Remarkable TelevisaUnivision interview of Donald Trump damages the Spanish media giant’s reputation for unbiased political coverage.
The failure of the network’s interviewer Enrique Acevedo to challenge Trump’s false statements during the more than one-hour interview has caused a media firestorm of criticism of the network within the Hispanic community in the US.
Remarkably, Acevedo remained silent during most of the interview and asked Tump less than half a dozen questions.
Fact checking absent during interview
Here are just a few of Trump’s clearly false claims left unchallenged by Acevedo:
- Mexico paid for Trump’s wall on the US-Mexico border and sent “thousands” of its own troops “free of charge” to help with construction.
- The US has the largest oil reserves in the world, Trump said. In fact, the largest reserves are held by Venezuela.
- Trump said he stopped illegal immigration into the US “cold.” According to the conservative Cato Institute, Trump “did not reduce illegal immigration” while president.
- The US Supreme Court decision overturning abortion rights in the US put an end to a “democrat” policy of “killing babies after birth,” Trump said. Acevedo never questioned the statement.
- Russia has “taken the whole country of Ukraine,” Trump said. In fact, Ukraine repelled the Russian invasion in the north and has taken back some of its own territory.
- Trump claimed he is a “very big environmentalist,” when in fact his administration lifted bans on oil and gas exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, replaced the Clean Power Plan, weakened the Coal Ash Rule regulating the disposal of toxic coal waste, and revised mercury and air toxic standards, according to the non-partisan Brookings Institution.
- Trump said the solution to the current war between Israel and Hamas “needs to play out and will have a winner and a loser.” Univision never asked Trump what would happen if Hamas wins.
- Finally, Trump repeated his widely disproven claim the 2020 election was “rigged and stolen.” Again, Univision never challenged that lie either.
Televisa merged its content operations with Univision last year and launched a digital news division and an online streaming platform known as ViX.
But the interview with Trump has proven to be a black eye for the combined networks after they essentially gave Trump an unchallenged platform during the current primaries political season.
A missed opportunity for TelevisaUnivision
Trump has refused to debate his political opponents in the Republican primary. TelevisaUnivision clearly botched an opportunity to draw the ex-president out on important issues, clarifying where he stands in the race.
The interview may have also badly damaged the reputation of Mexican journalist Enrique Acevedo who once worked for CBS News and joined the new TelevisaUnivision news division to great fanfare last year.
Watch the entire interview here on YouTube
