Jorge Ramos, a top anchor at Spanish-language Univision, criticized the network in his weekly column on Saturday for its softball interview with Donald Trump earlier this month.
Ramos noted that the Mar-a-Lago sit-down with the indicted former president “put in doubt the independence of our news department, and created discomfort and uncertainty within the newsroom.”
“Our job as journalist is to question those in power. That’s what reporters do,” he wrote on his website, detailing the times he had confronted Trump about his policies and comments.
“We cannot normalize behavior that threatens democracy and the Hispanic community, or offer Trump an open microphone to broadcast his falsehoods and conspiracy theories. We must question and fact-check everything he says and does,” he wrote.
“That’s why it is very dangerous to fail to confront Trump. And that’s why it is our moral obligation to confront him every time there’s a journalistic opportunity to do it. But I understand that not everyone agrees, and I open the debate here.”
Univision defended its interview—which sparked a boycott call from actor and comedian John Leguizamo—by saying its “news strategy is one that is non-partisan and objective.”
“We serve our audience by being welcoming of competing issues, ideas, candidates and parties,” CEO Wade Davis wrote in a memo to staffers last week.
Ramos wrote that he was not suggesting that journalists become partisan, and noted that he also questioned Barack Obama and Joe Biden about their own policies.
“Of course we should not take sides, and we are obliged to broadcast the messages of all candidates in the 2024 presidential election. But at the same time we cannot surrender our responsibility to ask hard and precise questions,” he wrote.
“Democracy is something that must be defended every day. And for journalists, the way to do that is to ask questions. Even if it hurts. Even if it makes someone uncomfortable. Silence almost never makes for good journalism.”
He signed off with a suggestion that he would face no repercussions for slamming his employer:
“For 39 years Univision has allowed me to report with absolute independence and freedom—and even to write columns like this one—and I will always be very grateful. That’s why I left Mexico and came to the United States.”
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