The president of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists says the organization has rescinded its conference sponsorship invitation to Fox News, writing in an impassioned statement that the network “perpetuates the spread of disinformation to the public about the Hispanic and Latino community.”
“My decision comes following the remarks of Fox News Radio Host, Todd Starnes,” NAHJ president Hugo Balta writes. “Starnes justifies his prejudiced language directed against Latino immigrants as opinionated commentary. Starnes unapologetically states that America has ‘suffered’ from the ‘invasion of a rampaging hoard of illegal aliens’, claiming that most ‘illegal immigrants’ are violent criminals as well as casually using a reference for their immigration to the United States with the Nazis invading France and Western Europe in World War II.”
He notes that Starnes spewed this racist, anti-immigrant rhetoric just days after a white supremacist terrorist drove nine hours to target the Latino community of El Paso, Texas, and murder 22 people. “Starnes brazen language is symptomatic of a culture that provides a megaphone for disinformation by those in power with agendas,” he continues, “including the Trump administration at the cost of the most vulnerable—immigrant communities.”
“While alarming, the situation with Starnes is not an isolated incident and follows years of ongoing NAHJ conversations with Fox News and recent meetings with management,” he says. “The latest ‘regret’ by Fox News is one of many where the immigrant community and by association, all Hispanics and Latinos, have been demonized by voices with high visibility due to there being little to no consequences by management.”
Balta says his organization will not stand idly by, and aside from rescinding the invitation has also returned a $16,000 check to the network. “The line between commentary and journalism was crossed long ago by Fox News and is no longer even in sight. To accept financial support from an entity that perpetuates the spread of disinformation to the public about the Hispanic and Latino community risks the integrity and credibility of NAHJ’s 35 year mission. To sit silently by is, in essence to be complicit in the act itself.”
Balta said he’s also asked his co-conference partners, the Society of Professional Journalists and the Radio Television Digital News Association, “to join NAHJ in returning their $16,666 share of the $50K sponsorship dollars, but they refused opting instead to give Fox News a larger platform to discuss what they label as a ‘teachable moment.’” But those who don’t want to be taught can’t be taught. The National Association of Hispanic Journalists did the right thing.
This is also incredibly personal. Like scores of Latinos across the U.S., Balta said the El Paso terror attack has left him in fear. ”My 16-year-old daughter and 13-year-old son asked me if we should stop speaking Spanish in public for fear of being a target. I lied to them … I lied when I said they shouldn’t be afraid and defiantly told them we are not going to stop conversing with one another in Spanish in public. I lied. I am afraid.”