(CNSNews.com) – Ken Oliver-Mendez, the director of MRC Latino, a project of the Media Research Center (MRC), said Tuesday that the Hispanic media needs to be held accountable for its leftwing bias, which prevents many Hispanics from learning about conservative solutions to the nation’s problems.
As part of MRC's "Tell the Truth 2016" campaign, Oliver-Mendez said that "for the first time, we have systematically applied the same standards and scrutiny [to the Hispanic media] that we have applied to the rest of the media."
“From the outset, we’ve documented and made the case that this segment of the media needs to do a better job of including conservative voices and views in their coverage of the news," he told attendees at the 2015 Summit of Conservative Communicators in Washington, which was sponsored by MRC Latino.
“And at the same time, we’ve said this is a two-way street. Conservatives also have to do a better job of getting our points of view across in a compelling and serious way in Spanish-language media, and most importantly to reach their audiences with relevant content."
"The bias will never stop," MRC president Brent Bozell told the gathering. “The Left is ingrained in the media,” explaining that the liberals see themselves as “the social conscience of this country.”
“That’s exactly how the Left sees it, so they gravitate to the news media, and that problem will exist as long as there is a news media or information age,” Bozell added.
“Rather than address the issue, they’re going just the opposite,” he continued. “They’re doubling down. They are more vicious than ever before.
"And we’ve monitored this since 1987, and I can tell you that what we’re seeing the last few years is unlike anything we’ve ever seen before, where it is not just the bias of omission, it is the agenda of omission, where they deliberately will not report something that goes against the liberal agenda."
"It is not our role to turn Hispanic liberals into conservatives. We simply want a fair shake," Bozell said.
Rep. Raul Labrador (R-ID), who spoke at the summit, pointed out that there is more income inequality in cities and states run by Democrats, but that the Hispanic media does not report this fact because "it does not comport with their preconceived notions."
“We have to highlight the fact that the policies of the other side - the Democrats - are actually hurting these communities," Labrador (R-ID) said.
Rep. Steve Pearce (R-NM), a conservative Republican who represents a district that is over 60 percent Hispanic, said that conservatives must work harder to overcome the bias against them fostered by the Hispanic media.
"There's a built-in bias on their part and our part. They've been told that Republicans hate minorities, and we've been told that minorities hate Republicans."
But Pearce told summit attendees that many Hispanics would be receptive to the conservative message if it's properly communicated to them.
Daniel Garza, executive director of The Libre Initiative, echoed the congressman's remarks, stating that "all issues are Hispanic issues."
"The number one issue for Latinos across the country is jobs.The second issue is education," Garza said during a panel discussion.
He added that more Hispanics self-identify as conservatives than as liberals, but that fact is not reflected in Univision’s or Telemundo’s coverage, both of which present a leftwing agenda to the Spanish-speaking community that is at odds with what a majority of their own viewers believe.
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