U.S. mainstream media coverage is "hit or miss" in terms of introducing recent political movements in Latin America to the U.S. public, according to Jose Carreno Figueras, a Washington, D.C., correspondent for the El Universal, a Mexican newspaper, and a speaker at Tuesday evening's American Forum.
Speakers at the forum, titled "Reporting on Latin America: Hit of Miss?" said U.S. mainstream media coverage of Latin America is at times "sporadic," and strong coverage often comes from alternative U.S. media sources.
Carreno said most news organizations are more concerned with how the news will be viewed in the domestic market, rather than shedding light on issues that need coverage.
U.S. mainstream media need to focus more on the social movements in Latin America and explain why they vote for more leftist parties, he said.
In discussing U.S. coverage of Brazil, Paulo Sotero Marques, the director of the Brazil Institute at the Woodrow Wilson Center in D.C., said the U.S. mainstream media coverage is "pretty standard," depending on what is being covered. He said the media do a good job covering specific areas, such as Brazil's business sector.
When it comes to news coverage of Mexico, "American society reacts in terms of domestic policy," Carreno said.
In the main domestic policy issues of immigration and homeland security, "Mexico is taking a very hard hit, especially on cable television and radio talk shows," Carreno said.
The speakers were also critical of the international news coverage by the mainstream news organizations, especially CNN.
Carreno said he has been disappointed lately by how CNN has changed its news coverage based on ratings and opinion polls to "attract a certain kind of audience who is very faithful and loyal."
Sotero said it is the journalist who has to decide what news to cover and whether or not to listen to the polls.
Rick Rockwell, a professor in the School of Communication and co-author of the book "Media Power in Central America," said CNN's news is wrongly labeled as liberal when he views it as moderate. Like Brazil, he said CNN does a good job covering Mexican business news. However, where CNN "falls on the wayside" is in covering Mexico's politics and culture because "there is not enough dialogue that happens between Mexico and the U.S.," Rockwell said.
While mainstream U.S. news organizations enjoy freedom of expression, the speakers discussed the repression of Latin American media. They said journalists are killed in Mexico and Brazil primarily for covering drug related crimes.
Rockwell said Latin America is still transitioning from censorship of the media. He said Mexico is not too far behind Iraq as one of the top countries where journalists are threatened and killed, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Carreno said 102 journalists have been killed in Mexico over the past several years.
To get greater news coverage of Latin American in the U.S., Rockwell said viewers have to go to alternative media and the Internet.
"The fewer voices you have reporting, the less quality reporting," Rockwell said. "It is better if you have a diversity of voices reporting."
The panel was moderated by Mark McDonald, a broadcast journalist-in-residence in SOC.
