Univison: At the front of Immigration Debate

A journalist's job is to be objective. Our reporting has to stray from any bias. In journalism school, we are told that we cannot write stories that create a conflict of interest for us. Is Univision then being bias for holding a debate about immigration, which will largely affect the Latino community?

According to this New York Times blog post, "Inmigracion: Un Debate Nacional (Immigration: A National Debate)" will be debated proposed immigration reforms. It will use Phoenix, Az. as one of the cities in which the debate will take place.

Now, as a Latino journalist, I feel that Univision shouldn't use so much bias when tackling these issues. Having said that, I think Univision NEEDS to have this sort of debate on the issue, which is being snubbed as just another piece of news in English-language news networks.

“The debate on immigration reform continues to be one of the most important issues for our community,” Alina Falcón, the president of news for Univision, said in a statement.


If Latino journalists don't stand up and write about these type of issues, how else can these stories be truly told than by those of us who are so closely affected by this issues. I can bet that every Latino in the U.S. knows at least one undocumented immigrant.

Latino journalists' pieces on immigration are not more bias than white journalists writing about white people. I'm not saying our stories are better because we're writing them, they just come from a different perspective that sometimes gets ignored by the mainstream media.