Posted on 06/20/2012 8:08:43 PM PDT by La Lydia
The U.S. Supreme Court is getting ready to rule on Arizona's controversial immigration law and a lot of people in that state are watching closely. Tonight, nearly two dozen Spanish language radio and TV stations in Arizona are scheduled to run the same program about the immigration law. As NPR's Mandalit del Barco reports, they're walking a fine line between journalism and advocacy. The show looks at the history of anti-immigration laws and their impact on families. Journalists from the regular news programs interview a civil rights lawyer and Latino Arizonans...
BARCO: The hatred and terror against us is increasing, says one person who's interviewed. Another talks about how immigrants feel persecuted. The audience is invited to call into immigration lawyers who will answer questions from people confused about the bill.
BEN MONTERROSO: It is fear and it's misinformation. We need to ensure that our community understands that we have rights. That's why we're doing this.
BARCO: Ben Monterroso heads a non-partisan group that encourages Latinos to vote. He was able to organize Arizona's fiercely competitive stations to unite in their message....
BLOCK: The show's title, "Hoy Somos Arizona" - "Today We Are Arizona" - echoes a political movement of immigrant supporters called Todos Somos Arizona, we are all Arizona.
VERONICA VIASANI: I think it's definitely different from what English language media would do and this is an unprecedented effort...
VIASANI: That's really the difference with Hispanic media. They're very well known for community journalism, for advocacy journalism. And I think that Hispanic media really knows who their audience is, and they're really serving that audience.
BARCO: Estrella TV is one of the Phoenix stations airing the show. Andres Angulo and is its vice president of news. He says although he's not against advocacy journalism, he doesn't think this show - presented as a news special - is partisan.
ANDRES ANGULO: We're journalists. Were not politicians, no. We are not like Fox News that they take a side to the right or the radio station that take a side to the left and they're not shy. We're not taking sides. We're just taking the side of the community to have a better understanding of a very hard, complicated, and controversial law that affect them directly.
BARCO: But Viasani says critics may misunderstand the show's attentions.
VIASANI: I wouldn't really be surprised if there is a backlash of because of this effort, accusations of trying to polarize the community. But I think in reality, the polarizing already happened when they actually did the bill....
Their journalistic standards are the least of my worries. And only NPR would describe this as walking a fine line. They crossed the line a long time ago and are well down the road. I lived in Mexican for five years. That is exactly the way “journalism” is done there. See also: agit-prop.
Arizona should just ignore the feds and do what needs to be done. The feds have proven through word and deed that they are not on your side, and are unwilling through vested interests to actively enforce the laws on the books. The current administration is a hostile force to the US Constitution that must be dealt with, one way or another.
It is my understanding that this is what Sheriff Joe has said he is going to do.
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