Attention NBC Telemundo: Latinos Need Local News Too

New America Media, News Report, Elena Shore, Posted: Nov 01, 2006

Editor’s note: NBC Universal is replacing local newscasts at Telemundo stations with a centralized hubbed newscast out of Fort Worth, Tex. Latino journalists are worried about what this could mean for local news. Elena Shore is a writer for New America Media.

SAN FRANCISCO— NBC Universal’s announcement that it will cut jobs at Telemundo has Latino journalists and observers concerned that the move will come at the cost of local reporting.

NBC Universal, which bought the Spanish-language broadcaster in 2001, is replacing the locally produced newscasts at six Telemundo stations with a regional newscast out of Fort Worth, Tex. The half-hour news segments will include reports from the local stations where the news departments have been cut.

“It was supposed to be good news when NBC bought Telemundo because NBC has lots of resources,” says Celina Rodriguez, who was the senior anchor at Telemundo’s local San Jose station KSTS (Ch. 48) and reported live from the community in her weekly segment, “Celina en su Comunidad.”

“This is a big loss for the community. For a huge number of people, local news is part of their life,” says Rodriguez, who left the station in August when her contract was not renewed. She described the station as “more community-oriented” than Univision.

Telemundo’s new centralized production facility will broadcast three regional newscasts to stations in Texas (Houston, Dallas and San Antonio), Arizona (Phoenix and Tucson) and the West Coast (Las Vegas and San Jose). Stations in the major markets of New York, Miami, Chicago and Los Angeles will remain largely unchanged and continue to produce their own local newscasts. Nationally, Telemundo had nearly 1 million viewers for this year's fall premiere week, compared to the 3.5 million viewers that tuned in to Univision.

Along with job cuts at local stations, Telemundo is creating new jobs at the network’s hub in Fort Worth. After adding these positions, the network estimates the net job loss to be just under 5 percent of Telemundo’s less than 2000 employees, according to Vice President of Communications Alfredo Richard.

The National Association of Hispanic Journalists, in a statement released Oct. 23, called NBC’s changes to Telemundo “disturbing” and questioned the company’s commitment to Latinos.

“This is about the larger trend of (what is happening to) local news, whether large media companies, for the sake of consolidation and saving money, will resort to cutting local newscasts,” says Iván Román, executive director of NAHJ (National Association of Hispanic Journalists). Telemundo is losing money every month, according to its management, Román adds. “Local news is a cornerstone of fulfilling their community requirement when they got a license from the FCC (to buy Telemundo) in the first place.”

At Federal Communications Commission (FCC) hearings this month in New York, Los Angeles and Oakland, audience members expressed concern over the changes taking place at Telemundo. “Latino viewers want to know why they’re trying out this experiment with us and not with English-language news stations,” says Román, who adds that there is mounting opposition among Latino groups, although no official complaint has been filed with the FCC.

“English-language media does not cover the Latino community the way Spanish-language media does,” adds Román. “With fewer journalists covering the Hispanic community, they are diminishing their service to Latinos.”

The cities where the local newscasts are being cut are not insignificant markets, according to NAHJ, citing Nielsen Media Research. They rank among the top 10 Hispanic markets in the country: Houston (4), Dallas (6), San Antonio (7), San Jose (8) and Phoenix (9).

Liz Fischer, spokesperson for NBC Universal Television Stations, says NBC remains committed to the Hispanic market. The changes at Telemundo are the first phase in a company-wide initiative, she says. NBC Universal plans to eliminate approximately 700 positions, or 5 percent of its total work force, and is expected to reduce the company’s annual expenses by $750 million by the end of 2008, according to a statement by NBC Universal.

But NAHJ remains unconvinced that the move is beneficial for Latinos, noting that the cuts disproportionately affect Telemundo’s smaller staff.

Richard of Telemundo denies that the stations will lose the local edge. It will simply be “a more efficient model, through the TPC (Telemundo Production Center),” he says, “as opposed to smaller stations with limited budgets.”

Though local jobs have been cut, Richard claims local news will continue to represent 40 percent of the content of the newscast.

Raúl Hinojosa-Ojeda, associate professor of Chicano Studies at UCLA, calls NBC’s cuts of local news production “a very near-sighted mistake on the part of Telemundo and NBC, especially in the Bay Area where there ’s a booming Hispanic population,” he says. “To cut a huge source of growth goes counter to why they bought Telemundo in the first place,” which was to be ahead of the curve, he adds.

The reduction of Telemundo’s local news bureaus could essentially give Univision, the country’s No. 1 Spanish-language broadcaster, reign over coverage of local communities.

“If they don’t cover the local news, who’s going to cover it?” Román asks. “They’re basically ceding it to Univision.”

At a critical time when Univision is being sold for $13.7 billion, Hinojosa-Ojeda adds, “Telemundo could have had a shot at unseating Univision.” Univision shareholders approved Sept. 27 the sale of Univision to a group of investors led by media mogul Haim Saban. The transaction is expected to close in the spring, pending the approval of the FCC and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

“My fear is that (the Saban group) will use Univision as a cash cow,” notes Hinojosa-Ojeda. “Because they’re a market leader, they don’t have to be innovative, which is a shame.”


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