Mijente Is Petitioning For Univision And Telemundo To Change Their Bias Approach To The BLM Protests

Update: The Black Lives Matter protests aren’t going anywhere. Cities and states are listening and bowing to pressure from protesters demanding a radical change to policing. Yet, while the rest of the country watches the peaceful protests, Univisión and Telemundo are being called out for perpetuating racial bias in their coverage. Mijente is demanding some change.

Mijente is calling on Univisión and Telemundo to do better with their BLM coverage.

The Latino community is plagued with anti-Black racism and sentiment. We all heard it while we were growing up from our parents and grandparents. It was in the form of microaggressions of the “mejorar la raza” variety. Well, now it is 2020 and it is time to hold our community accountable for their words against the Black community. Some are taking their fight to Univisión and Telemundo accusing them of perpetuating the same anti-Black racism in their coverage of the BLM protests.

“These two networks are the main source of information for millions of Latino households,” reads the petition demanding that Telemundo and Univisión do better in their reporting. “By producing news programming and content that focuses on negative depictions of protesters, that fails to cover the systematic causes of anti-Black police violence, and that makes no effort at centering the voices of Black people in their coverage the networks have contributed to the Latino community’s skewed and incomplete understanding of the current crisis. Their coverage feeds into anti-Black stereotypes that have historically existed in the Latino community, which in the extreme can and have been used as justification for anti-Black violence and which serves to further divide us.”

If you want to sign the petition, you can click here.

Original: In the wake of videos showing the arrest and death of George Floyd, protests have erupted across the country.

The video capturing Floyd’s death shows the 46-year-old African-American struggling to breathe under the harsh restrained of a police officer who used his knee to keep Floyd pinned to the ground by his neck. As Floyd struggled, bystanders pled with the arresting police officers to allow him to breathe.

Along with the protests and various outcries from political figures and celebrities across the country, media outlets have been thorough in their reports of the protests. Coverage has ranged from reports directly at the scene of protests as well as interviews with protestors and Black Lives Matter advocates and allies. Over the weekend, many outlets have also focused on the ways in which the protests have taken shape across the country with a small percentage of participants looting stores and being forced to battle against police who have resorted to using tear gas and violence to combat rioters.

Unfortunately, outlets like Telemundo and Univision have chosen to cover the events taking place by sensationalizing the violence taking place.

The two outlets, known for their coverage of Latino-related news, also have a common history of juggling racial issues along with biases within its newsrooms. It turns out, in a time when their Black audiences need them most, the two media outlets have failed once again. Over the weekend, users on Twitter were quick to call out both Telemundo and Univision for their fear-inducing coverage of the protests that have taken place over the weekend.

Speaking about the biased coverage one users’ post to Twitter sparked thousands of comments and retweets.

“I find it interesting that hispanic media like Univision & Telemundo are so selective on whats broadcasted in regards to the protests and riots going on knowing thats where the majority of our latin/hispanic parents depend on 4 info,” a user by the name of @valeriabty_wrote. “Turn that shit off n teach ur parents instead!”

Others were quick to point out the coverage is pretty par for the course when it comes to the Latinidad.

“I am a black Puerto Rican and I could not agree more, we Afro Latinos have little to no visibility within the Latino community. Colorism is alive and kicking in the community,” another user wrote.

Here’s hoping Telemundo and Univision find a way to change their approach to coverage and support the Black community.