Media Coverage of Ramos Incident Exposes a Double Standard
By Lisa Navarrete, Advisor to the President, NCLR
This week in Trump is the dust-up between the Donald and acclaimed Univision anchor Jorge Ramos at a news conference in Iowa. I’ll leave it to the press conference etiquette experts as to who violated the rules of engagement, but one thing is very clear: the media’s coverage of the kerfuffle reeks of a double standard.
Watch Trump eject Jorge Ramos below:
Ramos has been called “biased” and an “activist” for attempting to ask Trump tough questions about the candidate’s immigration plan. I have another phrase for Ramos was trying to do: being a journalist. In what universe is it biased to ask a candidate to explain his or her policy positions and how they plan to implement them, especially from a journalist who has spent decades covering the issue of immigration?
No one would call a reporter from Fortune magazine asking a corporate CEO tough questions on board governance an “activist;” they would call them a business reporter. Ramos’ experience and career make him an expert, not an activist. And unlike Donald Trump, Jorge Ramos knows what he’s talking about when it comes to immigration.
That is why, like some other reporters, he has asked Trump to explain how he would deport 11 million people or compel a sovereign nation to build a wall. But unlike other reporters, Ramos’ knowledge and experience has led to other, deeper questions that should be asked like, does Trump recognize the economic and humanitarian crisis mass deportation would create? How does he plan to address it? Why has Trump skirted responsibility for the violence committed in his name, such as the attack in Boston?
Trump eventually let Ramos back in and a spirited exchange took place when the candidate decided to answer some of Ramos’ questions.
On the issue of immigration, Ramos is doing the job the entire media should be doing on Trump—looking past the bluster and the hype to see if there is any there there. Spoiler alert: there isn’t. As such, Ramos isn’t just providing vital information to the Latino community; he is providing a critically important and constitutionally guaranteed service to all Americans
