflects a personal decision by Raúl Castro.

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Most of the Spanish-language dailies today include an item about the DREAM (Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors) Act being reintroduced in the Senate. You can read about it in English here. A California state version of the DREAM Act was recently vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger.

Al Día Texas reports on a group of Hispanic activists that are calling on businesses to shut their doors on November 15th to protest the city of Irving’s Criminal Alien Program. The date is timed to coincide with another rally against CAP, which has led to over 1500 deportations of Irving residents since last September.

Under the headline of “Who’s Scarier?” El Diario/La Prensa writes up the typical seasonal story detailing which politicians’ Halloween masks are the most popular. For the record, this one shop, Abracadabra, reports Giuliani masks are outselling Hillary Clinton masks. However, the story includes an unorthodox take. The figurative translation is mine:

The reason many New Yorkers decide to masquerade as politicians for a night could be because of the similarity between politicians and demons, according to Angelo Falcón president of the National Institute for Latino Policy.

“The whole idea behind Halloween is that if you don’t hand out treats something bad will happen. The presidential candidates do the same. They go from house-to-house, from city-to-city asking for millions of dollars. If you don’t give them money, they don’t leave you alone. The problem is that if you give them the treat they give you the trick.”

Separate items forthcoming on Thompson’s visit to Florida and Bush’s Cuba policy address.

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President Bush requested Congress fund a $1.4 billion aid program to help Mexico fight drug traffickers, according to La Opinión. (You can read a similar report in English here.)

The Los Angeles Spanish-language daily also carries an AP report about how Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff is moving ahead with the construction of seven miles of the border barrier despite a federal judge’s stay. Earlier this month, a federal judge ordered a halt to construction because she felt the environmental impact research process had been unnecessarily rushed. But, Chertoff has the authority to override a number of federal laws including the Endangered Species Act in order to ensure the construction of the wall.

El Nuevo Herald covered a Miami speech by former Spanish President José María Aznar during which he knocked the European Union’s foreign policy towards Cuba. Aznar also urged the U.S. Congress to approve the pending free trade agreement with Colombia.

El Diario/La Prensa gives front page coverage to the shooting death of a young Puerto Rican man at the hands of an off-duty NYPD police officer. The cop fled the scene after firing his revolver. Later that day, he told a beat cop about the shooting.