My View on CNN’s Latino in America and Soledad O’Brien
Posted by: beinglatino on: October 30, 2009
by Lance Rios
So for the past few weeks, Being Latino on Facebook has been one of the hottest discussion spots online for people that are pro, anti and/or indifferent about CNN’s Latino in America and journalist Soledad O’Brien.
Being Latino has offered the platform to allow people the opportunity to voice how they felt, whether it was positive or negative. The multitudes of topics surrounding this production has been tossed back and forth on Julio Varela’s Blog , Latino Comedians Mike Robles (Anti LIA) and Casper Martinez (Pro LIA) as well as the #Latism community on Twitter.
I have remained silent and have been weary of sharing any of my personal opinions before having the opportunity to hear Soledad speak about the project. Luckily, this past Thursday I was able to attend the Global Hue Latino Sobremesa, an exclusive event (with some great Colombian food from Cafecito Bogota) that she was speaking at. There I had the opportunity to ask her a few questions.
My thoughts on CNN’s Latino in America:
Initially after seeing CNN’s Latino in America, I felt a mezcla of emotions. I’ll give you a simple breakdown, of the positive that I was able to gain from it as well as the not-so-positive.
POSTIVE:
1) I was uber-excited to see that FINALLY we were getting some time on NATIONAL TELEVISION to tell our stories.
2) I believe that there is no better time than NOW to show that Latinos are here. We’re diverse and we’re not going anywhere any time soon, therefore we must be recognized.
3) I think that the production served as a stepping stone to something with the potential to be great.
NOT-SO-POSITIVE:
1) Not much on Afro-Latinos. I know that Soledad considers herself an Afro-Latino, but what about the people in the stories? Afro-Latinos make up a significant portion of Latinos in America, do they not?
2) What did non-Latinos who watched this special walk away with? It is hard, as a Latino, to even begin to think of what non-Latinos thought, but my general opinion on it… nothing that they already didn’t know.
3) More importantly what did LATINOS walk away with? Believe me, I now understand how difficult it is to cater to a large audience and I would be naive to sit back and even begin to say that it is possible to make everyone happy. BUT in that same sense, was this special really created for Latinos to see their own stories or was it an experiment to get a boost from a new demographic in their ratings?
My thoughts on CNN’s Soledad O’Brien:
Soledad O’Brien.. half Cubana/half Irish, born and raised in an all-white community in Long Island, can’t speak Spanish, married to an Anglo-American and quite possibly does not know how to dance Salsa. So is she truly a Latina? And the more importantly, is she a good fit to cover this special in the future?
My answers to those questions: Yes & Yes.
I will re-iterate the fact that the term “Latino/a” is not set in stone. It is so inclusive of so many diverse and moving parts, that essentially the term itself becomes more of a state of mind rather than something that simply has a list of prerequisites.
The only thing about Soledad’s background which concerns me to an extent is the mere fact that I believe her personal interactions with the Latino community as a whole has been limited. With that said, I truly believe that Soledad’s intent to bring light to Latino community is legit and I also think that she is making the effort to reach out to the communities through a multitude of routes.
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Listed below is a summary of the Q&A that were brought up on Being Latino re: the production and addressed during the Sobremesa:
Q: Why did it lack success stories of Latinos? Are we not successful as well?
A: Success is perceptual depending on the individual. There is no true way to address that question given, there isn’t a real answer… it’s a formation of one’s opinion.
Q: Why no real Afro-Latino representation?
A: They realized that they were not included and are looking to definitely change that for the next production.
Q: What is Being Latino to Soledad?
A: No real way to answer the question. It becomes more of a combination of things that creates it for one’s self.
Q: Will there be another Latino in America?
A: She is already getting an idea together to pitch.
******Global Hue Latino has been so kind to offer the fans of Being Latino of the actual video footage after it is edited. All of the questions and answers will be addressed in the video. ****** ______________________________________________________________
My overall opinion:
CNN’s Latinos in America has a long way to go, but I believe they are beginning to recognize what needs to be addressed, they hear the critiques and willing to incorporate their findings into the next series.
As for Soledad O’Brien… I think she is Being Latino/a!
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About Being Latino:
Being Latino is a communication platform designed to educate, entertain and connect all peoples across the global Latino spectrum. Our aim is to break down barriers and foster unity and empowerment through informative, thought-provoking dialogue and exchanging of ideas. Being Latino seeks to give a unified voice to the multitude of communities that identify with the multidimensional culture that is Latino.
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17 Responses to "My View on CNN’s Latino in America and Soledad O’Brien"
October 30, 2009 at 7:32 pm
I think she was the wrong person for this documentary but with all the right access. She needed to collaborate with someone like us for that project to get it right. It’s quite unfortunate.
October 30, 2009 at 8:09 pm
Or, here’s a crazy idea, connect with their own Español division? Mmmh…
October 30, 2009 at 8:10 pm
But is CNN in Español the best route? It’s all in Spanish… that is another demo… another world.
October 30, 2009 at 8:24 pm
I think they could have co-branded the show and it would have sent a better message. Don’t think it’s that different of a demo in the end. Just saying that CNN, from a biz perspective, never put 2 and 2 together.
October 30, 2009 at 8:44 pm
The show was actually dubbed to Spanish and broadcast on CNN en Español. If you don´t have CNN en Español, they made it available for free during that week so you could watch it. A good marketing and co-branding move for sure.
Having worked in the Latino TV industry for over 10 years now, both in the US and in Mexico, I can assure you that the Latino in the US and the pan-regional Latin American market are very different and complex. So much so, that many broadcasters still have a hard time finding one general tone just to unify a message pan-regionally because of all the cultural nuances, accents, traditions, political and social issues that affect each region, etc…
We are definitely a complex and very desirable and important segment of the population at large, and I admire any news outlet that attempts to define us.
That, in my opinion, is the real conflict….we don´t like to be defined or typecast.
I agree with Lance that it is an almost impossible job to make a whole diverse audience happy.
At the very least, it´s a start and we are definitely letting our voices be heard. Let´s not stop that!
October 31, 2009 at 12:33 am
I agree but again, I think having it been dubbed instead of co-branding it was a lost opportunity. That’s all.
I also hope that the diversity of Latino complexity actually gets covered next time. CNN missed the boat the first time around.
October 30, 2009 at 8:34 pm
Agreed. I think that there is a synergy, but I’d really like to see CNN en Español’s ratings. I often wonder if that audience truly exists or is the audience a combination of English and Spanish speaking people. Hm..
October 31, 2009 at 12:35 am
It would have been good to know. I do believe it would have added a special perspective on it and also they could have helped with Soledad’s Spanish pronunciations and translations on the official CNN page, which sadly, were poor.
October 30, 2009 at 9:34 pm
Ratings are very important. That is the nature of the beast: no ratings, no sponsors, no show. This is the beginning, as Soledad stated herself at the Atlanta preview event. We definitely look forward to seeing more success stories (Latinos with high levels of education that came to the U.S. and had to start from scratch), more featuring the beauty of our diverse colors (including japanese in Peru) and all of our religious (we are definitely not just Catholic) backgrounds. Soledad, we know it doesn’t depend on you but there are a lot of people here willing to support you on this effort (if you read this) what say you?
October 30, 2009 at 9:40 pm
I’ll give Soledad a break. The Latino diaspora is huge and you can’t really expect to get it all down in two evenings. We’re also (thank god!) not homogeneous. It’s obvious that the stories of hardship sell better but they are the areas that need to be highlighted where our brothers and sisters (at least by language) are having a hard time.
Many segments of the population have issues: poverty, discrimination, education, etc. based on when and where they got here. My biggest frustration with what I caught was balance. So it’s tough being a Latino in the USA – we knew that already. We have some folks doing real well – Go Eva! (for about two minutes). I needed not just some more success stories, but the how it what done. If there was good info on the demographics I guess I missed it, but I would have liked to have seen something on say the Puerto Rican/etc. experience in NY and the migration to better lives into the burbs over the years – which gets totally forgotten when Senators still say things light “you got some explainin to do”. The positive stories are the ones we need to improve our numbers which still fall behind white/anglo and then you get into other issues there. I used to flip a coin a come census time.
October 30, 2009 at 10:03 pm
Here’s what I posted earlier on Facebook. I gave myself a week to think about it and watched the 4 hours of coverage, twice. Agree? Disagree? Is it asking to much to want to see success stories? Let me know your thoughts please.
————
Soledad, Soledad…..you let me down hard Soledad.
I eagerly waited for the Latino in America series hoping to see success stories of first-generation born Latinos and Latinas in the show. Instead, the show obsessed about Hispanic celebrities and shows the failure, depression, teen pregnancy, illegal immigrants and all the negatives American society prefers to associate with Latinos. Shame on you and CNN for wasting so much air time reinforcing stereotypes!
I’m the U.S.-born daughter of legal Mexican immigrants. My parents came in the 1960s to the U.S. and had five children of which I am the oldest. We were never anything beyond lower-middle class, yet they purchased a home, held jobs, paid taxes, eventually started their own business and now enjoy retirement traveling around the western U.S. and Mexico in their RV. They achieved their own American dream and I’m super orgullosa of both of them.
They insisted we speak Spanish at home and told us almost daily that we would achieve success in life if we never forgot one thing: that all material things you collect in your life can be lost and taken away; the true treasure that you will never lose is that of education.
I internalized that message and lived it. I graduated co-valedictorian of my high school class in Colorado and received thousands of dollars of scholarship money, including a very prestigious four-year Air Force ROTC scholarship to attend the University of California at Berkeley. I graduated with my degree in architecture and was simultaneously commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force. I served over nine years as an aviator, flying onboard KC-135 refueling jets to all points of the earth. I also did military liaison work in Ecuador with the U.S Embassy and was part of a NATO battle staff in Italy. I completed my Masters degree in International Management while on active duty then became a global marketing manager with a European communications company and have worked in Silicon Valley for over ten years since leaving active duty military service.
I’ve also had three children while working in corporate America because I prioritized family before work and found creative ways to make it work, with a very supportive husband.
Yet, I saw nobody that looks like me in your reporting. It’s a shame because there are a lot of people like me. I saw nobody that grew up as a poor kid wanting more and then getting it through educational achievements. I feel that your show really missed the point and failed to show the experiences of so many Latinos in America.
Let me know when you’re ready to showcase success stories of educated, professional Latinos and Latinas. I can connect you to many of them!
Graciela Tiscareño-Sato
San Francisco Bay Area
http://www.grace.tiscarenosato.com
October 31, 2009 at 3:07 am
Soledad missed the whole Lou Dobbs issue, and I’m kind of surprised that you, as a blogger, left it out too. Lou is the big elephant in the room, and we really cannot discuss Latinos in America without address the hate speech and fear mongering that has created the anti immigrant and by extension anti Latino hysteria. I have some good posts up about Lou on my site.
October 31, 2009 at 3:13 am
Adriana, with all due respect, I think the whole “Lou Dobbs” bashing train was a little to typical of a question to address with her. Is Lou Dobbs an issue? Yes, but why is it any more of an issue than any of the other questions addressed? I wanted to tackle situations directly addressing the special itself. As a blogger, you should understand that in situations like this, you want to get the questions that have not been asked so often and have a significant relevance.
Also, I do not consider myself a blogger. The purpose of this written piece is to inform and this is just another route for me.
November 1, 2009 at 4:16 pm
Hola Lance,
Mark me down as Indifferent. I do not need to look to ANY media, mainstream, indie, foreign, etc., to define who I am or what my background is.
CNN is entertainment. Please understand that. So, on those nights I decided to watch Major League Baseball playoffs, another option for entertainment. I enjoyed those games and don’t feel I missed anything by deciding to watch baseball those evenings.
Sadly, I do recognize that many people (actually less and less every month, as the fragmentation of media continues at an amazing speed) look to these channels to formulate opinions or reinforce stereotypes.
What happens is that these stories are getting really old, really quickly. The shock value is wearing off. Hearing that a certain immigrant group is uneducated, lazy, etc. is very 20th century. Remember, we are about to enter the 2010’s-not the 1950’s, 1960’s, 1970’s, 1980’s or even the 1990’s.
If I may be so bold, I think more people receive the message of the bloggers, pundits, etc., like Mike Robles and Lance Rios, than the actual message.
It is a bigger concern for people today to maintain their jobs and put bread on the table than it is for them to hate other people. Will some people concentrate on hate rather than their own plight, yes. Does that mean that all of our country is doing that, absolutely not, and if it were so, we wouldn’t be able to function day-to-day as we do now.
So, for those disgusted in their view of Latinos, create your own media or your own experiences. You may be surprised that your influence can be much greater than theirs.
Thanks again, Lance, for moderating another great topic and I hope November is a great month for you and your readers.
Muchos saludos,
- hc -
December 8, 2009 at 11:08 pm
Soledad O’Brien is such a phony. In April 2008, Reverend Jeremiah Wright gave a speech in Detroit to the NAACP. One of the things that he said in this speech was that black and white children learn with different parts of their brain, and then gave an “unflattering imitation of the way white pastors speak.” Peoples comments were that he gave a racial speech. Soledad O’Brien, on CNN, was quoted as saying, in a gushing manner, that the speech was a “home run” and “really funny.” When questioned about the things he said in the speech, she would say things like, what he really meant was …..or what he wanted to say was… Once again she’s covering the truth and being racist. Just as with the Henry Gates incident. In an appearance on Anderson Cooper, the night or so before CNN’s “The Moment of Truth” she appeared enraged that it was a racial profile against Gates. She said that she got calls from her FRIENDS saying it was all about Gates being black. She went on that show with the purpose, at all costs, to destroy the credibility of the white police officer and throw him under the bus. When Cooper was talking she wanted to make the point that Gates said “Thank You” to the police officers. By mentioning that, she was purposely misrepresenting the truth by playing down Gates’ belligerence and racial remarks, which she didn’t even mention. Even Gates’ attorney and friend, said to the media that he used very strong language. Colon Powell and President Obama both said he should take blame in the incident. I have seen this in many occasions with her, where she doesn’t speak the truth and hides the true facts. Another time on Anderson Cooper, Cooper said to O’Brien that Senator John McCain hasn’t brought race into the campaign, like he said he wouldn’t. You would think her response would have been something like, that’s great because he shouldn’t. Instead she strongly insinuated that he would, even in the last week of the campaign. Also, her questioning style, in interviews is completely different with a white person than it is with a black person. Like in her interview with Henry Gates in “The Moment of Truth” She just went along with his lies. I have seen several comments on various websites about her racism. There are many other examples I could give of her racial bias, dishonesty and hypocrisy. She seems to consider herself to be black. She mentioned in an interview that her parents made it clear to her “you’re black” and that’s all there is to it.
She’s all about being #1, she wants the world to revolve around her. She comes first, before her family. She wants to be a celebrity figure and a star. In interviews she says she works 6 days a week, mostly out of town, and on some holidays. She goes to gala events, concerts, lots of entertainment events, as a single woman, leaving her husband and kids behind.
I think Soledad O’Brien is a very poor journalist. What ever happened to the days of CNN with Bernard Shaw and Judy Woodruff? They were honorable journalists. You could believe what they said. John Las Vegas
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October 30, 2009 at 6:39 pm
Nice photo, Lance! Very cool. Overall, you offer some excellent insight in last night’s event. My only biggest issue with Soledad O’Brien has to do with this question:
Q: Why did it lack success stories of Latinos? Are we not successful as well?
A: Success is perceptual depending on the individual. There is no true way to address that question given, there isn’t a real answer… it’s a formation of one’s opinion.
Huh? I don’t understand the answer and to me, it shows a lack of understanding that the current issues and debates regarding “Latino in America” are not truly making an impact on the show’s host.
Interesting comment, a great non-answer.