NAHJ Board Disturbed by NBC's Plans for Telemundo

NAHJ BOARD DISTURBED BY NBC'S PLANS FOR TELEMUNDO
[SOURCE: National Association of Hispanic Journalists press release]
Late last week, NAHJ wrote to executives at NBC regarding the network's plans for Telemundo. Much has been reported about the restructuring and layoffs at NBC. The plans for Telemundo have received very little media attention. To us, the most disturbing action NBC will take is to eliminate local newscasts at six Telemundo stations and replace them with a "hubbed" newscast out of Fort Worth, Texas. The half-hour newscast will include reports from the cities where the news departments are being eliminated. It's also estimated that 68 Telemundo employees are being cut in Puerto Rico, where Telemundo was founded. This could only have a negative effect on the network's ability to cover the Spanish-speaking population of the island. The cities where the local newscasts are being axed ranked among the top 10 Hispanic markets: Houston (4), Dallas (6), San Antonio (7), San Jose (8) and Phoenix (9), according to 2006-07 Nielsen Media Research. NBC is not doing away with local newscasts at any of its English-language stations -- only with its Telemundo properties. This leads us to question the company's commitment to the Latino community. To the point: if regionalized newscasts are good for journalism and not just a way to save money while giving the appearance of meeting the network's public interest obligations, why are regional newscasts only being planned for the Spanish-speaking audience? Doesn't the English-language audience deserve this level of service?
http://www.nahj.org/nahjnews/articles/2006/october/telemundo.shtml
* Letter to NBC: http://www.nahj.org/nahjnews/articles/2006/october/nbcuniversalletter.pd...