Univision's Lourdes Torres on the Significance of Broadcasting the U.S. Presidential Debate

The 2019 Univision debate takes place as both parties avidly court Hispanic voters There is no denying the size of the Hispanic American population which Pew estimates to be on pace to become the largest group of nonwhite voters by 2020 Hispanic voter turnout is on the rise with recordbreaking turnout in 2018 in key states Younger Hispanics especially are making their voices heard and both parties are working to ensure that this community is top of mind in the runup to Election 2020Hispanic voter turnout has not yet caught up to nonHispanic white or black Americans but nearly doubled from 2014 to 2018 demonstrating an electorate that is motivated to bridge the gap In this interview I speak with Lourdes Torres senior vice president political coverage and special projects for Univision about preparing for this debate and its broader context in connecting Hispanic voters to presidential politicsErich Prince What do you see as the significance more generally of broadcasting political events such as these in the Spanish language Lourdes Torres The main point here is to help Latinos be wellinformed about amp8230 the issues and candidates they care about We know that there are approximately 30 million Hispanics eligible to vote and there39s a lot of enthusiasm based on the voter turnout such as the increase in turnout of Latinos in the midterm elections We think people are tuned in and listening so we want to make sure that we provide content in their languagePrince For this most recent debate can you describe how the format came about and how the questions were chosenTorres This was a DNCsanctioned debate and we were in partnership with ABC Although much of the format is set we wanted to cover topics of major importance to Latinos So we had a team of people that started four weeks before the debate researching an array of topics that we know are important to our community From the research we whittled it down to the main points of interest amp8212 whether it39s healthcare or immigration Venezuela or Central America amp8212 and then we came up with questions based on thatPrince One of the major points that tends to come up in these recent debates is how much speaking time is allotted to each candidateTorres We always try to give people fair time but it never is exactly the same And sometimes it39s not entirely in your own control But obviously if we lean on the side of giving more time to the candidates at the top of the polls then we feel we39ve done a good job amp8212 because those are the ones who until that point have captivated most of the voting public and probably are worthy of more probing into specific positions to more clearly define where they stand That being said we do try to give everybody an equal amount of timePrince Are there certain takeaways or lessons from the previous Univision political airings that have informed or influenced this 2019 debateTorres We all know that the Latino vote is important and that candidates need to listen to Latinos So we have to fight for that space as a broadcaster to have access to the candidates so Latinos can have access to the candidates as wellOur lesson is that no political cycle is ever the same We still have to conduct aggressive outreach to all of the candidates to help ensure that our community has the information it needs to make informed decisions Univision News relishes the opportunity to connect Latinos to the current and future leaders of the free world whoever that ends up beingPrince Univision recently released a poll of Latino voters nationwide and of registered voters in Texas What are your thoughts on the trends of Hispanic votersTorres The narrative for many years has been that nationally Latinos are more Democratic than Republican But there was a softening of that vote in the middle amp8212 if you want to call them quotIndependent Latino votersquot Especially when you drill down to crucial states and look at statewide polls you get a clearer picture that the Latino vote is a very competitive space in many places After all there is no unified national election it39s more like 50 separate elections happening at onceI think what39s become clear is that both parties have work to do with the Latino community and neither party should take their vote for granted Latinos were not entirely happy with what happened under the Obama administration in a lot of things that affected them And obviously they39re not entirely happy with things that are happening in the current Republican administration eitherPrince There39s a tendency in the media to talk about quotLatino votersquot as a whole and lump them together amp8212 when in reality there are a number of different communities Torres We39re not monolithic right You see that most of all in Florida because you have that variety of the ethnic groups there So you can see the different tendencies pretty clearlyThere are also generational differences that cut across some of those ethnic lines That39s going to make a difference in places like TexasWe39re really shocked by our poll in Texas but our research sourced by L2 on Texas Hispanic voter turnout isn39t surprising in concluding that Latinos in the state will make a huge difference in where that state goesPrince What39s next for Univision in terms of keeping the political conversations going among its viewers Torres We will continue to provide the Hispanic community with the most comprehensive political coverage on every platform from TV and radio to mobile and social As the leader in Spanishlanguage news it is our commitment to provide our audience the news and information they need about the candidates their platforms and the campaign trail so they can make informed decisions Bringing Hispanic America the news it needs is always top of mind so whether it39s interviewing candidates hosting forums and debates or providing coverage and analysis it is our responsibility to inform and empower Latinos as they choose our country39s leaders in 2020Click the social buttons to share this story with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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Univision's Lourdes Torres on the Significance of Broadcasting the U.S. Presidential Debate

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Erich J. Prince

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