Univision Debate -- English only?

[Harold Schiffman]

Tuesday, September 4, 2007
Univision Debate -- English only?

The Univision Debate is scheduled for this Sunday, September 9 at
7:00pm EST. According to Univision's press release, "Univision
Communications Inc. is the premier Spanish-language media company in
the United States." The debate will be broadcast on the Univision
television stations "which reach 99% of Hispanic households" as well
as "Univision Radio, the leading Spanish-language radio group which
owns and/or operates 70 radio stations in 16 of the top 25 U.S.
Hispanic markets and 5 stations in Puerto Rico" and finally the
Univision website. So, this is a really big deal. Not surprisingly,
Richardson was one of the first (if not the first) to confirm
attending the debate.

Now, for the weird part... This is a Spanish language debate on
Spanish language television and radio reaching Spanish speakers. But,
I have heard that all the candidates must speak in English only! If
the English-only language policy is true, I am appalled! Why should a
candidate who has been speaking Spanish his whole life now need to
speak through a mediator?

I think it is important that Governor Richardson be able to let people
know of his strengths -- and one of his strengths is the ability to
speak directly to the Hispanic community. Obviously, there should be
translators as we have had very good monolingual presidents. But an
English only policy is ludicrous for a Spanish language network.

http://maineforrichardson.blogspot.com/2007/09/univision-debate-english-only.html

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