Blog for Take Back America 2007

Marisa Treviño as the founder of a leading blog on Latina issues, Latina Lista and as an accomplished opinion journalist, will bring considerable perspective to her panel, "The Mainstream Media: Fair and Balanced?" She gives us a little preview.

Q: What do you plan to contribute to your panel?

MT: I plan to contribute a perspective from a demographic that has experienced a surge in media coverage but cannot still claim positions of covering the news.

For example, these days Latinos are "making" the news but we still lack representation in leadership roles in the newsrooms and media organizations across the country.

This lack of representation in newsrooms affects just how fair and balanced mainstream media covers those issues that pertain to certain ethnicities, since every ethnicity brings their own prejudices and biases when reporting on events and issues.

Q: You've covered immigration reform closely. How has media coverage of immigration impacted the debate?

MT: On the whole, I think mainstream media coverage of the immigration debate has been sympathetic to undocumented immigrants.

The problem lies with the big networks like CNN or Fox News, or other special interest news organizations, who allow their network personalities, who have an agenda against immigration reform, to use their platforms to present their commentary.

The trouble is they misrepresent their opinion as "factual news." This distortion of the debate, under the banner of a well-recognized news organization, does a disservice to journalism as a whole.

What can Take Back America participants do, during the conference and after, to improve the quality of our media?

MT: Because newspapers are cutting back so much in their newsrooms, they don't have the manpower to cover the issues as they should be covered, nor the time.

Take Back America participants can help by holding media accountable for their coverage and when it is lacking or not balanced, call them on it. Just as the media's purpose has always been to be the government watchdog for the public, the time has come to assume some of that responsibility for ourselves.